A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.Campbell, James
History
A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.
Campbell, James
Great Britain. Army
After establishing certain regulations for the maintenance of
discipline, his Grace further observes that, "the object of these
visitings is to see that the soldiers conduct themselves regularly
in their quarters, to ascertain if there are any complaints by their
landlords, and of whom, and that the men are in their quarters,
instead of marauding in search of plunder." And after calling upon
officers of all ranks to perform the duties required of them, he thus
concludes--"The people of Portugal deserve well of the army; they have
in every instance treated the soldiers well; and there never was an
army so well supplied, or which had so little excuse for plunder, if
any excuse can in any case exist. But if the Commander of the Forces
should not by these and other measures be enabled to get the better of
these practices, he is determined to report to His Majesty, and send
into garrison those corps who shall continue them, as he prefers a
small but disciplined and well-conducted body of troops to a rabble,
however numerous; and he is resolved not to be the instrument of
inflicting upon the people of this country the miseries which result
from the operations of such a body. The regulations of these orders are
to be understood as applicable to the dragoons and the artillery as
well as the infantry."
Again, in the month of June, 1812, we read--"The soldiers must not be
allowed to quit their corps to plunder, and Assistant-Provosts attached
to divisions must see that the orders of the army on this subject are
not disobeyed. The Commander of the Forces is sorry to observe, that
the outrages so frequently committed by the soldiers when absent from
their regiments, and the disgraceful scenes which occurred upon the
storming of Badajoz, have had the effect of rendering the people of the
country the enemies, instead of being the friends of the army. It is
the duty of all officers to prevent the soldiers from plundering, and
the Commander of the Forces calls upon them to perform it. He declares
his determination to punish any person who may be found plundering
on any occasion, and to make the soldiers give up any money or other
valuable articles that they may have plundered.
"As these acts of outrage are generally committed by parties of men,
the parties shall be put under stoppages to make good the damage which
they shall do upon any occasion," And His Grace concludes this order by
calling upon the officers, and non-commissioned officers, to assist in
putting a stop to such disgraceful crimes and irregularities.
We again read in the General Orders of the 31st of July, 1812:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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