to the end that the Person so committed may be removed by an Order from the Office of the said Secretary-at-War, and proceeded against according to Law; and such Justice shall also send to the Secretary-at-War a Report stating the Names of the Persons by whom or by or through whose Means the Deserter was apprehended and secured; and the Secretaryat-War shall transmit to such Justice an Order for the Payment to such Persons of such Sum not exceeding Forty Shillings as the Secretary-at-War shall be satisfied they are entitled to according to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act; and for such Information, Commitment, and Report as aforesaid the Clerk of the said Justice shall be entitled to a Fee of Two Shillings and no more; and every Gaoler and other Person into whose Custody any Person charged with Desertion is committed shall immediately upon the Receipt of the Person so charged into his Custody pay such Fee of Two Shillings, and also upon the Production of a Receipt from the Medical Practitioner who, in the Absence of a Military Medical Officer, may have been required to examine such suspected Person, a Fee of Two Shillings and Sixpence, and shall notify the Fact to the Secretary-at-War, and transmit also to the Secretary-at-War a Copy of the Commitment, to the end that such Secretary-at-War may order Repayment of such Fees; and when any such Person shall be apprehended and committed as a Deserter in any Part of Her Majesty's Foreign Dominions jesty's Foreign the Justice shall forthwith cause him to be conveyed to some public Prison, if the Regiment or Corps to which he is suspected to belong shall not be in such Part, or, if the Regiment or Corps be in such Part, the Justice may deliver him into Custody at the nearest Military Post if within reasonable Distance, although the Regiment to which such Person is suspected to belong may not be stationed at such Military Post; and such Justice shall in every Case transmit to the General or other Officer commanding a Descriptive Return in the Form prescribed in the Schedule to this Act annexed, to the end that such Person may be removed by Order of such Officer, and proceeded against according to Law.

In Her Ma

Dominions.

As to the tem- 35. Every Gaoler or Keeper of any public Prison, Gaol, porary CusHouse of Correction, Lock-up House, or other Place of Contody of Deserters in Gaols. finement in any Part of Her Majesty's Dominions, is hereby required to receive and confine therein every Deserter who shall be delivered into his Custody by any Soldier or other Person conveying such Deserter under lawful Authority, on Production of the Warrant of the Justice of the Peace on which such Deserter shall have been taken, or some Order from the Office of the Secretary-at-War, which Order shall continue in force until the Deserter shall have arrived at his Destination; and such Gaoler or Keeper shall be entitled to One Shilling for the safe Custody of the said Deserter while halted on the March, and to such Subsistence for his Maintenance as shall be directed by Her Majesty's Regulations.

36. Any

36. Any Recruit for Her Majesty's Army who shall desert Desertion of before joining the Regiment or Corps for which he has enlisted Recruits prior to joining their shall, on being apprehended, and committed for such Desertion Regiments or by any Justice of the Peace upon the Testimony of One or Corps. more Witnesses upon Oath, or upon his own Confession, forfeit his personal Bounty, and be liable to be transferred to any Regiment or Corps or Depôt nearest to the Place where he shall have been apprehended, or to any other Regiment or Corps to which Her Majesty may deem it more desirable that he should be transferred: Provided always, that such Deserters thus transferred shall not be liable to other Punishment for the Offence, or to any other Penalty except the Forfeiture of their personal Bounty.

Desertion.

37. Any Person who shall confess himself to be a Deserter Fraudulent from Her Majesty's Forces, or from Her Majesty's Indian Confession of Forces, or from the Embodied Militia, shall be liable to be taken before any Two Justices of the Peace acting for the County, District, City, Burgh, or Place where any such Person shall at any Time happen to be when he shall be brought before them, and on Proof that any such Confession as aforesaid was false, shall by the said Justices be adjudged to be punished, if in England as a Rogue and Vagabond, and if in Scotland or Ireland by Commitment to some Prison or House of Correction, there to be kept to Hard Labour for any Time not exceeding Three Calendar Months; and if, when such Person shall be brought before the said Justices, it shall be proved to their Satisfaction that such Confession, has been made, but Evidence of the Truth or Falsehood of such Confession shall not at that Time be forthcoming, such Justices are hereby required to remand such Person in the Manner herein-before mentioned, and to transmit a Statement of the Case to the Secretary of State for War, with a Request to be informed whether such Person appears to belong or to have belonged to the Regiment or Corps from which he shall have so confessed himself to have deserted; and a Letter from the War Office in reply thereto, referring to such Statement, and purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Secretary of State for War, shall be admissible in Evidence against such Person, and shall be deemed to be legal Evidence of the Facts stated therein, and on the Receipt thereof the said Justices shall forthwith proceed to adjudicate upon the Case.

ness.

38. When there shall not be any Military Officer of Rank Furlough in not inferior to Captain, or any Adjutant of Regular Militia, case of Sickwithin convenient Distance of the Place where any Noncommissioned Officer or Soldier on Furlough shall be detained by Sickness or other Casualty rendering necessary any Extension of such Furlough, it shall be lawful for any Justice who shall be satisfied of such Necessity to grant an Extension of Furlough for a Period not exceeding One Month; and the said Justice shall by Letter immediately certify such Extension and the Cause thereof to the Commanding Officer of the Corps or Detachment

No Person ac

quitted or convicted by the Civil Magistrate or by a

by a Court

martial for the same Offence.

Detachment to which such Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier belongs, if known, and if not then to the Agent of the Regiment or Corps, in order that the proper Sum may be remitted to such Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier, who shall not during the Period of such Extension of Furlough be liable to be treated as a Deserter: Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt any Soldier from Trial and Punishment, according to the Provisions of this Act, for any false Representation made by him in that Behalf to the said Justice, or for any Breach of Discipline committed by him in applying for and obtaining the said Extension of Furlough.

39. No Person subject to this Act, having been acquitted or convicted of any Crime or Offence by the Civil Magistrate, or by the Verdict of a Jury, shall be liable to be again convicted for the same Crime or Offence by a Court-martial, or Jury to be tried to be punished for the same otherwise than by cashiering in the Case of a Commissioned Officer, or in the Case of a Warrant Officer by Reduction to an inferior Class or to the Rank of a Private Soldier by Order of the Commander-in-Chief, or in the Case of a Non-commissioned Officer by Reduction to the Ranks by Order of the Commander-in-Chief or of the Colonel, or in the Militia by Order of the appointed Commandant of the Regiment or Corps; and whenever any Officer or Soldier shall have been tried by any Court of ordinary Criminal Jurisdiction, the Clerk of such Court or other Officer having the Custody of the Records of such Court, or the Deputy of such Clerk, shall, if required by the Officer commanding the Regiment or Corps to which such Officer or Soldier shall belong, transmit to him a Certificate, setting forth the Offence of which the Prisoner was convicted, together with the Judgment of the Court thereon if such Officer or Soldier shall have been convicted, or of the Acquittal of such Officer or Soldier, and shall be allowed for such Certificate a Fee of Three Shillings.

Soldiers liable to be taken out of Her Ma

jesty's Service only for Felony, Misdemeanor, or for Debts

amounting to 30l. and upwards.

Soldiers not

liable to be taken out of Her Ma

40. Any Person attested for Her Majesty's Army or Her Majesty's Indian Army, or serving on the permanent Staff of the Disembodied Militia other than as a Commissioned Officer, shall be liable to be taken out of Her Majesty's Service only by Process or Execution on account of any Charge of Felony or of Misdemeanor, or of any Crime or Offence other than the Misdemeanor of refusing to comply with an Order of Justices for the Payment of Money, or on account of an original Debt proved by Affidavit of the Plaintiff or of some one on his Behalf to amount to the Value of Thirty Pounds at the least, over and above all Costs of Suit, such Affidavit to be sworn, without Payment of any Fee, before some Judge of the Court out of which Process or Execution shall issue, or before some Person authorized to take Affidavits in such Court, of which Affidavit, when duly filed in such Court, a Memorandum shall, without Fee, be endorsed upon the Back of such Process, stating the Facts sworn to, and the Day of filing such Affidavit; but no Soldier or other Person as aforesaid shall be liable by any Pro

cess

Justice of the Peace or other jesty's Service

301., or for not

of Contract.

cess whatever to appear before any Authority whatever, or to be taken out of Her Majesty's Service for Debts under by any Writ, Summons, Warrant, Order, Judgment, Execution, maintaining or any Process whatsoever issued by or by the Authority of their Families, any Court of Law, or any Magistrate, Justice or Justices of or for Breach the Peace, or any other Authority whatsoever, for any original Debt not amounting to Thirty Pounds, or for not supporting or maintaining, or for not having supported or maintained, or for leaving or having left chargeable to any Parish, Township, or Place, or to the Common Fund of any Union, any Relation or Child which such Soldier or Person might, if not in Her Majesty's Service, be compellable by Law to relieve or maintain, or for neglecting to pay to the Mother of any Bastard Child, or to any Person who may have been appointed to have the Custody of such Child, any Sum to be paid in pursuance of an Order on that Behalf, or for the Breach of any Contract, Covenant, Agreement, or other Engagement whatever, by Parol or in Writing, or for having left or deserted his Employer or Master, or his Contract, Work, or Labour, except in the Case of an Apprentice, or of an indentured Labourer, as herein-after described; and all Summonses, Warrants, Commitments, Indictments, Convictions, Judgments, and Sentences, on account of any of the Matters for which it is herein declared that a Soldier or other Person as aforesaid is not liable to be taken out of Her Majesty's Service, shall be utterly illegal, and null and void, to all Intents and Purposes; and any Judge of any such Court may examine into any Complaint made by a Soldier or by his Superior Officer, and by Warrant under his Hand discharge such Soldier, without Fee, he being shown to have been arrested contrary to the Intent of this Act, and shall award reasonable Costs to such Complainant, who shall have for the Recovery thereof the like Remedy as would have been applicable to the Recovery of any Costs which might have been awarded against the Complainant in any Judgment or Execution as aforesaid, or a Writ of Habeas corpus ad subjiciendum shall be awarded or issued, and the Discharge of any such Soldier out of Custody shall be ordered thereupon; provided that any Plaintiff, upon Notice of the Cause of Action first given in Writing to any Soldier, or left at his last Quarters, may proceed in any Action or Suit to Judgment, and have Execution other than against the Body or Military Necessaries or Equipments of such Soldier; provided also, that nothing herein contained relating to the leaving or deserting a Master or Employer, or to the Breach of any Contract, Agreement, or Engagement, shall apply to Persons who shall be really and bona fide Apprentices, duly bound, under the Age of Twenty-one Years, or to indentured Labourers, as herein-after prescribed.

41. No Person who shall be commissioned and in full Pay Officers not to as an Officer shall be capable of being nominated or elected to to be Sheriffs or Mayors. be Sheriff of any County, Borough, or other Place, or to be D

[No. 4. Price 2d.]

Mayor,

Questions to be put to Recruits

on enlisting.

Recruits when deemed to be enlisted.

When Recruits to be taken before a Justice.

Dissent and
Relief from
Enlistment.

Mayor, Portreeve, Alderman, or to hold any Office in any
Municipal Corporation in any City, Borough, or Place in Great
Britain or Ireland.

42. Every Person authorized to enlist Recruits shall first ask the Person offering to enlist, whether he belongs to the Militia, and also such other Questions as the Military Authorities may direct to be put to Recruits, and shall immediately after giving him Enlisting Money serve him with a Notice in the Form set forth in the Schedule to this Act annexed.

43. Every Person who shall receive Enlisting Money in manner aforesaid, knowing it to be such, shall, subject to the Provisions herein-after contained, upon such Receipt be deemed to be enlisted as a Soldier in Her Majesty's Service, and while he shall remain with the Recruiting Party shall be entitled to be billeted.

44. Every Person so enlisted as aforesaid shall within Ninety-six Hours (any intervening Sunday, Christmas Day, or Good Friday not included), but not sooner than Twenty-four Hours after such Enlistment, appear, together with some Person employed in the Recruiting Service, before a Justice of the Peace, not being an Officer of the Army, in order that he may be attested by making the Declaration and taking the Oath herein-after mentioned, or may have an Opportunity of objecting to his Enlistment; and upon such Appearance, the Justice or some Person deputed by him shall fill up the Declaration set forth in the Schedule to this Act annexed, first asking the Recruit the Questions that are requisite for that Purpose, and cautioning him that if he should make any wilfully false Answer thereto he will be liable to be punished as a Rogue and Vagabond.

45. When a Recruit upon appearing before a Justice for the Purposes aforesaid shall dissent from or object to his Enlistment, and shall satisfy the Justice that the same was effected in any respect irregularly, he shall forthwith discharge the Recruit absolutely, and shall report such Discharge to the Inspecting Field Officer of the District, or in the Case of a Recruit enlisted at the Head Quarters or Depôt of a Regiment to the Officer commanding the same; but if the Recruit so dissenting shall not allege or shall not satisfy the Justice that the Enlistment was effected irregularly, nevertheless, upon Repayment of the Enlisting Money, and of any Sum received by him in respect of Pay, and of a further Sum of Twenty Shillings as Smart Money, he will be entitled to be discharged, and the Sum paid by such Recruit upon his Discharge shall be kept by the Justice, and, after deducting therefrom One Shilling as the Fee for reporting the Payment to the Secretary of State for War and to the Inspecting Field Officer of the District, shall be paid over to any Person belonging to the Recruiting Party who may demand the same; and the Justice who shall discharge any Recruit shall in every Case give a Certificate thereof, signed with his Hand, to the Recruit, specifying the Cause thereof.