INTRODUCTION. AN opinion had for some years begun to prevail among political reasoners, and had found its way also into the army, that the punishment of flogging, to which our troops alone of all the European soldiery are subject, was cruel in its nature, hurtful to the military character in its effects, and ill calculated to attain the great ends of all penal infliction, the reformation of the offender, and the prevention of other offences by the force of example. Several tracts had been published, chiefly by military officers, in which the subject was discussed; and among these the pamphlets of Generals Money, Stewart, and Sir Robert Wilson, were the most distinguished, both for their own merits, and the rank and services of their authors, who had never borne any part in political controversy, or in as far as they had been led by accidental circumstances to declare their opinions, had been found the supporters of the old established order of things in all its branches. In 1810, Mr. Cobbett, who having himself served in North America, had witnessed the effects of this species of punishment, and had naturally a strong respect for the character of the profession, published some strictures on the subject in his Political Register. That work enjoyed in those days a great circulation and influence. It always was one of extraordinary ability, and distinguished by a vigorous and generally pure English style; but it was disfigured by coarseness, and rendered a very unsafe guide by the |