tttftr fa flit Etitnr.
A BRITISH LEGION.
23d January 1859. Bin—I thank you for having inserted my letter on the Enlistment of Soldiers in your columns, for I consider the subject of great national im- portance. Rumours that the Goveniment have it in contemplation to ask per- mission of Parliament to raise anotherforeign Legion are in circulation, but it is the duty of the press generally to oppose such a plan being carried out, and to show our rulers that there are thousands of fine young men in our -own country, belonging to the various grades and conditions of life, who would gladly enrol themselves as soldiers, in preference to following a la- borious occupation, provided they were assured that they would associate only with men of good moral character in the regiment in which they might serve. Gentlemen who are scrupulous in the formation of their own acquaint- ance, even to the extent of not speaking to a fellow-student at the Uni- versity without previously haying hada formal introduction, should not he insensible to the predilections of the classes beneath them in the social state in their selection of associates ; moreover it is natural that men of good moral character should repudiate the idea of associating on equal terms in the same barrack-room with blackguards, pickpockets and bur- glars, whom it might possibly be their lot to encounter in some regiments. I should further observe, that for the sake of obtaining the very question- able military service of a few thousand scoundrels—who when enlisted fre- quently endeavour to desert—the discipline of the army is rendered more severe than otherwise would be necessary; for, as the sailing of a convoy must be regulated by the slowest sailing ship, in like manner the discipline of a regiment must be regulated so as to coerce into subjection the greatest rascals that may belong to it ; whereby the well conducted soldier is exposed to petty annoyances of discipline equally with the soldier of bad character, his existence is rendered more or lees miserable, the profession of arms is degraded in public estimation, and good men are reluctant to enlist, ex- cepting they may be ignorant of the sort of life they are about to enter upon, when grievous disappointment will probably. ensue. We shall undoubtedly avoid having recourse again to foreign Legions, for it is well to remark that we have lost prestige on the continent by that mea- sure during the late war, as foreigners naturally conclude therefrom that we are unable to defend our own country and to fight our own battles else- where unassisted, therefore that we are not a military nation in the pro- fessional sense of the term. The contrary, however, is the fact, as would be proved were the martial spirit of the country properly developed. The recruiting system should undergo a thorough reform : until, however, that be brought about and regiments weeded of their worthless and disrepu- table characters, it behoves the government to encourage the formation of a special corps, composed exclusively of British subjects of good moral con- duct.
Your obedient humble servant, W. B. C.
Previous page
