The House of Commons made considerable way with the --clauses
of the Army Discipline and Regulation Bill on Thurs- day. Some half-dozen Members, dreading quiet Constitutional -changes, and suspicious of martial law creeping into places where it has no right to be, are watching the Bill closely, and the notice- paper bristles with amendments,—originaRy 150 in all. The Government accepted one or two of them. One of them was an amendment to the effect that "conduct unbecoming an -officer and a gentleman" should not be punished by imprison- ment, as Sir Henry Thring, the draughtsman, had. indicated in the Bill, but by cashiering. A long discussion took place on the question whether, as the Bill, proposes, officers can be punished for drunkenness when off duty, but the Government adhered to their view, and rightly so, we think Common soldiers are liable to such punishment, so are officers of the Royal Navy, and it would be intolerable if a captain in Gibraltar or Malta were free to go about the streets intoxicated in public, while a thirsty pri- vate who did so would be liable to arrest. The interest in the Bill is a good deal diminished by the pledge which Colonel Stanley gave on Thursday week that he would issue regulations for the guidance of Courts of Inquiry, which would direct them, among other things, to report facts and not opinions, and would, enable the officer accused to be present and put questions. Courts of Inquiry have their uses, but we may hope that the Duke of Wellington's wish, that an officer would never again be tried by them, will be at last fulfilled.
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