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Aug. 25, I860.] 2Vie Saturday Analyst an...
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THE NAVAL DISCIPLINE BILL. THE Naval Dis...
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THE MAYOR AND THE VOLUNTEERS. THE peace-...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Aug. 25, I860.] 2vie Saturday Analyst An...
Aug . 25 , I 860 . ] 2 Vie Saturday Analyst and Leader . 747
The Naval Discipline Bill. The Naval Dis...
THE NAVAL DISCIPLINE BILL . THE Naval Discip line Bill is a somewhat tardy and insufficient , but nevertheless , welcome concession to the enlightened spirit of the times . As Lord C , Paget explained , on introducing-this measure to the House " of Commons , naval discipline is administered under a law , which , with trifling exceptions , is two hundred years old , and which is , in many respects , of a very barbarous and arbitrary character . The new Bill will correct an absurd restriction upon holding Courts Martial , which can at pi-esent only take place when fire ships are present , and then only one such court could be Ixeld . at a time . According to the new Bill , the presence of three ships will be sufficient , lieutenants will be empowered to sit on Courts Martial , and two or more may be held at one time . Under the old law certain grave offences could only be punished with death ; under the new one the Courts may award penal servitude , or some other severe sentence short of a capital one . In . dealing with mutiny , the new Bill avoids defining the offence . Originally , as drawn by the Admiralty , it did define it as the crime of two or more persons acting in combination ; but wheii the Bill came before the Committee of the House of Lords , those * ' potent , grave , and reverend seignors " thought vagueness better than precision , and objected to any definition at all . the Government has accepted their views , and according to Lord C . Paget , u the highest legal authorities " will still " feel great difficulty in saying what is and what is not Mutiny . " The offence of" Desertion "is to be left equally unsettled ; but the sailor will have some security , as the Bill makes " absence without leave" a separatey if not a distinct offence , It could not be expected th . at the naval authorities would consent to give up the amusement of flogging ; why should they , when no less than 10 , 000 men . voluntarily entered the service last year ? Some improvements are however to be made ; the number of lashes is ' to ; , berestricted to four dozen * and previous to their administration , one or two officers are to inquire into the case , and report their opinion to the , captain , who will then act according to his own discretion . This will constitute some little safeguard against the brutality of a martinet captain , / but it catinpt satisfy public opinion—nor indeed can anything short of the entire abolitioTri of the objecr tionable process of tearing the flesh off men's backs , in the vain expectation of improving their minds . Lord G- Paoet congratulated the House at ' the fact that flogging was dying out . In 1856 , our naval authorities flogged one man out of every thirty-nine committed to their care . In 1 S 57 , they were satisfied witb applyingthis torture to onein every forty-two . In 18 p 8 , the proportion sank a little lower * arid was one in forty-eight : while in 1859 , they only flogged one in every sixty-seven . Sir C . Napier , who always comes in like a skeleton at the Admiralty feast , dispelled the pleasing illusion that the growth of good conduct . was causing the death of that . cat , which seems to have moi'e lives than tails , by telling the House that ' < discipline in the navy wns very much relaxed indeed . At no time since the conclusion of the last war , were there so many instances of insubordination and irregularity as at the present moment . Drunkenness , too , had increased very much ! " We do not doubt the truth of the old Admiral ' s assertions , but we want to know the cause of this lamentable state of things , and especially why " desertion has got to such a pitch that it was perfectly impossible for the officers to prevent it . " "We should like to know whether this comes from a bad quality of the men , or from tho bad method of treating the men , or from both conjoined . Sir C . Nai'IEK complains of the impossibility of maintainiiig discipline " when honourable gentlemen were crying out to do away with corporal punishment ; " but that punishment undoubtedly lowers the class of men whom it is possible to enlist , and if its existence frightens some bad men away from crimes , it frightens good men away from the service , and thus does far more harm than good . There ought to be nothing in the naval service ot England to make it an object of dread , and when officers flog men to prevent their running away , it is a convincing proof that the system is radically bad . The ^ njival service ^ jug ht in every reFpecFtoT " n ^ p l ^ foFa ^ If sliouTd ™ secure for the men better food , lodging-, and treatment than the average of private ships are likely to supply , with the further advantage of giving permanent employment . In France the best seamon can be obtained by compulsion . In England we cannot now adopt these violent measures , and we muBt either have a great many bad seamen on board our ships , or make the navy bo popular as to attract the best . At present , it must be admitted that wo fail to a very large extent , and if
the prospect of war rendered it necessary to obtain a large number of men quickly , we should fill our ships with the same sort of crews that sailed under Sir C . Napier in the Baltic , and who would iiot for . many months be fit to meet an enemy , on equal terms . Neither the navy nor the army can be effectually reformed until we have a very improved Parliament , that will set its face ' against the abuse of patronage , and riot permit either Courts or Cabinets to make it the means of purchasing political influence . The flogging system is partly , if not chiefly , maintained to compensate for want of skill and attention on the part of the officers ; and this fact is so well known in high quarters , that no Government has hitherto consented to publish the names of the officers in the flogging returns . The successful management of large masses of men under any circumstances , and especially on board a ship , requires peculiar talent and unremitting industry , and promotions should be made to depend upon the possession of the necessary aptitude as well as upon mere professional skill . No officer should be allowed to remain in command who cannot preserve order without frequent punishment ; and , unless clear proof can be afforded to the contrary , the insubordination or inefficiency , of a crew should always be presumed to prove the unfitness of those in command . It would not be expedient to make the House of Commons , either directly or indirectly , the source of employment or promotion ; but it can and ought to be an excellent check against abuse ; and wherever promotions do not take place in consequence of seniority , the Executive should be called upon to publish a list of the services of the person promoted , and also ¦ a list of all other officers of the same rank and equal or longer standing , who have been passed over . It would also be well toappoint a Committeeeach . . Session ;; to examine into the way in which the patronage of the Government had been exercised . If a war occurred , we should be in more danger from the corrupt abuse of patronage , than from all other sources put ' together . ; ¦ . ' ' ¦ . ¦; .- ¦ ¦ ¦ ' . _ ¦¦' . ' :. ¦ . - ¦ '¦' -, . . ¦ . ' - . •¦ ¦ ' - . ¦' . ' . ¦ ¦ '¦ - ; " .. - :
The Mayor And The Volunteers. The Peace-...
THE MAYOR AND THE VOLUNTEERS . THE peace-at-any-price party are mad enough in all conscience ;; but those bitten by Mr . Ukqxthart are far uradder than those bitten by Mr . Bright . The Mayor of Gateshcad , Mr . George Ceawshay , appears anxious to make this proposition distinctly understood , and accordingly has made a pretty quarrel with Mr . Baxter Langley , the Editor and Publisher of the Neivcastle Daily Chronicle . It apjjears that Mr . Laxgley published , in that journal some articles likely to encourage British Volunteers to join , Garibat . di which is as heinous an offence in the eyes of Mr . Urqtjhart as it is in those of the Pope . In the articles alluded to Mr . Lau ; gi . ey carefully avoided overstepping the law , and pointed out distinctly enough that enlistment in England would be illegal . There was , however , he said , nbthiiig to prevent Englishmen going to Sicily , if they pleased , or when there joining Garibaldi if they liked . For these articles Mr . GeorgeCrawsiiay , who happens—rto the discredit of the place , to be Mayor of Gates- . head— -applied for a warrant against Mr . Langi-ey in the Newcastle Police Court , andseems to have excited much , merriment among tho good folks of that radical and enlightened town . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦¦' , > ¦ ¦ .. ., ¦¦ .. ' ;• . ¦ ¦ Mr . CiiA-NysiiAY contended , that Mr . Langeey had , by publishing the matter wo have described , subjected himself to tli , c penalties of a misdemeanour under the 59 Geo . III ., cnp . 6 ii . The question was whether such writings , addressed , to the world at large , did amount to an attempt to " hire , engage , and procure" any one to enlist contrary to the aforesaid Act . The Mayor of Newcastle and bis colleagues , after a short consultation , decided that they did not : thereupon Mr . Crawshay declared that ho should carry his case to the Court of Queen ' s Bench . Our readers are probably aware that , according to Mr . UaQUHARTand his followers , Gauibai ^ di is merely an instrument of Russia , and that Lord Palmerston is well paid by the Czar for the aBsistance ho has given to the Sicilian raovensrentr ^ ltir therefoTG ~ amatter of tharapst" serious-imporfcauce— -- — to help Austria and the Pope , who are the true friendo qf liberty , and to denounce Garibaldi , Mazzini , Kossuth , Victor Emmanuel , Lord Palmeuston , and we suppose also , Lord J . Russell , as traitors and onoinios to human right . Wo belioyo that there are half-a-dozen persons besides Mr George CitAwsirAV , aufficiently demoined to belief this ridiculous nonsenso ; but it remained for tho Mayor of Gateahead to ussail tho liberty of the proas , and try to mako a
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25081860/page/3/
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