If a recruit, after receiving the enlist ment-money, and after notice of having enlisted has been left at his place of abode, shall abscond, he may be appre hended and punished as a deserter, or for being absent without leave ; and if it be discovered that he is unfit for active ser vice, in consequence of any infirmity which he bad not declared before the magistrate, he may be transferred to any garrison, or veteran or invalid battalion, though he may have enlisted for some particular regiment. If it be proved that the recruit concealed the fact of his being a discharged soldier, he may be sen tenced to suffer punishment as a rogue or vagabond; and if, at the time of enlist ing, he falsely deui.d being in the mili tia, he may be committed to the house of correction for a period not exceeding six months; and, from the day in which his engagement to serve in the militia ends, he is to be deemed a soldier in the regular forces.
An apprentice who shall enlist, denying himself to be such, is deemed guilty of ob taining money under false pretences ; and, after the expiration of his appren ticeship, if he shall not deliver himself up to some officer authorised to re ceive recruits, he may be taken as a deserter. A master is not entitled to claim an apprentice who may have en listed unless the claim be made within one month after the apprentice shall have left his service.
In the third clause of the Mutiny Act it is stated that no man enlisted as a sol dier is liable to be arrested on account of any process for leaving a wife or child chargeable to a parish, or on account of any engagement to work for an em ployer (except that of an apprenticeship), or on account of any debt under 30/. And in the 41st clause it is declared that negroes, purchased on account of the crown and serving in any of the regular forces, are deemed to be free, and are con sidered as soldiers having voluntarily en listed. Every military officer acting con trary to the provisions of the Mutiny Act, in what regards enlisting recruits, is lia ble to be cashiered, and disabled to hold any civil or military office or employ ment in her Majesty's service.
During the reign of Queen Anne it was the custom to enlist recruits for three years ; but this period seems too short, considering the time unavoidably spent in training the men, to afford the govern ment an advantage adequate to the ex pense of maintaining them ; and the pre sent practice is regulated by 10 & 11 Viet. c. 39. By this act no person can be enlisted for longer than ten years in the infantry, or twelve years in the ca valry, artillery, or other ordnance corps; the term of service to be reckoned from the day of attestation, or day on which the party, if under eighteen years of age, attains that age. The term of enlist
ment in the marine forces is limited to twelve years. The enlistments for the Honourable East India Company's ser vice are either for unlimited periods, or for twelve years, provided the recruit be not less than eighteen years of age.
The advantages of a limited period of service are, that a greater number of re cruits are obtained under that condition, probably because men are more willing to engage themselves for a certain num ber of years than for life; and that, dur ing the period, opportunities are afforded of discovering the character of a man. Should this be such as to render it not advisable to retain him, he may be dis charged at the end of his time of service ; while an additional bounty, strengthened by the unwillingness of most men to leave the comrades with whom they have been long accustomed to associate, will probably induce a good soldier to re enlist should the continuance of his ser vices be desired.
By an act passed in 1835 a man is allowed to enlist in the navy for a period not exceeding five years, after which he is entitled to his discharge and to be sent home, if abroad, unless the commanding officer should conceive his departure to be detrimental to the service ; such offi cer is then empowered to detain the man six months longer, or until the emergency shall cease, in which case the man is en titled, during such extra service, to re ceive an increase of pay amounting to one-fourth of that which he receives ac cording to his rating. At the end of his time of service a seaman may re-enlist for a like period, and he will then be allowed the same bounty as at first. Sea men entering as volunteers within six days after a royal proclamation calling for the services of such men recede double bounty. In the year 1819 was passed that which is called the Foreign Enlistment Act, by which British sub jects are forbidden to engage in foreign service without licence from the crown. This act for several years was suspended in favour of the British troops employed in the service of the present Queen of Spain. Lastly, a bill has recently passed, confirming the act of 55 Geo. III., by which her majesty is empowered to grant the rank of field and general officers to foreigners; and to allow foreigners to enlist and serve as non-commissioned offi cers and soldiers in the British service in the proportion of one foreigner for every fifty natural born subjects.