Punch (37.1859)

October 29, 1859.]

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

173


AN INCIDENT OF TRAVEL,

Railway Guard (as it is getting darlc). “Would you like a Light in this
Carriage, Sir ? ”

PICTORIAL WALLS AND WINDOWS.

Roman prows, armorial bearings, ripe fruit, humming
birds, allegorical figures, antique masks, ideal animals end-
ing in scrolls, and civic insignia, constitute the frescoes
which decorate the ceiling, now visible, of the Royal Ex-
change. Saving the civic devices, the place of these paintings
would be more suitably occupied by scenes of traffic and
commerce, with nothing more allegorical amongst them
than a figure of Business in modern costume, with a pen
behind his ear. It is a pity that frescoes are not always
calculated to serve by way of illustrations of the building
which they adorn, so as to signify its use and purpose.
St. Somebody said that pictures were the books of idiots,
that is, of idiots so to speak because of their ignorance;
and this is the ground on which the Roman Catholic priests
defend their general use of images; whereby their flocks
ought to feel flattered. Now there are many idiots of this
kind running about loose, different as to creed in every
respect except one, but all united in the predatory per-
suasion. They form the chief part of the attendants at
Police Offices, and Courts of Assize and Sessions; where
the fate of their companions trembles in the balance.

The interiors of our various halls of justice might be
richly frescoed to the advantageous instruction of this
troublesome class of persons. The windows also might
be stained with similar designs. Representations of the
various punishments which the law inflicts upon convicts
might adorn the walls to the great edification of the
majority of their beholders. What the crank is, what
the treadmill, would then be ocularly exhibited to the
thieves and pickpockets, and thus they would learn to
talk and think less lightly than they do of being nabbed,
and lagged, and put in the jug, and having six months.

The interior of the hulks might be depicted on the walls
and ceiling, and a vivid idea might be presented of penal
servitude and private whipping, as well as of the serious
nature of capital punishment. Crime would thus be pre-
vented; and expense doubly saved; for in the first place
prisons would cost less, and in the next there would be
no absolute occasion for that education of the poor which
runs away with some money at present, and requires the
expenditure of very much more, which is only prevented
by public parsimony, and the zeal of the clergy of various
denominations, who insist upon sectarian education, or
none at all.

Swell (showing a Regalia in full Maze). “ No, thanks ;

I have one ! ” i Advice to Pastoral-Writing Shepherds.—Attend

[licit Guard overpowered, more to your flocks, and busy yourself less with your pens.

THE CAT OUT OE THE BAG.

The strong-minded gentlemen who have been sneering at the mawk-
ish sentimentalists for writing hollow twaddle in appeal to the sym-
pathies of the despicable people about the fellow who was flogged
the other day at Woolwich, on a back alleged to have been studded
with boils, will be greatly disgusted with the following statement in
the Post, under the head of “ Naval and Military Intelligence : ”—

“ The Lasii.—Tlie punishment of flogging lias been entirely suspended at Wool-
wich since the publicity given to the case of the unfortunate recruit, William Davis,
who is at present suffering from the effects of the 50 lashes he received about two
months since, although sufficiently recovered to leave the hospital. A complete
investigation has been made relative to this case, from which it appears that the
conduct of the medical officer is open to censure, for allowing the punishment to be
inflicted upon a man who was unable to bear it.”

It must he very provoking to the strong-minded gentlemen to find j
their sneers thus refuted—for even a sneer can he refuted by fact. It
is vexatious to discover that we have been expressing scorn and con- .
tempt for those whom we hate on the assumption that they have made !
a mistake, whereas the mistake has been made by ourselves. We i
naturally feel extremely annoyed to find our sarcasms annihilated, all
but their motives, and these left standing conspicuously qut as pride,
insolence, and malice.

The story about the soldier who was scourged on his bare boils,
unfortunately, was not made up, or even exaggerated. In continuation
of the above extract, our manly friends are told that—

“ It is only just to state, that the Commandant has taken measures to make some
amends for the cruelty inflicted upon Davis. Previously to leaving the hospital, he
■was visited by a medical board of officers, accompanied by Genebal Dacrls, who,
in consideration of the punishment already undergone, was pleased to remit the
sentence of SI days’ imprisonment awarded by court-martial, and also the usual
branding of the letter D on the prisoner’s back.”

This last remission the masculine vindicators of corporal punishment
should not allow to vex them too much. To brand a crop of boils is

like writing on sand; therefore Colonel Dacr.es need not be con-
cluded, in remitting that part of the prisoner’s sentence, to have acted
from a weak and maudlin feeling of love and mercy. From the con-
clusion of the paragraph in question it will be seen that the branding
of Deserter Davis would have been a service of difficulty:—

“ He was liberated and provided with a new uniform, but the man’s back is still
covered with at least forty inflamed boils and wounds—the result of his flogging,
and he is therefore to be relieved from carrying his pack or knapsack until entirely
recovered. The medical board certified that the man was unfit to receive corporal
punishment.”

Tlius the mawkish sentimentalists unhappily appear to have had
some foundation for what their magnanimous despisers will still, of
course, call their insincere and shallow cant. These men of stern
sense, and men of the world, know that those hypocrites and milksops
wrote on a basis of merely accidental truth. The sentimentalists will
be out another time, and then there will be an opportunity of laughing
their virtuous indignation to scorn. Virtuous cruelty, and virtuous
self-esteem and contempt of others, will then have their chance. Still,
there is some danger that the fine masculine malevolence, which, under
the pretence of wholesome severity, lusts for the infliction of torture,
and gloats upon whipping, whether in the case of soldiers or school-
boys, will ultimately lose its gratification as regards soldiers. Denun-
ciations of the cat may be false, affected, snobbish, and unspeakably
contemptible; but whilst the cat flourishes, they are calculated to deter
men from enlisting in the army. Therefore it is to be feared that the
cat will be abolished.

Toll for the Bell! the Bell that is No More !

Talking of Big Ben, said Smith to Jones,—“For all that Mr.
j Denison has written. I don’t believe that Messrs. Mears have lost
caste by their casting.” “ Not a bit,” said Jones. “ Denison, you
know, was one of the examiners, and if there was a Mears sham, the
judges should have ‘smoked’ it! ”

Yol. 37.

G—2