shed. They are in divisions of sixteen,
placed at a distance of four paces or ten feet
apart in two rows, seven in each row, and
one at each end in the centre thus:

The men are marched in, in two ranks,
halting and fronting D in succession; as they
arrive opposite the blocks, the right hand
front rank man stands at the block A, and
the left hand man of the rear rank at the
block B. The order is now stand at ease,
lachets and stocks off; these are neatly folded
and placed on each man's right. The Senior
Warder present drills, the remaining officers
are distributed among the prisoners to
preserve order.

On being called to attention the whole
face to the right, and consequently are all
looking towards No. 1, or A. The command
is now given, together left; at this all stoop
as one, the shot is taken up and placed on
the left hand, the right hand gliding under
the left remains there and supports it. On
the command one, a pace is taken to the rear
with the right foot, turning at the same time
on both heels to the right about. You now
face the block that was in your rear. On
commands two, three, and four, three paces
forward are taken, which brings you close up
to the other block. The shot are then all
placed on the blocks together; then empty-handed
you take a pace to the rear. As before
with the right foot, right about, and moving
forward three paces brings you to your former
position. It will be seen that the shot are
all off the blocks at one time, and on them at
the same, and that they move round from
No. one to No. sixteen, in an opposite direction
to the way the men faced at starting,
and that they are only carried one half of the
distance you walk—although as punishment
you can be made to carry them back and
forward, but it is seldom done. Six shot are
supposed to be carried in a minute or seventy-two
in the quarter of an hour this allows
three minutes for standing at ease—the drill
continues for an hour and a half. Seventy-two
shot, I have said, are what is expected
to be carried in the fifteen minutes, but
ninety is the regular number, and the average
that I carried was ninety-six; and on one
occasion I carried one hundred and twenty-five,
through the time being hurried, and the
warder trying to "fig" one or two men—
thus punishing all for them. In the hour
and a half a man will carry, at six shot a
minute, four hundred and thirty-two shot, a
weight equal to 6 tons, 3 cwt. 1 qr. 20 Ibs.,
and double that daily a distance of ten feet,
walking in the same time a distance of seventeen
thousand two hundred and eighty feet.*
The stooping, lifting, and carrying shot brings
on a severe pain across the small of the back,
arms, and legs. This goes off a good deal in
time, but for the first week I could not bear
to sit down, and I am confident that six
months' Imprisonment must materially injure
the soldier's constitution, and it is to be
regretted that some other less injurious mode
of punishment is not adopted.

If the offences that soldiers commit are
taken into consideration (and for which they
are brought to Courtmartials), as well as
the Punishment awarded often so disproportionate
to the Crime, it is greatly to be desired
that some other punishment besides Flogging,
Shot Drill, or Solitary Imprisonment be
substituted. I do not intend here to speak
at length on Military Punishments, but I
feel confident that soldiers' Crimes are
punished with a degree of severity uncalled
for—and that if more leniency was shown,
it would be followed by more favourable
results; it will be urged against this, that
discipline must be kept up in the army—and
discipline requires severity, but whoever
recollects the army thirty years since, when
crimes were punished with tenfold severity
to what they are at the present day—when
those who had not been flogged were the
exception, instead of as at present the
rule; when 1000 lashes was often awarded,
and as often inflicted; when I say look
at the army of that day and this, in a
moral or any other point of view—and
considering over all this, who will venture to
say that the discipline of our soldiers now is
not quite as good as it was then—and must
join with me in thinking—that severity in
punishment never lessens crime

Let this experience be followed up, let
trivial faults be looked over in a great measure.
In the Foot Guards, I believe when a man is
late or absent from watchsetting through
meeting with a friend or any other cause, he
has an hour's extra drill the following day,
for every hour he is absent until midnight—
up to that time he is allowed to go to bed.
If this does in the Guards, why not try it in
the line? It would be the cause of less
Court Martials. Many a one when they
find themselves late, knowing that they will
have to go to the Guard Room if they go
to barracks, make up their mind to remain
out until the following morning,and from that
to the following day, and so on, until when
he goes in a Ct. Martial is the result, would,
if the same system as in the Foot Guards
was adopted, go home and do their hour or
two's drill cheerfully—their names of course
would not be entered in the Defaulters' book
at all.

Military Prisons are all conducted on the
Silent System—if practicable; from their
being only huts where I was, this could not
be done, but as far as vigilance could go
the warders exercised it. But it was next to
an impossibility to prevent talking (when it

*Little short of three miles and a quarter.