Who governs the British Army? We pay for it, but
who governs it? Last Thursday week Sir J. Pakington consented to limit flogging to men reduced from the first class, that is, to about a tenth of the Army, and to confine it to cases of mutiny, insubor- dination with violence, and gross indecency. On Monday, how- ever, he came down and proposed to confine the offences liable to flogging to the first two, but for them to bring the whole Army within the range of the lash. He carried this by a desperate use of the whip without a division, and every British soldier is there- fore once more liable to the lash. It is understood that the change is made in accordance with the will of the Duke of Cambridge, who thus, in fact, not only commands the Army, but legislates for it. His Royal Highness is wrong, even from his own point of view, for the day recruiting ceases, and it will cease if the lash is continued, the Army will be changed into a Parliamentary depart- ment. He can coerce the Cabinet apparently, but who is to coerce the "householders," once alarmed?
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