The Commission on Courts-Martial has sent in its Report, which.
is, on the whole, favourable to the existing system, but contains one very dangerous suggestion. The power of the Commander-in- Chief or other revising officer to order a re-trial is to be abolished. In other words, a body or officers are left free to acquit a brother officer whenever they happen to sympathize with his offence. The effect of that in India will be that in a case like the Madras mutiny it will be impossible to punish anybody, and that in cases of conflict between soldiers and natives, further than 200 miles from a Presidency town, the natives will get very scanty protec- tion, or will think they get it, which is as bad. As authority cannot afford to be set at nought in an army, the Crown will be compelled to use its reserved power of summary dismissal as be- tween master and servant, a power now very seldom employed, and likely if freely used to breed extreme discontent. The power of commanding officers abroad over the general discipline of their forces is by no means too extensive.
Previous page
