ENLISTMENT OF SOLDIERS.
10111 January 1859.
Six—In one of the leading articles of the Naval and Military Gazette of the llth of last month I observed the following : viz. "The extent to which desertion is carried is hardly known out of the Adjutant-General's office, but the Regimental Returns and Reports indisputably prove that above ten-thousand men annually now desert from the Army. No doubt a very large portion of these deserters consists of the traders in enlistments,— men who take bounties only to desert and re-enlist."
The same authority informs us this week that ten thousand men are ac- tually required to complete the establishment of the army, and that there is no prospect whatever of our being able to obtain them. I venture there- fore, with your kind permission, to declare through the medium of your columns my decided conviction that, if her Majesty were to authorize a special corps to be raised—a British Legion—in which no man would be ad- mitted unless he could produce testimonials as to his moral character equal to those required of a man previous to his being admitted into the Metropo- politan Police force, there would be no difficulty experienced in obtaining the number of men required, without even enticing them into the service by offering them increase of pay over that of the infantry and cavalry of the line, or any other privilege whatever ; the gist of the matter being that respectable men are more or less reluctant to enlist, knowing that they may be obliged to associate with many soldiers of questionable moral character in the generality of regiments, as the army unhappily is at present constituted. From such a Legion, it may safely be predicted, an enlisted soldier would never desert.
Your obedient humble servant, W. B. C.
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