A CIVIL ADVOCATE FOR THE SERVICES.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."] Sra,—You have favoured with publicity my suggestion of a Civil Advocate for the Services, based on the idea that discipline and efficiency are best preserved and cultivated by a democratic recognition of intelligence and honour in all men, and the confirmation time has given to the fact that "the Spirit givetk life" where the mere letter of the law is but existence. Now, Sir, the historic Archer-Shee case, the more recent decision of Mr. Justice Acton in Leaman v. The King, and the vindication of the character of Lieutenant Turner, R.N., all go to prove what can be fought out if backed by money. But how many cases are hushed up and " concurred" in by reason of sterile departmentalism, if not the dishonesty and lack of courage on the part of Ministers? One road to making the Services popular, without wearing red coats, is to give the Service man a sense of citizenship, and I venture to think a Civil Advocate is more than ever a proven necessity.—I am, Sir, &o.,
PRIVATE.
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