Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1863-10-01
Conscription.


lot from among the male inhabitants be-
tween the ages of Is and 35, who are not
exempt The time of service is five years,
and any parish may procure substitutes
for the balloted men, to which substitutes
government allows fG per man, to be paid
by a tax on the inhabitants. The army
OF Great Britain has always been small as
compared with her navy, and when she
has wanted men for the latter service she
has reso~ted to impressments, (Which is
conscription deprived of oil its ameliorat-
ing features whenever the bounty system
did not produce them last enough AS the
N. Y, Times says
at took not such as the iot of service
might fall to, by the chances Of a fair bal
lot; II sent It's press-gangs into all the
ports, it secured the highways and by
ways of Eaglaud, and impressed into the
naval service whosOever the press gang
(paid fee for each man) deemed fit for
it. Many thousands of Englishmen are
thus hurried by press-g gangs on board Of
men-of-war, without notification to their
families, subjected to the hardships Of the
service for many years, their whereabouts
unknown to their kindred until their re-
turn, or until learned by chance reading
of the lists of those killed or wounded in
the service or sick in the naval hospitals.
England not only exercised the power of
compulsory military service, bat she car
ried it with a high hand against the ma
tons Holding the doctrine that the du-
ties of citizenship could not be thrown off
by emgra.iug to and becoming citizens Of
other nations, h-r cruisers stopped mer-
chantmen Of all nations on the hgu seas,
And impressed and carried away into the
naval service all seameu the office. ,,aenoed
Of British birth. me outrages were
among the pg0miuent causes Of the last
war with England; and Mr.. Webster in
one OF bis latest dispatches while Secreta-
rv of State, gave the Ministry Of that day
to distinctly and finally understand that
this Government would never more permit
the practice Of impressment from ships
covered by our flag
In trance the army IS recruited annual
ly either 10y volunteers or couscripts, as
necessity may require; and the latter, as
under Our system, may commute the ser
vice by paying a fixed sum.
In Russia each noble is required to fur
njsh number Of serls, and equip them at
his own cost. The term of service is
twenty years, but they are commonly dis
charged On a permanent furlough at the
end of fifteen years. The remainder of
the army are KEEP: up by a compulsory
levy, drawn by lot
In Prussia every citizen ls deemed to
owe military service to his country, and
IS liable TO his term of duty. From the
age Of twenty to twenty five, every man
annually draws his ballot for three years
active service IN the regular army-after
which they form a reserve liable to be
called out for three years more. After the
age Of twenty-five similar draft is kept
up for service in the militia proper, which
Is caIle' out annually in tine of peace tor
drill, but IN time of war is joined to the
standing army.
The Austrian system is similar to
that of Prussia-but has even harsher
features.
Our conscript act is new feature in
our national history, as the circumstances
which rendered it necessary are also new.
But the principle On which it rests, that
the citizen owes servic to his government
IN time OF war, if that service is required,
IS as universal as government, and a
necessity which no human reasoning can
evade.