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cause, nor flee from my colours so long as I can follow them: to be ready to watching, warding and working, so far as I have strength; to endure and suffer all distresses; and to fight manfully to the uttermost, as I shall answer to God, and as God shall help me." Ib. p. 128.

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By the same law there is to be no grudging at the orders given," and "all soldiers are to remember that it is their part to honour and obey their Commanders, and therefore to receive their commands with reverence, and make no noise, but be silent when the officers are commanding, that they may be heard by all, and the better obeyed." Ib. 130.

The whole of these directions evidently presuppose the legality of the orders given.

The Articles of War of King James contain the following passage:

"All Officers, of what quality or condition soever, shall take the following oath

The oath of fidelity to be taken by every Officer and Soldier in the army :

"I, A.. B., do swear to be true and faithful to my Soverain Lord King James, and to his heirs and lawful successors, and to be obedient in all things to his General-Lieutenant, General, or Commander-in-Chief of his forces. for the time being, and will behave myself obediently towards my superior officers, in all they shall command me for his Majesty's service; and I do further swear that I will be a true, faithful and obedient servant and soldier, every way performing my best endeavours for his Majesty's service, obeying all orders, and submitting to all such rules and articles of war as are or shall be established by his Majesty: and I do likewise swear that I believe that it is not lawful, upon any pretence whatever, to take up arms against the king; and I do abhor that traitorous position of taking arms by his authority against his person, or against those that are commissioned by him." Ib. p. 140.

In another of these articles it is provided, that if any inferior officer or souldier shall refuse to obey his superior officer, or shall quarrel with him, he shall be cashiered. Ib. p. 143.

After the abdication of King James II., and the accession of King William III., the military code obtained the sanction of Parliament.

The modern law is as follows: In the 1st section of the Annual Mutiny Act, it will be found, that "if any person who is or shall be commissioned or in pay as an officer, or who is or shall be listed or in pay as a non-commissioned officer or soldier, shall at any time, during the continuance of the act, disobey any lawful command of his superior officer, all and every person and

persons so offending shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a Court Martial shall be awarded." By the 3d section of the Articles of War, it is directed, that "every enlisted soldier shall at the time of enlisting, or within 4 days afterwards, have the 2nd and 6th sections of the Articles, with respect to mutiny and deser- . tion, read to him. The 5th article of the 2nd section declares, that "any officer, non-commissioned officer, or soldier, who shall disobey any lawful command of his superior officer, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a General Court Mar

tial shall be awarded."

Thus is the letter of the soldier's code qualified. The oath of fidelity which he takes is, to bear true allegiance, and to obey the orders of his Majesty and of the Generals and Officers set over him by his Majesty; and it may fairly be stated, that the latter words are left apparently absolute, upon a presumption that his Majesty would never deliver an illegal order. It might be wise, however, to frame the words of the oath in a manner more suitable to the real obligation imposed. The qualifying clauses of the Act of Parliament and Articles of War are read over to the recruit before the oath is administered, and undoubtedly constitute the commentary upon it; but upon occasions of the greatest importance the words sworn to may be a snare to a conscientious ignorant man.

This statement of the written law seems to support the proposition for which I contend; and it is not unaccompanied by decided cases and indisputable authority.

THE

CURATES' APPEAL

TO THE

EQUITY AND CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

OF THE

BRITISH LEGISLATURE,

THE BISHOPS, THE CLERGY, AND THE PUBLIC,

EXAMINED:

IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR,

FROM A COUNTRY INCUMBENT.

ORIGINAL.

LONDON:

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SIR,
ic of dep

66

دو

THOUGH the Curates' Appeal to the Equity and Christian Principles of the British Legislature, the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Public, lic is made in the plural number, and professes to emanate from one half of the English clergy," I must beg leave to address you as an individual, as I cannot find that any of the curates within the range of my acquaintance, have taken any part in the publication; nor do they join in the complaints and accusations with which it so fully, and, I think so unjustly, abounds. When an appeal is made in so public a manner to so large a part of the community, it invites the attention of the whole kingdom; and when sacred characters, the laws relating to the Church, and the whole constitution, are attacked, it cannot be expected that every one will be silent, or suffer those ordinances, which the quiet and peaceable members of our establishment have been accustomed to reverence, to be censured and held up to public dislike, without endeavouring to repel the charge, and to obviate the mischiefs which indiscriminate and unanswered contumely is calculated to produce,

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You affirm in the Preface, that you are sensibly alive to the truth, that an office must needs suffer by any reproach attached to the persons holding it. If, therefore, bishops are the subject of blame, Episcopacy must admit a share of disrepute, and not less our Church, which so highly reverences that sacred function." And yet, with insidious professions of attachment to the function and to the Church, you stamp on the top of several pages of your Appeal, that "the pretence that the bishops sought the curates' good is not

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