The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-09-20 00:00:00

ARMY DESERTIONS.

Motor Do Cane, the InspectorClimatal of Military Prisons,
In hie report, in alluding to tbe large number of desertions
lost year, observes :--

'lt is not difficult to find & reason why punishment
doe, not put an end to desertion— namely, that men
who desert, not only have, in many case., a great deal
to gain by doing so, but the chances of their succeeding
in escaping detection are very considerable, for out
of 5,861 deserters during 1872 only 1,855 rejoined (many,
no doubt, voluntarily), or, speaking roughly, out of
every three men two succeed in escaping re-capture.
No amount of punishment will prevent the commission
of offence, unless there is considerable certainty
that the offenders will be detected. A motive for
desertion, which will apply to • large number of men in
the Army, is also apparent in comparing the wages of
the soldier with the wages earned by the class of
artisans from whom • considerable portion of the
recs are obtained. To many men al.°, there can
be no doubt that the Army proves distasteful on ac-
count of the restraint, the discipline, and the minute
regulations they are subject to. If then, the motives
for desertions are so strong, and the chances of escapinr
with impunity so considerable, it cannot be wondered
at that the crime prevails, notwipultan ding the punish-
ment inflicted on the minority who are captured and
convicted. Whether the remedy for this is to be found
In making the service more attractive, or in avoiding
recruiting among the class of artisans or others whose
wages are so much higher, or whether some legiti-
mate and practical mode of leaving the Army may
not be found for soldiers who wish to terminate thrilr
engagements after due notice, are questions for con-
sideration. On the last point it is to be observed that
' the conditions of the soldier's engagement—viz., • long
term of service on very moderate pay, with practi-
cally no legitimate way open to him of terminating the
engagement, but the fear of heavy penal consequences
as the means of keeping him to theterma of the con-
tract—are peculiar to the military and naval service,
and it is not quite clear why the advantages and condi-
tions of the service should not be each that men will
stop in it voluntarily after having entered it volun-
tarily." It seems that the ate of corporal purdah.
meat in miliary prisons has, with the sanction of his
Royal Highness the Clommandevin•Chief, been re-
stricted to CUM in which its use was approved by
the authority of the Secretary of State in the Govern-
ment civil prisons. On the subject of desertion Major
Campbell, the Governor of Cork Military Prison,
where the number convicted of desertion n last year
exceeded by more than one-half the number of the
preceding year, stated that it arises from two Causes—
the enrolment of a class of men who merely enlist to
get over hard times, never intending to become soldiers,
ant to desert when they can obtain good wages; and
the enrolment of a better clams who intend to make
the army their imams of livelihood, thinking from the
iscruiting sergeant's story that they will receive better
lay than they find on jarring to be the case, End their
parmte and friends are anxious to get them discharged
from the service, even if it be as "bad, worthless
obinbcts“."

PASTORAL LETTER OF THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC BISHOPS.

A "Pastoral Letter of the Archbishop ano4 Bishops
of the Province of Westminster in Provincial Council
Assembled," was read on Sunday in the churches and
chapels in the diocese.

After referring to the "supernatural growth of the
Church in England," the Bi&ops insist upon the (tan-
gent of the present time, which are greater then those
if the age of persecution. "The whole atmosphere of
this nineteenth century is charged with hostility to
God and to His Church, to the doctrines of revela-
tion, and even to the truths of the natural order.
And thin, which • century ago was confined
to a higher class of over-cultivated minds, is now
by the unprecedented anti, ity of the press, diffused
through every class, reaching even to the skilled and
the unskilled working population of all cerintries,
above all of our own. From the highest to the lowest
class, unbelief has its literature and its &polities. From
this state of things they &duce the neceseity of •
strictly Catholic education for all ClAMlS—lower,
middle, and higher- -and renew the warning to Catho-
lic parenta against sending their eons to the national
Universities. They insist on the necessity of Diocesan
Semineries for youths destined for the priest.
hood, "for their last training in the life of inte-
rior perfection and of separation from the world."
They "specially exhort parents to remember that
they can offer to the Lord no more precious
gift than their sons to be him disciples. It is an
exceeding honour and a signal grace to a house when •
son in celled to be • priest. A vocation brings • bone.
diction into the home, and sanctifies it by • special re-
lation to the altar and to the presence of Jesus in the
Holy !decrement." The Bishops warn their people to
watch over the literature admitted to their houses.
"For the most part our Engliali literature continues to
be pure; and it is at least free from impiety. But there
are recent books of fiction in prone and in poetry, and
works professing to be history and philosophy, which
ought not to be under your roof. You are not without
advisers, who can toll you the real nature of such
works"

After reviewing the prohibition of mixed marriages,
and showing the buds on which that prohibition rests,
the Pastoral speaks of the present position of the
Church in Enoiand. "She is now seen, and heard
and knewn. Englishmen have now for more than forty
years, that is, for nearly half a century, been with um
In our Divine Worship ; they have heard our preachers;
they have seen our collegie, convents, and school.;
they have laid amide suspicions, fears, and hates, in the
open light of day. Theme old ouperstitions are gone to
the moles and to the bate. Educated English-
men know us better. The poor in England have
no animosities against the faith of their fathers.
, Our people are mingled with them: they labour to-
gether and Jive together. They are accustomed to see
with no wonder, and with some goodwill, our Clergy
and our Sister' ;Jilting the sick and the dying in the
same neighbourhood, in the same hospital, and often in
the same house where they dwell. They have learned
that the Catholic religion is the religion of charity, and
that the Catholic Church is the Church of the poor.
We have heard them say more than this, but this
is enough. There is at this hour spread over
the breadth of England a benevolence towards the
Catholic Church and the faith of our ancertors
such as for three hundred years has never been. For
this cause we have no alarms. If here and there
violent and disappointed men attempt to rekindle
old fires, or to imitate the despotism which is doom-
ing ambitions statesmen to destroy their own works, it
does not move us to fear. The world does not go back
won its path. The age of imperial religions is over.
The civil powers of the world have separated them-
selves from God, and are moking the experiment of
standing by their own strength, and of ruling by their
own wisdom. They have refused to learn from the
Church of God that without God there is no society
among men. They must learn it in the school they
have chosen for themselvea—that is, in the bitter ex-
perience of all who fall from God."

The Pastoral concludes by demanding the prayers of
the faithful for the people of thia land, for the Catholic
Church in England, And "for the Vicar of our Lord,
now bound for Christ's sake." Finally, the Bishops
announce that the last act of the Council was "an act
of consecration to the Sacred Heart of our Divine
Load."