Apprehension of Deserters.

Fraudulent
Confession of
Desertion.

tion of the Crime for which he shall be under Trial; and in like Manner, upon the Trial of any Soldier for any Offence whatever, any previous Convictions may be given in Evidence against him ; provided that no such Evidence shall be received in any Case until after the Court shall have found the Person guilty, and then only for the Purpose of affixing Punishment; and provided that in all Cases previous Notice shall have been given to the Offender of the Intention to produce such Evidence upon his Trial.

XXII. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Constable of any Place where any Person reasonably suspected to be a Deserter shall be found, or of any adjoining Place, and if no such Constable can be immediately met with, then for any Officer or Soldier in His Majesty's Service, to apprehend or cause such suspected Person to be apprehended, and to cause him to be brought before any Justice living in or near such Place, and acting for the same or any adjoining County, who hath hereby Power to examine such suspected Person; and if by his Confession, or the Testimony of One or more Witnesses upon Oath, or by the Knowledge of such Justice, it shall appear that such suspected Person is a Soldier, and ought to be with the Corps to which he belongs, such Justice shall forthwith cause him to be conveyed to some public Prison in such Place, or if there be no public Prison in such Place, then, at the Discretion of such Justice of the Peace, to the nearest or most convenient public Prison in the same or any next adjoining County, or to the Provost Marshal, in case such Deserter shall be apprehended within the City or Liberties of Dublin or Places adjacent; and such Justice shall transmit an Account thereof, in the Form prescribed in the Schedule annexed to this Act, to the Secretary at War, or, if the Deserter be apprehended in Ireland, to the Chief Secretary, to the end that such Person may be removed by an Order from the Office of the said Secretary at War, or Chief Secretary in Ireland, 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 the Deserter was apprehended and secured; and the Secretary at 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: Provided also, that no Fee or Reward shall be taken by any Justice, or his Clerk, in respect of any Information, Commitment, or Report as aforesaid.

XXIII. And be it enacted, That any Person who shall voluntarily deliver himself up as a Deserter from His Majesty's Forces or the embodied Militia, or the Forces of the East India Company, or who, upon being apprehended for any Offence, shall, in the Presence of the Justice, confess himself to be a Deserter as aforesaid, shall be deemed to have been duly enlisted and to be a Soldier, and shall be liable to serve in any of His Majesty's Forces, as His Majesty shall think fit to appoint, whether such Person shall have been ever actually enlisted as a Soldier or not; or shall be liable to be punished as a Rogue and Vagabond, or may be prosecuted and punished for obtaining Money under false Pretences; and the Confession and receiving Subsistence as a

Soldier

Soldier by such Person shall be Evidence of the false Pretence and obtaining Money; and if the Person so confessing himself to be a Deserter shall be serving at the Time in any of His Majesty's Forces, he shall be deemed to be and shall be dealt with as a Deserter.

XXIV. And be it enacted, That every Person who shall in any Part of His Majesty's Dominions, directly or indirectly, persuade any Soldier to desert, shall suffer such Punishment by Fine or Imprisonment, or both, as the Court before which the Conviction may take place shall adjudge; and every Person who shall assist any Deserter, knowing him to be such, in deserting or in concealing himself, shall forfeit for every such Offence the Sum of Twenty Pounds.

Penalty for in

ducing or assisting to de

sert.

XXV. And be it enacted, That every Commissioned Officer who Penalty for shall, without Warrant from One or more of His Majesty's Justices, forcible Entry. forcibly enter into or break open the Dwelling House or Outhouses of any Person whomsoever, under Pretence of searching

for Deserters, shall, upon due Proof thereof, forfeit the Sum of Twenty Pounds.

Offenders un

der a Military Sentence.

XXVI. And be it enacted, That every Gaoler and Keeper of Custody of any Prison or House of Correction in every Part of His Majesty's Dominions shall, upon the Order in Writing of any Commanding Officer of a District, Garrison, Regiment, or Corps (as the Case may be), receive into his Custody any Soldier under Sentence of Imprisonment by a General or other Court Martial, and keep him in a proper Place of Confinement, with or without hard Labour, according to the Sentence of the Court, and during the Time specified in the said Order, or until he be discharged, or shall, although the Period for which the Soldier was originally committed may not have expired, deliver him up to any Person producing an Order in Writing to that Effect from any such Commanding Officer as aforesaid; and every such Gaoler who shall refuse to receive and to confine any such Non-commissioned Officer or Soldier in manner as aforesaid shall forfeit for every such Offence the Sum of One hundred Pounds.

XXVII. And be it enacted, That the Gaoler or Person having Custody of the immediate Inspection of any Prison, Gaol, or House of Cor- Deserters. rection in every Part of His Majesty's Dominions, shall diet and supply every Soldier with Fuel and other Necessaries, according to the Regulations of the Prison to which he shall be committed, and shall receive on account of every Soldier, during the Period of his Imprisonment, Sixpence per Diem, which the Secretary at War shall cause to be issued out of the Subsistence of such Soldier, upon Application in Writing signed by any Justice within whose Jurisdiction such Place of Confinement shall be locally situated, together with a Copy of the Order of Commitment, and which Sum of Sixpence per Diem shall be carried to the Credit of the Fund from which the Expence of such Prison or House of Correction is defrayed; and such Gaoler is hereby required to receive and confine every Deserter who shall be delivered into his Custody by any Soldier 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, or Chief Governor or Governors of 1 GUL. IV. Ireland;

F

Notice of Expiration of Imprisonment.

Persons sub

Ireland; and such Gaoler 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 His Majesty's Regulations.

XXVIII. And be it enacted, That every Gaoler, to whom any Notice shall have been given that any Person in his Custody for any Offence is a Soldier liable to serve His Majesty on the Expiration of his Imprisonment, shall give One Month's Notice of the Period of such Expiration of Imprisonment, or if there shall not be sufficient Time for a Month's Notice, then the longest practicable Notice thereof, to the Secretary at War, or, if in Ireland, to the Chief Secretary.

XXIX. And be it enacted, That all the Provisions of this Act ject to this Act. shall apply to all Persons employed on the Recruiting Service, receiving Pay in respect of such Service, and to the Forces of the East India Company, while they shall be in any Part of the United Kingdom, and until their Arrival in the Territories of the East India Company, and to the Officers and Persons now or hereafter serving and hired to be employed in the Royal Artillery and Field Train, and Master Gunners and Gunners, and Conductors of Stores, and in the Regiment of Royal Engineers, and the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners, and in the Corps of Royal Military Surveyors and Draftsmen, in the Ordnance and in the Commissariat Departments, and who are or shall be serving with any Part of His Majesty's Forces, at Home or Abroad, under the Command of any Officer having Commission from His Majesty, and all Storekeepers and other Civil Officers who are or shall be employed by or act under the Ordnance at any of His Majesty's Ordnance Establishments at Foreign Stations: Provided that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to affect any Security which has been given by such Storekeeper, Barrack Master, or other Officer, or their Sureties, for the due Performance of their respective Offices, under the Provisions of an Act passed in the Fiftieth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, to regulate the taking of Securities in all Offices, but that such Bonds and other Securities shall be and remain in full Force and Effect.

Foreign Troops in this Country.

Militia and
Yeomanry.

XXX. And be it enacted, That all Officers and Soldiers of any Troops, being mustered and in Pay, which shall be raised and serving in any of His Majesty's Dominions Abroad, or in Places in Possession of or occupied by His Majesty's Subjects, under the Command of any Officer having any Commission immediately from His Majesty, shall be liable to Martial Law in like Manner as His Majesty's other Forces are; and if such Officers and Soldiers, having been made Prisoners, be sent into England or Ireland, although not allowed to serve therein, all the Provisions of this Act, in regard to billetting Soldiers, shall apply to such Officers and Soldiers.

XXXI. And be it enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall in anywise be construed to extend to any of the Militia Forces or Yeomanry or Volunteer Corps in Great Britain or Ireland, excepting only in such Case wherein by any Act or Acts for regulating any of the said Forces or Corps, the Provisions contained

contained in any Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion shall be specifically made applicable to the said Corps.

XXXII. And be it enacted, That this Act shall be construed Limitations to extend to the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and as to certain Man, and the Islands thereto belonging, as to the Provisions Islands. therein for mustering and paying, and to the Provisions for the Trial and Punishment of Officers and Soldiers who shall be charged with Mutiny and Desertion, or any other of the Offences which are by this Act declared to be punishable by the Sentence of a General, or Garrison, or Detachment, or Regimental Court-martial, and also to the Provisions which relate to the Punishment of Persons who shall conceal Deserters, or shall knowingly buy, exchange, or otherwise receive any Arms, Clothes, Military Furniture, or Regimental Necessaries from any Soldier or Deserter, or who shall cause the Colour of any such Clothes to be changed. XXXIII. And be it enacted, That every Person who shall Enlisting and receive Enlisting Money from any Person employed in the Re- swearing cruiting Service, he being an Officer, Non-commissioned Officer, Recruits. or an attested Soldier, shall be deemed to be enlisted as a Soldier in His Majesty's Service, and while he shall remain with the Recruiting Party shall be entitled to be billetted; and every Person who shall enlist any Recruit shall first ask the Person offering to enlist, whether he does or does not belong to the Militia, and shall cause to be taken down, in Writing, the Name and Place of Abode of such Recruit; and when any Person shall be enlisted as a Soldier in His Majesty's Land Service, he shall within Four Days, but not sooner than Twenty-four Hours after such Enlisting, appear, together with some Person employed in the Recruiting Service of the Party with which he shall have enlisted, before a Justice residing in the Vicinity of the Place, and acting for the Division or District where such Recruit shall have been enlisted, and not being an Officer in the Army; and if such Recruit shall declare his having voluntarily enlisted, the said Justice shall put to him the several Questions contained in the Schedule to this Act annexed, and shall record or shall cause to be recorded, in Writing, his Answers thereunto; and the said Justice is hereby required forthwith to cause the Answers so recorded in Writing, and the First and Second Articles of the Second Section of the Articles of War against Mutiny and Desertion, to be read over, in his own Presence, to such Recruit, and to administer to such Recruit the Oath in the Schedule to this Act annexed, for limited or unlimited Service, or for Service in the Forces of the East India Company, as may be applicable to the Case of the Recruit, and no other Oaths, any Thing in any Acts to the contrary notwithstanding; and the said Justice is hereby required to give, under his Hand, the Certificate in the Schedule to this Act annexed; and if any such Recruit so to be certified shall refuse to take the Oath in the Schedule to this Act annexed, before the said Justice, it shall be lawful for the Officer or Non-commissioned Officer with whom he enlisted to detain and confine such Person until he shall take the said Oath of Fidelity.

XXXIV. And be it enacted, That any Recruit appearing as aforesaid before such Justice shall be at liberty to declare his Dissent to such Enlisting, and upon such Declaration, and return

Dissent and
Relief from

Enlistment.

Offences connected with Enlistment.

ing the Enlisting Money, and also paying the Sum of Twenty
Shillings for the Charges expended upon him, together with the
full Amount of Subsistence and Beer Money which shall have been
paid to such Recruit subsequent to the Period of his having been
enlisted, shall be forthwith discharged and set at liberty in the
Presence of such Justice; but if such Person shall refuse or
neglect, within the Space of Twenty-four Hours after so declaring
his Dissent, to return such Money as aforesaid, he shall be deemed
and taken to be enlisted as if he had given his Assent thereto
before the said Justice: Provided also, that it shall be lawful for
any Justice to discharge any Person who shall have hastily enlisted,
and who shall apply to him to declare his Dissent within such
Four Days as aforesaid, upon Payment of the Sum of Money
required to be paid by any Recruit declaring his Dissent under
this Act, notwithstanding no Person belonging to the Recruiting
Party shall be with the Recruit, if it shall appear to such Justice,
upon Proof to his Satisfaction, that the Recruiting Party has left
the Place where such Recruit was enlisted, or that the Recruit
could not procure any Person belonging to such Party to
go
with
him before the Justice; and the Sum paid by such Recruit upon
his Discharge shall be kept by the Justice, and paid to any Person
belonging to the Recruiting Party entitled thereto demanding the
same; provided that no Recruit who has been actually, though
erroneously, discharged by the Justice before the Expiration of
Twenty-four Hours after the Time of his Enlistment, shall be
liable on that Account to be proceeded against as having deserted
from His Majesty's Service; 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.

XXXV. And be it enacted, That if any Recruit shall receive the Enlisting Money from any Person employed in the Recruiting Service (knowing it to be such), and shall abscond or refuse to go before such Justice, or shall thereafter absent himself from the Recruiting Party or Person with whom he enlisted, and shall not voluntarily return to go before some Justice within such Period of Four Days aforesaid, such Recruit shall be deemed to be enlisted and a Soldier in His Majesty's Service, as fully, to all Intents and Purposes, as if he had been duly attested, and may be apprehended and punished as a Deserter, or for being absent without Leave, under any Articles of War made for Punishment of Mutiny and Desertion; and such Recruit shall not be discharged by any Justice of the Peace after the Expiration of such Four Days as aforesaid, unless it shall be proved to the Satisfaction of such Justice that the true Name and Residence of the Recruit was disclosed and known to the Recruiting Party, and that no Notice was given to the Recruit, or left at his usual Place of Abode, of his having so enlisted; provided that in every Case wherein any Recruit shall have received Enlisting Money, and shall have absconded from the Party, so that it shall not be possible immediately to apprehend and bring him before a Justice, the Officer or Non-commissioned Officer commanding the Party shall produce to the Justice before whom the Recruit ought regularly to have been brought for Attestation a Certificate of the Name and Place of Residence of such Recruit; and the

Justice