OF THE MILITARY AND MARITIME STATES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 132, 24 July 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

OF THE MILITARY AND MARITIME STATES.

(From the Comic Slackstone.) The military state includes the whole of the soldiery from the commander-in-chief down to the raw recruit, or the private who has the honor of being stationed at the post of the barrack gate, who is alluded to by the poet in the fine line—- “ The post of honour is a private station.” _ In a free country, it is said that the soldier is an object of jealousy, chiefly, we suppose, on account of the impression made by a red coat upon the fair sex. As to any other kind of jealousy the soldier creates, we are certainly not aware of it, unless it be the natural jealousy felt by a policeman at the superiority of the steel bayonet over the wooden staff, and the cartridge box over the lantern. The soldier does not put off the citizen when he becomes a soldier, and consequently many of our gallant army whose wives are washerwomen carry out the clothes in time of peace, and others lend a hand in the mangling, which, according to the old jurists, is not out of character with their slaughtering propensities. The laws of this country do not recognise a standing army ; so that even when on service the soldiers are said to go to the seat of war, thus showing that a standing army is never contemplated.

We have already, in a former chapter, spoken of the necessity a Knight was under to go for a soldier in case of war, but in peace the country was protected by a statute of Henry the Second making it obligatory on every man to keep a certain quantity of arms, but it does not appear that there was any law insisting upon his knowing the use of them. These persons were, however, now and then called out, arms and all; and it is presumed this was done, as Camden hints, “to enjoye a joyke at ye expensse of ye people.” Martial Law is a sort of law in which the military authorities do as they like with their own, and hang soldiers wholesale for the sake of preserving discipline. This can only be done in time of war ; and it is now quite settled that if a lieutenant hang a private for the mere fun of the thing in time of peace it would be murder, for it is against Magna Charta; so that it is fortunate for the heads of Her Majesty’s foot that Magna Charta was hit upon. There is an annual Mutiny Act which provides for the government of the army, and according to this any soldier shamefully deserting a post —such as walking away from the gate-post at Gore Browne Barracks, or sleeping on the said post (he must be a deuced clever fellow to manage that), or giving advice to a rebel (unless perhaps he advised a rebel to be off about his business), or making signs to the enemy (though surely he might shake his fist at the foe), would be liable to any punishment from death downwards to a drill, or from the strong room upwards to the scaffold.

There are, however, privileges belonging to the soldier, such as a right of making a will when on actual service, by merely saying how he wishes to dispose of his property ; so that, on the field of battle, if a soldier sees a cannon ball coming towards his head, he has only to say “ I give and bequeath all I have to so and so,” and if any of his comrades should have heard what he said, and lived to repeat it and remember exactly what it was, there is no doubt the will would be a very good will in its way, and certainly quite strong enough to convey as much property as would probably be left by The soldier who lives on his pay, And spends half-a-crown out of sixpence a day. The Maritime state is the next topic we have to touch upon ; and when we think of the glory of the Navy, the valor of the British tar, the hearts of oak, and all the rest of it, our timbers naturally begin to shiver, and we involuntarily go through a sort of naval hornpipe as a tribute to the maritime powers of Britannia, who has ruled the whole waves, and nothing but the waves, from time immemorial.

The mode of manning the Navy is, in time of war, to resort to the liberty of the Press, or, in other words, to seize hold of any one who comes in the way, and make a “ heart of oak” of him, whether his heart may be disposed to sympathzie with wainscoating or not, and to turn 3dm at once into a British tar, by pitching him on board a vessel. It has recently been enacted that no seaman shall serve more than three years against his will, unless he is made to serve longer, and then he must; so this boon to impressed seamen helps them out of their difficultymuchinthesamewayas the Irishman lengthening his ladder by cutting a bit from the top and joining It on at the bottom. The privileges of soldiers and seamen are great, for if a soldier loses his arms in battle, there

is Chelsea Hospital to lend him a hand; and a sailor who is deprived of both his legs by a cannon ball, has nothing to do but quietly walk into Greenwich.