Having said thus much of the general plan, scope, and merits of the work, let us cast a brief glance at the nature of its contents. It is called a treatise on _Military Law_. What is military law? It is that law which governs the army, and all individuals connected with it. In other words, it has respect to military organization and discipline. It must not be confounded with _Martial Law_, which is the suspension of civic law, and the substitution of military law over citizens, not soldiers, in extraordinary circumstances. Military law, which cannot wait for the slow processes of civic courts, is immediate and condign in its action, and is administered by courts-martial, to which are confided the powers of judge and jury. These courts examine into the cases, find verdicts, and pronounce sentences,--all, however, subject to the revision and sanction of the supreme authority which convened them. Courts--martial are divided into two classes: _General Courts_, for the trial of officers, and of the higher grades of offences; and _Regimental_ or _Garrison Courts_, for the consideration of less important cases in a regiment or garrison. General courts vary in the number of members: they must be composed of not less than _five_, and of never more than _thirteen_. Regimental or garrison courts are never composed of more than three members. For general courts, only, a judge-advocate is appointed to conduct the prosecution for the United States. The offences against military law are determined by the "Rules and Articles of War," in which the principal offences are distinctly set forth and forbidden; and, that unanticipated misconduct may not be without cognizance and punishment, the _ninety-ninth_ article includes all such cases under the charge of "conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline," which is of universal scope. The punishments are also set forth in the Articles of War. Those prescribed for officers include death,--cashiering,[A]--cashiering, with a clause disabling the officer from ever holding any office under the United States,--dismissal,--suspension from rank and pay,--reprimand. For soldiers the principal punishments are death,--confinement,--confinement on bread-and-water diet,--solitary confinement,--forfeiture of pay and allowances,--discharges. [Footnote A: Cashiering implies something infamous in the British service; and although it has been attempted to make no distinction between cashiering and dismissing in our service, something of the opprobrium still attaches to the former punishment.]