DESERTION from the public service of the country/ is the crime of a man ab sconding, during the period for which he is enlisted, from the service of the army or navy. This crime was, by certain old statutes, made punishable with death; but now the punishment for desertion is prescribed' by the annual mutiny acts. By these annual acts, any court-martial may inflict a sentence of corporal punishment, not exceed ing fifty lashes, for desertion, and may in addition award imprisonment for the period prescribed by the articles of war. By 20 Viet. c. 13, s. 35, and 22 Viet. c. 4, s. 35, it is provided that deserters may be marked on the breast in gunpowder or ink with the let ter D. This provision is omitted in the mutiny act, 1860. Recruits deserting before they have joined their regiments, are to be taken to the regiment nearest to the place where they were found, but to suffer no punishment except loss of bounty. Inducing to desert was formerly punishable by death; the punishment has, by modern statutes, been commuted to penal servitude. If simply "absent without leave," a British sol dier, besides undergoing Some kind of punishment, forfeits his regular pay for the days of. absence; but if his non-appearance involves actual desertion, he loses all claim to additional pay, good-conduct money, and pension. The number of deserters from the
British army is very great. In one particular period of 8 months, it was found that no less than 8,822 men deserted from the regular army, and 6,614 men from the militia; in 1874, 7,930 men deserted from the army, and in 1875, 5,629. Many experienced officers attribute the evil to the temptations of bounty, rather than to any other cause (see BOUNTY); and advise that the same amount of money should be applied to the sol dier's benefit in some other form.
Desertion is equally a crime when committed by a seaman of the royal navy as by a soldier. A sailor absent from three successive musters is a " runaway ;" and when dis covered and brought back, his punishment consists in a deduction of his wages. If his absence is continued, it amounts to desertion. All harboring of deserters by other persons is punishable. The year 1860 was marked by great and scandalous desertions from the royal navy; the cause is very obscurely known, but is generally referred to some points of superiority in the merchant-service, which tempt the seamen away from their duty.
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