Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/649

] Royal Military Asylum at Chelsea is also a normal school and training institution for army schoolmasters.

Administration of Justice—Justice-Advocate-General's Department—Military Prisons. Justice is administered by the commissioned officers of the army : by the commanding officer for minor offences, and by regimental, district, or general courts-martial for more serious crimes. (See .) The administration of justice as pertaining to discipline falls under the Adjutant- General s branch of the department of the Commander-in- Chief. But to ensure these disciplinary powers being exer cised in strict conformity with the law, a Judge- Advocate- General, a legal adviser to the Crown and to the Com- mander-in-Cbief, is appointed by patent. This officer is usually a lawyer of high standing, having a seat in the House of Commons, holding his office as a member of the Government, and quitting office with his party. His de partment includes a deputy judge-advocate-general, who is also a lawyer and civilian, and three deputy judge-advo cates, military officers ; of the latter, two are attached to the Judge- Advocate-General s office in London, and one to the Commauder-in-Chief in Ireland. A separate Judge- Advocate s department is maintained in India, where deputy judge-advocates are appointed to every important command. All general courts-martial held at home are sent to the Judge- Advocate-General, to be by him submitted to the Queen for confirmation ; and all district courts- martial, after having been confirmed and promulgated, are sent to his office for examination and custody. The Judge- Advocate-General and his deputy, being judges in the last resort of the validity of the proceedings of courts-martial, take no part in their conduct ; but the deputy judge-advo cates frame and revise charges, and attend at general courts-martial. The punishments that can be awarded to officers and soldiers for various offences are detailed in the Mutiny Act, the Articles of War, and the Queen s Regulations. A commanding officer can &quot; reprimand &quot; a commissioned officer, but can award him no other punishment. Arrest is not, as in most armies, recognised as a punishment, but is merely a preliminary to further proceedings. An officer, on the commission of an offence, is placed under arrest that is, deprived of his sword and confined to his room until the matter has been investigated and disposed of, or sent before a court-martial. A commissioned officer can be tried by a general court-martial only, and can be sen tenced to death, penal servitude, imprisonment, cashiering, or dismissal, reduction on list of his rank, or reprimand. A soldier, on commission of an offence, is placed in confinement that is, deprived of his arms and confined in the guard-room. At &quot;orders&quot; (i.e., commanding officer s oifice hours) the next morning he is brought before the commanding officer, and the case investigated in presence of the officer commanding his troop or company, the adjutant, and the prisoner. If the offence is a minor one the commanding officer disposes of it summarily; his powers including admonition, confinement to barracks for periods not exceeding 28 days, carrying with it punishment drill up to 14 days, imprisonment not exceeding 168 hours, and stoppage of pay for absence. Drunkenness is punished by fines ranging from 2s. 6d. to 10s. If the offence is more serious, the man is remanded to the guard room while the necessary steps are being taken for bringing him to trial, and is finally tried by a regimental, district, or general court-martial, according to the nature of the offence. The punishments that can be inflicted by court- martial are death, penal servitude for any period not less than five years, imprisonment for any period not exceeding trvvo years, dismissal from the service, stoppages of pay, and forfeitures of pay, medals, service, &c. Flogging nas been abolished except on active, .service, as also branding, and all such disgraceful punishments. Practically, military offences, with very few exceptions, are disposed of by regimental or districts courts-martial, and by sentences of imprisonment not exceeding six months. A non-commis sioned officer can only be reduced and punished by sentence of court-martial. Sentences of penal servitude awarded to soldiers are carried out in the convict prisons with other convicts ; but sentences of imprisonment are usually carried out in the military prisons. Military prisons were established in 1844, in order to avoid the necessity of mixing soldiers sentenced for military offences with ordinary criminals in county gaols. They are of two classes, the larger ones being under a governor, and the smaller ones under a chief warder. They are under the control of the Secretary of State for War, and under the immediate supervision of the officer commanding on the station (acting as his repre sentative) and of the military visitors, field officers serving at the station, by whom the prisons are periodically visited, and all serious offences investigated and punished. They are also inspected from time to time by the Govern ment inspectors of convict prisons. There are eight military prisons in the United Kingdom, and six in the colonies ; and the number of prisoners has recently ave raged about 12 per 1000. Besides these prisons, &quot;provost cells &quot; are provided in every large barrack, in which short sentences of imprisonment not exceeding 28 or 42 days are carried out under the charge of a provost-sergeant.

Barracks. In the earlier days of the standing army the barrack accommodation in England was altogether insufficient for the force maintained, and such as there was, was miserably bad. A considerable portion of the army was constantly billeted, camped, or lodged in buildings hired for the- time, and every proposal to bxiild barracks was jealously opposed in Parliament. Thus, in 1704 the total accommodation in barracks was only sufficient for 5000 men, and in 1792 did not exceed 20,000; but dunng the long war with France, partly in consequence of the largo force kept permanently under arms, and partly also in consequence of the fears aroused by the revolutionary spirit which had penetrated into many of the large towns, barracks were constructed in all parts of the kingdom, and after the peace the accommodation far exceeded the wants of the army. Many barracks were then dismantled and sold, and others were allowed to fall into disrepair; but little was done towards improving the condition of the existing barracks until the Crimean war brought the army into notice again, and attention was drawn to the heavy rate of mortality among soldiers in peace time, mainly attributable to the defective construction and overcrowd ing of barracks. New barracks on improved designs were then built, and existing ones altered and reappropriated, so as to allow each man at least 600 cubic feet of air, and, in addition, provide recreation-rooms and other resorts for the soldier during the day. The following estimate of the number and size of rooms required for a battalion of infantry on peace establishment will show the accommodation provided in modern barracks : Officers. Messroom, 45 feet x 25 feet, and 18 feet high ; ante-room, 24 feet x 18 feet; kitchen, servants rooms, larder, altogether 13 rooms and cellars, &c. Commanding officer s quarters 6 rooms, of from 16 feet x 14 feet to 18 feetx!6 feet. Two field officers quarters 3 rooms each; 30 officers quarters of one room each (often made with a recess or bunk for the bed), and 15 rooms for officers servants. Sergeants. Messroom, 40 feet x 2C 