FLOGGING.
NOTICE has been given by Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, that he will, - on the introduction of the Mutiny Bill, move a clause abolishing the punishment of flogging. Every attempt to mitigate the hor- rors of this system has hitherto proved ineffectual. In truth it cannot be mitigated—it can only be mended by abrogation. Flogging offers so ready a gratification to a cruel, and so simple a means of discipline to a brainless commander, that while it is per- mitted in any shape, it will and must be abused. We hope the case of the unfortunate boy HERITAGE will not be lost sight of. What is to be said of those regulations by which a miserable child like him, of mild and docile disposition, could be abused into in- sanity? We have no doubt that the topgallant-yards of the North Star were got down in first-rate style—perhaps in a quarter of a second less time than in half the ships of the Navy—that her running-rigging was as nicely tightened as the strings of a piano —that her crew walked the decks with as silent foot as court pages : at what expense of human suffering this exterior of neat- ness may be purchased, the recent trial of Lord WILLIAM PAGET shows.
The captain may issue his mandates against the abuse of an instrument which he claims the sole privilege of wielding—he may tell his men that the quarter-deck is open to their complaints: but if the captain himself, and if grave and considerate men sitting in judgment on the captain's conduct, can deliberately give forth their opinion that it is just and proper to flog a child to despera- tion and suicide, because he is caught in the commission of so gross a breach of order and discipline as exchanging a word with his companion,—if such be the deserved punishment of the slightest offence possible,—what would the proffered appeal ad- vantage the complainer? Would it not lead to his being reported in twenty cases where he had been beaten in one—to his receiving twenty floggings where he had previously received one blow ? On shore it may sometimes be prudent "to fly from petty tyrants to the throne," but on board it will generally be found that the little finger of the great man is heavier than the loins of his inferior— that where the latter chastises with whips, the former chastises with scorpions. And such must ever be the case, as long as human nature, unre- strained by either law or opinion, continues what it is. The way to give efficacy to Lord WILLIAM PAGET'S orders, and to abate his boatswain's-mate's love of the cat, is to take the cat from the discretion of both. A system, for the support of which it is ne- cessary to apply to men the treatment of beasts, must be bottomed in error. If the object to be attained be rational, it must be acces- sible to rational beings by rational means. The situation of a common sailor on board a King's vessel has so many advantages over a similar situation on board a merchant vessel, that it might be fairly expected to be earnestly sought after, instead of being sedulously shunned ; and so would it, were it not for the abomi- nable practice of impressment—the constant, wearisome, and un- necessary constraint—and above all, the truly infernal, never- ceasing lash.
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