The annual vote for flogging the British soldier was carried
on Thursday by a majority of only one, Mr. Bright making a good speech against it too late for the division. The stock arguments were, of course, all repeated, but no one answered this question—Is not the retention of flogging in camp the reason why respectable men clo not enlist except when in despair? If we want good recruits, the sort of men who fill a conscript army, we must abolish dis- graceful punishments, and give privates a fair chance of rising from the ranks. That, replies the Marquis of Hartington, would in- volve shooting men for serious offences, and flogging is more humane. His Lordship knows perfectly well that he would encounter the certainty of death much sooner than the risk of -tgis triangles, and Hodge in such matters feels exactly like Cavendish. A more severe but more honourable discipline is precisely what the British Army wants.
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