§ Mr. Wakleysaid that, pursuant to his notice, he wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary at War a question having reference to a report that had lately appeared in the Morning Chronicle, of a transaction which had occurred last Saturday, in connexion with the 2nd battalion of Coldstream Guards, at Windsor. By that statement, it appeared that a whole company of soldiers were ordered to strip themselves naked, for the purpose of being examined by the surgeon of the regiment; and in consequence of two of the soldiers refusing to obey such an order, a court-martial was held upon the spot, and an order made that these soldiers should receive one hundred lashes each, which was at once inflicted on them; the whole proceedings, including the court-martial and punishment, only occupying a period of two hours and a half.
§ Mr. S. Herbertsaid, the best answer he could give to the question of the hon. Member for Finsbury was, to state the facts that had occurred as briefly as possible. It appeared that for some time past, in a battalion of Guards at Windsor, many of the soldiers were affected with a certain disease, which, if suffered to continue, must have been attended with serious results. He had reason to believe that these men, whether from a dislike to going into the hospital, or from some other cause, had endeavoured to conceal the fact of their suffering under this disease. In consequence of this being made known to the military authorities there, a rigid medical examina- 675 tion was ordered; the result of which was, that sixteen men were found to be infected, who otherwise would have passed the ordinary examination, and would have remained without the application of any proper treatment to arrest the progress of the disease. In consequence of the great indisposition of the men to make known their peculiar situation, and thereby to avoid the necessity of going into the hospital, great dissatisfaction had been excited among them at the order for this examination, and two of them absolutely refused to submit to such examination. On the surgeon reporting the conduct of these men, they were called before the commanding officer, who took some pains to warn them of the serious offence they had been guilty of in refusing to obey the orders of the surgeon, who was a commissioned officer. He need not state how essential it was to the discipline of the army, that the orders of the commanding officers should be strictly obeyed; and in this case, it was most essential to the health of the men that the authority of the medical officer should not be held in contempt. The officer in command, therefore, informed these men that they were committing a most serious offence; but finding that they persisted in their disobedience, he ordered them to be confined for forty-eight hours in the black hole. The men made no remonstrance at the time to this order, and were marched by the Serjeant into the guard room. On being ordered into the black hole by the serjeant, they refused to go; and on the commanding officer being again informed of their disobedience, he sent for them, and again explained to them the serious offence which they had, a second time, been guilty of. Having done so, the Serjeant again gave the men orders to march; but they were still obstinate in their refusal. The commanding officer himself then gave the command, which he repeated two or three times; but the men continued to stand fast. He then ordered them back to the guard room, where he again and again remonstrated with them on the impropriety of their conduct. They, however, persisted in their refusal to obey; and the commanding officer being fully aware of the danger of this insubordination spreading, he immediately ordered a regimental court-martial, as he thought the immediate punishment for an offence of this description was much more important than if he had called a district court-martial, when the punishment would be necessarily delayed, and of a more severe character. 676 The court-martial was accordingly held, before which the facts, as he had stated, were fully proved, and the punishment of one hundred lashes ordered to be inflicted upon them; which punishment was immediately carried into effect. With respect to the paragraph alluded to by the hon. Member, the statement as to the dissatisfaction which existed amongst, those who were witnesses to the proceedings, was quite unfounded. He did not wish a false impression to be made in respect to the facts of this case. The punishment that was inflicted on those men was not for refusing to comply with the examination of the surgeon, but for insulting their commanding officer by persisting to disobey his orders.
§ Mr. W. Williamsobserved, that the right hon. Gentleman had not answered the most important charge that had been made, namely, whether those men had been ordered to stip themselves naked, in the presence of the whole regiment?
§ Mr. S. Herbertsaid, that it was a well-known custom in the army for the men to be obliged to strip occasionally for the examination by the surgeon. Also, when a regiment was ordered down to bathe together, and for the medical inspection, which generally took place in the rooms of the men in the morning. The exception in this case, as to the mode in which the men were ordered to undergo this examination, was in consequence of this disease, which was prevalent among them.
§ Mr. Wakleywould undertake to say, that by a more private examination, a more searching inquiry could be made into the case of each particular man, than by adopting such a course as had been stated. Nothing could be more indelicate or indecent, or more repulsive to a proper and correct feeling that should be encouraged among men, than for soldiers to be placed under the necessity of undergoing such an examination naked, in the presence of a large company of their comrades. He knew that it was highly dangerous to make this House a court of appeal on these occasions; but when he knew that in the House of Correction, in this metropolis, there were at present seventy soldiers confined, it was quite clear that there was something wrong in the government of the army.
§ Mr. W. Williamsthought, that every means should be taken to put a stop to a 677 practice so indecent as had been described in the present instance.
Admiral Dundasbegged to differ in the opinion expressed by the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary at War, when he stated that it was customary for whole regiments to strip together on the occasions to which he had alluded. From his experience he could say, that it had never been customary to do so in the army, and as to the navy, he had never heard of such an instance occurring.
§ Mr. S. Herbertsaid, that there appeared to be some misapprehension as to the statement he had made. The regiment in question had stood together in a row, and each man, as he was called by the surgeon, stood out from the row, and underwent the examination.