But though the surgeon cannot be held criminally responsible (except in cases of gross ignorance or negligence) for the result of such executions, yet, if the commanding officer permits a single lash to be inflicted after the medical attendant has interposed, he would be held guilty of murder should the soldier die from the effects of excessive punishment; for malice will be presumed from such continuance after due notice.[108] In the notorious case of Governor _Wall_, who was executed for the murder of a soldier by excessive and illegal flogging; the punishment was originally unlawful, having been inflicted without sentence of a court martial, the mode of infliction was unusual, and the surgeon was stated to have been so much intimidated, that he was afraid to interfere, (a poor excuse for neglect of professional duty); under these circumstances, the plea that the deceased killed himself by excessive drinking, though the fact was far from improbable under the climate of _Goree_, was unavailable; the illegal flogging was the primary cause of the death, and therefore neither the effect of climate, misconduct, or mismanagement, could remove the original criminality. In this as in several other cases of death from ill-usage, it is a constant but unavailing plea that the deceased died not of the wounds or blows, but of fever, or defective treatment.[109]
On the subject of the tread-mill, we are not enabled to pronounce any very decided opinion, the invention has not been in use long enough to determine with any degree of accuracy its merits or defects; that it is held in considerable dread by offenders is certain, and the fear of returning to it may operate favourably on that class for which it appears best calculated, the regular vagabond; but it does not give any habit of industry, or teach any mode of labour to the merely idle or casually culpable, and therefore ought not to be indiscriminately applied to all cases. The punishment too is one of the most unequal in its operation that can be conceived; a man, who has been accustomed to running up stairs all his life, with good lungs and muscular legs, will scarcely suffer by it; while an asthmatic tailor, weaver, or other sedentary artizan will be half killed by the exercise. For women in certain stages, whether of menstruation or pregnancy, it is a dangerous and indecent torture, one which should immediately be forbidden, if not by the humanity of magistrates, by the wisdom of the legislature.