Star. — 1817-05-16 (London, England)

ANNOY.  Mr. MANNERS SUTTON, seeing an Honour:. able Barone; in his place, beggt d to say, that he had received aii official statemt.nt respecting the solder found drowaed at Cash%le. The ilen.autahle Baron. had stated hum the Cariirie ic that this man having asked permission to marry, and having bean refused, had absented Isitnieif without leave, and had married; that for this offence he had been sentenced to receive 200 lashes, and ;titer the infliction of 100 was ordered to receive the remainder on a future day ; that under the dread of this he had drowned hirnsrl!." An official return had been made to the fiej-utaat-General's office, and the facts were as for:. liav :—The man, who was a soldier in the 13th Light Dragoons, had asked permission to marry, and had been refused.—(The House must nndet stand, that a refusal on the part of the Oflic:r did not pi...vent a soldier's marrying, or his marrying with,-:1 have constitute any military °fleece: but as the b it. racks had only aceommod.stiot for a certain number of femnler, it was thought fit to leave a discretionary pnwrr in the Officer as to what females should be irttoducecl ; so that respectable women already there milaht not be annoyed by the presence of ab,tedoned females.)—ln the present in!tanee the Commanding OCiicer hadrefur:d his consent, because the man ter.* already married—(Nrce, /.roar). However, the malt absented himself for ar considerable time, a;:d pe: went to Gretna Green, for he retuned matried. he was tried for the military ranee of being absent have, and was sen:enced to receive 200 lashes : 100 were inflicted, and the remainder were remitted mrthe spot. Some darr afterwards theirran was found dmwned, and there was reason to believe that his death WAS occasioned by suicide. Here he should have stopped, but that he thouuht something was due to the character of Major McAlister, the Commanding Officer. had received a letter (which had bait written voluntarily, and without lany inquiry) from Sur J. Byng, who commanded is that district, stating the particulars of the case.— ( Here the nonour-bie Member read the letter,: the .tatement in which coincided with -::at above given, and concluded to .the following elLct:)—.'Had there been any thing blameable. in the conduct of Major McAlister, he should have thought it his duty to institute an inquiry ; hut a Jury nad sat on the body, and were satisfied that ,the Major had done nothitig.wtongl They, indeed, considered that the nr.tive inducing the soldier to destroy himself *as despair at haring rashly married a woman of abandoned character. He knew Major McAlister to be a mild humane man, mach esteemed in his regiment ; any was happy in having such an 01'....cer on his :,ta. hon. Lord Lonsdalc could testify that this was ..ct 0!t? first ocea:tan on which he had thus. borne t..stimony to the merits of that Olken"  6+r FR ANCI:i EITRDETT not mean to impute any imprcper contiu,.t to the Cancer. A.s to tocrs of the case, his ori!.+inal statement of theft), I, tided on the rerresentahon of the Carlisle ,fotima, appeared to he robstantially collect, whatever 4:1lerence there might be i:i the inference drawn b; ei!. ferent individuals—(fl.. r, .4,74-1 he statem,nt ri the Cariiile J .urrol said nothing about the appteliension 4.1 a second limning having•occasioned the rim. lanchnly catas:rophe ; he had testi:wed ingoir7 io that part of the stibjPct in coaserparice of tin I sent:awn of the case. At all events the case sheved the mischievous effects of continuinis such a degraded mode of punishment in the army, saying nothing (.1 the fact of its having been infl-cted at home, aitl Grit too itl time of peace. The man, even accorfirz to the Honourable Member's own shelving, had bePn punished because he chose, T..: married and as rq tart pin of the case,- he dui not tees what right 062ci a had to era crollcuiselves into a -military tribur..l try a man for * civil offence, for the miniinati,.l ' punishment of ti race:ding that came property *khan the jurisdictic.n cf Courts of Law. It Cie man married a second Clue whale his first wile was alive, if he were gailty'Ll bigamy, he h hehe ouadisht ofiestoo, b.,4 the lases of the cmliury, and or tried, not bi a miliimy tribunal. The case thus posed an abominable abese of thik;military law ; and it had been etertedtu inflict an infamous ponishruenc different from what the test of the &objects were liable to for such an offence. It was alsol,t proof, a 'Peer* torn of toe wish; that still exist. d toeconquee in r;let army that degradinx •ftsid toodik•of nymt by flogging. He wits agairitt wide of punishorent,altegether, and !lemma:tit this ease sysia.a additional and strong proof that tne storst.tiogflt co be abolishel it was not tenhkein that the man had btu drawn to'evn►ntit tnia;rlo:ateltHigeli:ofia,uviLse2 Jed honour; :rent t!rt