ance, and quartering of soldiers. The Act provides that nothing contained in it shall exempt any officer or soldier from being proceeded against by the ordinary course of law for felony or misdemeanour; and any commanding officer who wilfully neglects to assist the officers of justice in arresting officers or soldiers under their command, accused of such offences, is liable to be cashiered.

The Articles of War authorized by the provisions of the Mutiny Act just mentioned, define a large number of offences, and annex to them various punishments not extending to life and limb. These articles are framed from time to time at the pleasure of the Crown, and thus materially differ from the articles of the navy, which are directly enacted by Parliament, and contain a complete code of laws of naval discipline. Blackstone remarks that "from whence this distinction arose, and why the Executive power, which is limited so properly with regard to the navy, should be so extensive with regard to the army, it is hard to assign a reason, unless it proceeded from the permanent establishment of the navy, which rendered a permanent law for their regulation expedient; and the temporary duration of the army, which subsisted only from year to year, and might therefore with less danger be subjected to discretionary government. But whatever was apprehended at the first formation of the Mutiny Act, the regular renewal of our standing force at the entrance of every year has made this distinction idle" (a).

The administration of military affairs is distributed among (a) 1 Commentaries, 420.

The annual renewal of the Mutiny Act has been a frequent theme of eulogium among writers on the Constitution. It may however be reasonably doubted whether constitutional liberty gains any real addition to its security by an annual repetition of all the clauses of the Mutiny Act. The only part of it of which the annual repetition is essential, is the enumeration of the number of troops. This opinion seems warranted by the consideration that though the navy has a permanent Mutiny Act, the amount of naval force is as much under the control of Parliament as is that of the army.

various executive offices, which are of two kinds, civil ana military the former providing for the subordination of the army to the executive, and superintending all the civi relations of the army; the latter having the immediate military government of the army.

A great alteration of the constitution of the offices by which the civil affairs of the army are administered, was effected in the years 1854-5. Previously to describing the changes then made, it will be convenient to refer to the former administration of the army. The departments upon which the duties of that administration devolved were principally that of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies that of the Secretary-at-War-the Ordnance Office-the Commissariat-and the office of the Commander-in-Chief.

Up to the year 1854, as has been already stated in the chapter relating to the secretarial departments, the Secretary of State for the Colonies was Secretary of State for War also. The orders of the Executive Government as to the employment of military forces were communicated to the military authorities either by this Secretary or the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who communicated with the Commander-in-Chief and the Master-General of the Ordnance on all points connected with the internal defence of the country, and the protection of its foreign possessions. The Colonial Secretary submitted to the Crown the advice of its ministers as to the military force to be kept up, and made known to the Commander-in-Chief the establishment thus decided upon. In time of war, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies corresponded with officers in command on foreign service, and conveyed to them the orders of the Executive Government (a).

(a) The account of the former administration of the army, given in this and following paragraphs, is almost entirely abstracted from the statutes cited, and the Report, in 1837, of Commissioners appointed to inquire "into the practicability and expediency of consolidating the different departments connected with the civil administration of the army."

The Secretary-at-War had principally financial duties, which consisted in preparing and submitting to Parliament the army estimates, and in checking the details of military expenditure. The expenditure of the sums granted by Parliament for the army was sanctioned by warrants signed by the Secretary-at-War, and addressed to the PaymasterGeneral. The accounts of regimental paymasters and other officers charged with payments of different parts of the service, were examined and audited in the office of the Secretary-at-War.

The financial duties of the Secretary-at-War are principally regulated by statute. By 23 Geo. III. c. 50, the Secretary-at-War is required to form estimates of the charges of the annual services of the army, and to transmit copies of the estimates, when agreed upon, to the PaymasterGeneral; to whom also he is required to transmit accounts of the officers and privates in each corps of the army, and estimates of money required for recruiting, and other army expenses. The paymaster of every regiment is required to transmit to the agent of the regiment accounts of its expenditure; and the agent makes up annual accounts of the receipts and expenditure of each corps at home or abroad, and transmits them to the Secretary-at-War. In his department these accounts are examined, and they are thence transmitted to the Paymaster-General, with certificates of the several charges allowed in them.

Besides his financial duties, the Secretary-at-War had certain duties of attending to the due execution of military law, and as to appointments in the army. With respect to these appointments, however, his duties were almost formal; and the power of recommending such appointments to the Crown belonged, as it still belongs, to the Commander-inChief. The Report of 1837, above cited, refers to disputes which had recurred at frequent intervals during many years between the departments of the Secretary-at-War and the Commander-in-Chief, as to the extent of their respective duties and authority.

The Ordnance Office had two distinct classes of functions. These were, firstly, those of the Master-General of the Ordnance, who was the head of the Department; and, secondly, those of the Board, of which the legal designation was "the principal officers of her Majesty's Ordnance" (a).

The Master-General of the Ordnance directed, personally, and without the assistance of the Board, all those matters with reference to the Corps of Artillery and Engineers, which, as to the rest of the army, belonged to the Commander-in-Chief.

Independently of these military duties of the MasterGeneral, there were important civil duties which devolved upon the whole Board, and related to the whole army and navy. The Board superintended the supply of artillery, arms, and ammunition to both services, and had the custody, and was charged with the supply, of military stores and army clothing. The Board also superintended the construction and repair of fortifications, military works, and barracks.

The powers of the Board of Ordnance with respect to the purchase of land for public service, were consolidated by the Act 5 & 6 Vict. c. 94, which empowered the Board to purchase, either by agreement with the owners or compulsorily, "any land, buildings, or other hereditaments or easements, wanted for the service of the Ordnance Department, or for the defence of the realm."

The Commissariat was a branch of the Treasury charged with the supply of provisions and forage to the troops abroad, and the means of transport. In making purchases and contracts, the Commissariat officers were subject to the immediate supervision of the Treasury, and the Commissariat officers on foreign stations corresponded directly with that Board. The duties of the Commissariat will be further described when we come to the consideration of the present constitution of the military departments.

(a) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 94.

The supreme military administration of the whole army, excepting the Artillery and Engineers, belonged to the Commander-in-Chief, whose department superintended the employment, organization, instruction, and discipline, of the troops. The functions of the Commander-in-Chief were exercised, as we have stated, in correspondence with the Secretaries of State for the Colonies and for the Home Department, but principally with the former. The relations of the Commander-in-Chief to the Civil Government will be more fully explained in the account of the present administration of the army, which we now proceed to give.

The important changes in the administration of the army which took place in 1854-5, were effected principally in deference to public dissatisfaction respecting the management of the British forces then engaged in the war with Russia. The maladministration of the army had been the subject of complaints both in and out of Parliament on several previous occasions during the present century, and one effect of such complaints had been the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry in 1837. That Commission considered the chief defect of the administration of the army to be the want of an efficient control over the whole military expenditure of the country by some one authority, responsible both for the amount of the expenditure, and for the manner in which the sums voted by Parliamant were applied.

War Office.-The changes of 1854-5 consisted in the appointment of a separate Secretary of State for Warthe consolidation of the civil administration of the army by transfer to his office of duties, which had previously been exercised by distinct departments, and a consolidation of the military administration of the army by a similar transfer to the office of the Commander-in-Chief(a).

The Secretary of State for War was first appointed in 1854. The appointment has since that time been usually made by letters-patent, which grant to this Secretary of

(a) The particulars of the changes of military administration described