"

"MR. MANNERS SUTTON repeated that "those public animadversions upon milita ry punishment had been, to his know"ledge, gross exaggerations, and as for the "happy abatement in the practice of flog"ging, he could not help thinking, notwithstanding the Learned Gentleman's "vehement declamation, that that change was at least to be as fairly attributed to "the judicious and meritorious discretion "of the gallant Officers who sat on the respective General Courts Martial as to "the great patriotism or high public spirit "of even Mr. Cobbett himself! (Hear, "hear!)

"SIR GEORGE WARRANDER felt extreme"ly hurt that the indiscreet language of "the Learned Gentleman should go out "to the public, as bidding the army look "up to Mr. Cobbett for redress instead of "their own Officers. (Hear, hear!)

"LORD PALMERSTONE could not under"stand how the substitution of death for "flogging was rendering the military "code less sanguinary than it was at present represented to be.

"GENERAL TARLETON strongly censured "the idea of bidding the army of the country look up to Mr. Cobbett and re"ceive their instructions from him, as if "he could know more of military mat "ters than those who have spent their "lives in the service."

"invective. His language might have
"been too strong for the delicacy of some
"Gentlemen; but had it been stronger,
"it must have been too weak to express
"his abhorrence of this mode of punish-
"ment. But the Honourable and Learned
"Gentleman had lamented the general"
"animadversions without doors, that had
"been made upon this system.-And
"what was the answer the Learned
"Gentleman himself gave to his own la-
"mentations? Why, that in the last
year this barbarous practice had de-
Icreased to eight within the whole year,
and but one of those inflicted! Now
"(said Mr. Brougham), I contend that
"this is a distinctly deducible consequence
"from those very animadversions (hear,
"hear!) The press without called the
"attention of the public to, and fixed it
"immovably upon, this flagrant system
"of punishment. The public feeling had,
"at length, as it always must have, sooner
"or later, its influence within these walls;
"and accordingly the first step towards
"the utter abolition of this odious punish-"
"ment was made, in the introduction of
"the clause of last year, into the Mutiny
"Bill. Such, Sir, was the work of a free
"press; and I cannot but sincerely la.
"ment that those who were bold and
"honest enough to begin this battle in
"the cause of humanity-that those who
"fought the good fight, and won an in-
"estimable victory in that great cause—
"that Mr. Cobbett and Mr. Drakard
"should now be immured within a prison.
“Gentlemen smile, no doubt with disdain,
"at the guilty familiarity of citing before
"their grave authority individuals com-
paratively so obscure. I admit them to
"be so; and all I wish those Gentlemen
"is, that their zeal for truth and their
"country, may never place them where
"less prudential patriotism has placed
"their less fortunate fellow subjects (a
"laugh). I say, therefore, that the ani-
"madversions of an honest press have
"produced this change in the practice of
"military flogging, so triumphantly stated
"by the Learned Judge Advocate; and
that the Legislature had been obliged,
"with respect to this question, to act upon
"the very principles of Mr. Cobbett, who
"is now in gaol for his unseasonable de-
"claration of them. It is now, I rejoice
"to find, in the hands of my Worthy
Friend, the Member for Westminster
"(sir F. Burdett), and backed by his ta-
"lents, it would be criminal to despair of
its ultimate success,

"

"

With regard to the Germans and the Germanizing of our army, I shall have to say enough about them by-and-by. I must here go on with the FLOGGING, or, rather, what was said about myself as connected with this subject, the subject of flogging itself I shall reserve 'till it has been discussed in the House, as it probably will be even before this will find its way from the press.

First, however, I must notice what MR. SUTTON said about the number of men flogged in the last year. Only eight, he says, in all the kingdom. Only eight sentences for flogging in the whole year, and only one since the passing of the Mutiny Act with the new Clause, in March 1811; so that, really, it would appear from this statement, that the FLOGGING OF SOLDIERS is at an end, in fact, though not in form; and, that there merely wants a clause in the new Act formally to abo. lish it for ever. But, Mr. Sutton spoke only of the sentences passed by GENERAL Courts Martial! He said not a word about the sentences passed by REGIMENTAL M 2

"legislature had been obliged with respect "to this question, to act upon the very principles of Mr. Cobbett, who was now in jail for his unseasonable declaration of "them."

Courts Martial, at which I myself have
very often seen three subaltern officers, the
oldest, perhaps, not above thirty years of
age, pass very heavy sentences of flog-"
ging. GENERAL Courts Martial are
very rarely indeed assembled to try non-
commissioned officers and private soldiers.
Indeed, this is a case that hardly ever
happens; and, I dare say, that there were
only eight of these Courts Martial during
the last year. To give us an idea of the
extent of the punishment in question, we
should have laid before us an account of
all the floggings in every particular corps.
If we had that for the two last years, we
should be able to form a judgment of the
effect produced by the last year's clause, of
the virtues of which Mr. Sutton says so
much.

This seems to have given great offence to several members of the Honourable House, who observed, that the Soldiers ought to be taught to thank THEIR OFFICERS for the measure in question, and NOT MR. COBBETT! Oh, dear, no! That would be a sad thing! It would be a shocking thing if the Soldiers were to look to ME for redress; especially after my being sent to a felon's jail, which, of course, was to mark me out for a man to be shunned, rather than looked up to. The truth is, that this merit of having been the beginner of the battle in the cause of the soldiers does not belong to me. It belongs to Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, who protested against flogging the Local Militia, at the time when the Bill for raising that force was under discussion, and who, long previous to that, made an express motion, which, I think, was seconded by Lord Folkestone, for a return to be laid before the House of the FLOGGINGS that had taken place within the then foregoing year; and this he distinctly stated to be preparatory to a proposition for the entire abolition of the punishment. This was more than five years ago. Here, therefore, was the beginning; and, to Sir Francis Burdett, therefore, if to any body, the soldiers might be told to look, as the author of any good that they may have derived from the new Clause in the last year's Mutiny Act.

This Clause ought to be, however, better understood than it generally is. It was, last year, for the first time, introduced into the Mutiny Act; and, what did it do? Why, it authorized Courts Martial to punish by imprisonment instead of by flogging, whenever they pleased to do so! This was not giving them any authority at all; they possessed it before. This was enacting nothing new. It neither extended the power of shewing mercy, nor contracted that of exercising severity. In short it was nothing more than a hint to Courts Martial to be more sparing of the lash. This is what it was; and, I have no doubt, that it was a hint that produced some effect. MR. SUTTON boasted much of this effect. He said, that the clause had succeeded considerably by making the practice less general; and then he gave the proof of this in the number of sentences as above-mentioned. At any rate, here is, even from the mouths of the government themselves, an acknowledgment, that it is a good thing to make the practice of flogging less general. This they have now distinctly avowed, that it is desirable to narrow this practice; and they boast of having, in some degree, succeeded by the means of a clause in the last year's Mutiny Act. Now, then, said Mr. Brougham, if this be the case, or, as far as the good has gone, it is to be attributed to the press; and, that, while those who were honest and bold enough to begin this battle in the cause of humanity;" while those who fought the good fight and won an inestimable victory in that great cause; while Mr. Drakard and I were shut up in a prison, the government were boasting of the success of a measure founded upon our principles. He added, that "the

Nevertheless, I have, all along, borne my part. I have, from about the same time, that Sir Francis Burdett first took up the subject, done all that I have been able to do; and, it must be confessed, that the Legislative hint to Courts Martial was not given till after the interest which was necessarily excited by my trial and the sentence passed upon me. Mr. SUTTON is reported to have said, that," the change "was, at least, as fairly to be attributed "to the judicious and meritorious discretion "of the gallant officers who sat on the re"spective General Courts Martial as to the great patriotism or high public spirit of "Mr. Cobbett himself." As to these closing words, either they were spoken in earnest or in the way of a sneer. If the former, they do not help Mr. Sutton's argument; if the latter, they discover a degree of mortification that might almost

always appears to convey a very degrad- is no military matter. If, indeed, the quesing opinion of the parties to whom the dan- tion were, whether it would be best to gerous language is supposed to be ad- arm men with swords or with muskets; dressed. As if, in the present instance, or whether they should be taught to move the soldiers had no judgment of their own; as in close or in open order: if it were some if they had neither reason nor feeling, and question of this sort, or of any sort excluwere to be made to believe any thing that sively appertaining to the military profesmight be told them, especially if uttered sion, then it would be presumption in any in the Houses of Parliament; as if they man, unacquainted with that profession, were, by a sentence or two from Mr. to take upon him to judge and decide. Brougham, to be induced to take their But, when the question is merely a queslooks off from their officers and to turn tion of humanity; when it relates solely them towards me for redress, me, whom to the inflicting of bodily pain; when the they have never seen, whom they know parties on whom that pain is inflicted are to have possessed power insufficient to not only our fellow men, but our countrykeep myself out of jail, and whom they men, our kindred, our brothers, our sons, have seen described as every thing that is our own flesh and blood; surely, when base and contemptible. Surely, Sir George such is the nature of the question, it reWarrender might have trusted, in such a quires no knowledge of military matters to case, to the understanding of the army! justify any one in offering his opinion upon He might surely have confided in their it, and in urging that opinion with all the taste not to look up to me instead of their force of which he is master. If we were officers, especially after the repeated as- to subscribe to this doctrine of General surances of Sir Vicary Gibbs, that the Tarleton, what would be the lot of the solarmy despised such writings as mine, and dier? No man, not a military officer, held their authors in abhorrence. After must ever open his lips respecting his this, I think Sir George Warrender might treatment. See to what this leads. Milihave spared any expression of the wound tary officers must pass all the laws for the given to his feelings at hearing language governing of soldiers; and, with all our that tended to induce the army to look up present militias and forces of one sort or to me instead of looking up to their own another, officers appointed by the King, officers for redress. "Indiscreet lan- and removable at his pleasure, would, at guage!" As if the subject had been all all times, have absolute sway over nearly tinder; as if there had been imminent one half of the able-bodied men in the danger in even naming me, lest the sol- whole country. The soldiers are in a diers should hear, or see, my name! pretty state indeed if no man out of uniReally, though sitting here in a jail, I can form must give his opinion respecting hardly help laughing at the idea. their treatment. If they rob upon the high-way, or steal a horse or a sheep, there is somebody out of uniform to hang them; and, if any man has any thing to offer concerning any law to which they are amenable, what, in the name of common sense, is to prevent him from offering it? And, if there be danger in this, what a state are we in altogether?

GENERAL TARLETON, too, did, it seems, "strongly censure the idea of bidding the "army of the country look up to Mr. "Cobbett and receive their instructions "from him, as if he could know more of "military matters, than those who have spent their lives in the service." Not more than those, perhaps, who have spent their lives in the service, but certainly a great deal more than many of those, who have spent their lives in pay. I was eight years of my life amongst soldiers, 24 hours in the day, for 365 days in each year; and how many are there, who have received pay for 30 or 40 years, and have not been in real service not one half, no nor one eighth part, of the time that I was? Nothing is easier than for a man to spend his life in the service and to know very little about that service. But, what is there in the subject before us, that demands any experience in military matters? Flogging

But, in GENERAL TARLETON'S "strong censure" there is something incomprehensible. He censured the idea of bidding the army look up to me for instructions, because I could know, as he seems to have supposed, nothing about military matters. Now, supposing the matter in question to have been a "military matter," why did he pass a "strong censure" on Mr. Brougham? The "army of the country," as he called the Soldiers, if they did look up to me for instructions at the instigation of Mr. Brougham, would if the General is right about my inexperience, find me

an ignorant man, and would of course laugh at me and Mr. Brougham too. Therefore, though the observations of Mr. Brougham might have called forth a smile, they, certainly, upon the General's own principle, did not call for such strong censure," as we are told he thought it consistent to bestow upon them. There is, however, in all this, something reserved; there is a strange mixture of apprehension and of contempt; a mixture of smiles and of grinding the teeth. There is something very appropriate in the means that were used to prevent what was supposed to be the tendency of Mr. Brougham's language. He is represented as bidding the soldiers look up to me for redress. This is strongly censured by one member, and it wounds the feelings of another. Well, what are the means used to prevent the soldiers from looking up to me for redress? Why, the soldiers are bidden not to look up to me for redress, but to look up to their own officers for it! To be sure; what short of this could be done in such a case? I really wonder, that some of these gentlemen, in the height of their indignation at the idea of the soldiers looking up to me, had not proposed a clause in the way of prevention. That, indeed, would have been to do the thing effectually!

placed out of the pale of the constitution, we no longer hear openly avowed. It was too abominable to be tolerated for any length of time; and, I feel very confident, that the sort of punishment, of which so much has now been said, will not long have a single advocate. It will then be wholly abolished; we shall see it and hear of it no more; the country will feel the benefit; it will not signify a straw to whom the merit of the salutary change shall belong; but, one thing I will venture to predict, and that is, that he, to whom that merit will really be due, will never be heard to put forward any claim to it.

GERMAN TROOPS.

Next in importance to the above subject, I deem that of employing foreign troops, and more especially Germans. This, too, is now attracting attention; and, certainly, it is high time that it should, unless we are come to the pass of abandoning all the principles of government, which, for ages, have been cherished in this country. On the 10th instant a very interesting debate took place in the House of Commons, upon motion of Lord Viscount Folkestone for a return of the Foreigners now serving in English regiments. Some facts and arguments came forth in this debate, well worthy of the strictest attention. The real state of the case has been hitherto enveloped in a sort of mystery. The subject, owing to the base subserviency of the press, and also to the muzzled situation of the OUT party, has been looked upon as a sort of forbidden ground. Scarely any one but myself said a word about the matter, and, certainly, my fate did not hold out much encouragement to others to follow my example. Besides this, the impoverishment of the little gentry of the country has created such a crowd of wretched candidates for military commissions, that men were found ready to stoop their necks under the command of German Officers. So that, there seemed, at last, to be no hope of seeing the public attention awaken to what, in former times, would have stirred the most sluggish blood in the kingdom.

I shall return to this subject hereafter; for, I am fully convinced, that there is none of more, nor, indeed, of so much importance, at this moment, and certainly none more proper for free discussion. If there were only 1,000 of our countrymen in arms, it would become us to feel and to express a deep interest in their happiness and honour; what must it be, then, when there are more than half a million of them subjected to martial law? And, why should the press be silent about them any more than about men in grey coats? For my own part, if I were to choose amongst the different classes of society, I should say, that, on every account, the soldiers were best entitled to all the kindness and protection that the press can afford them; and so, I am certain, every man will say, who duly considers the hardships which they are destined, by the very nature of their calling, to endure. If we have seen the soldiers upon the continent indifferent to the fate of their country, At last, however, the matter is before where are we to look for the reason, ex- the House of Commons, and will now becept in the indifference which their coun- come pretty well understood. I have intry have shown towards them? The in-serted below the whole of the Debate, acfamous doctrine preached last winter, in the venal prints, that the soldier was

cording to the fullest report that I have been able to find. I do this, because I