by stat. 3 Jac. I., c. 21, that if in any stage play, interlude, or shew, the name of the Holy Trinity, or any of the persons therein, be jestingly or profanely used, the offender shall forfeit £10.; one moiety to the king, and the other to the informer." (12)

Penalty of speaking against any Article of the Christian Faith. Art. 3.] Whatsoever officer, non-com. officer, or soldier, shall presume to speak against any known art. of the Christian faith, shall be (13) liable to be punished by the civil magistrate according to law.

1. Explanation.] "This species of offence, against God and religion, is that of blasphemy against the Almighty, by denying his being or providence; or by contumelious reproaches of our Saviour Christ. Whither also may be referred all profane scoffing at the Holy Scripture, or exposing it to contempt and ridicule. These are offences punishable at common law by fine and imprisonment, or other infamous corporal punishment for Christianity is part of the laws of England" (14). Therefore those guilty of any such conduct are liable to the penalties denounced.

Penalty of profaning Churches, or offering Violence to Ministers.

Art. 4.] Whatsoever officer, non-com. officer, or soldier, shall profane any place dedicated to divine worship, or shall offer violence to a chaplain of the army, or to any other minister of God's Word, shall be liable to such punishment as by a gen. ct.-mar. shall be awarded.

1. Profaning places of Divine Worship.] Profaning places of divine worship may be committed in various ways; such as defacing the walls, or drawing figures upon them, or doing any wilful injury to the pews, seats, forms, books, &c., belonging to any part of the church or place in which Divine service is performed; and defacing the tombstones, or committing any wilful injury to the graves, or walls, &c., surrounding the sacred ground, are all of them acts of profanation; though those which are committed immediately in the body of the church, &c., are of a more heinous nature. By stat. 1, Geo. I, st. 2, c. 5, sec. iv.," if any persons unlawfully, riotously, and tumultuously, assembled together, to the disturbance of the public peace, shall unlawfully and with force demolish or pull down, or begin to demolish or pull down, any church or chapel, or any building for religious worship, certified and registered (according to the 1st. W. and M., sess. 1, c. 18), then every such demolishing, &c., shall be adjudged felony without benefit of clergy, and the offenders therein shall suffer death, &c. Principals in the second degree are within this statute” (15).

2. Offering Violence to Chaplains.] The offering, even, violence to a chaplain is a punishable offence. The stat. 52. Geo. III., c. 155, enacts,

(12) Blackstone, Com., vol. iv. p. 60.

(13) Delivered over to the civil magistrate, to be proceeded against according to law," in the Ann. Arts, of War. (14) Blackstone, Com., vol. iv. p. 59.

(15) Russell on Crimes and Misdrs., vol. i. p. 356.

enacts, "that if any person or persons shall in any way disturb, molest, or misuse any preacher, teacher, or person officiating at such religious meetings; such person or persons so offending shall, upon conviction of the said offence at the gen. or qt. sessions, suffer the pain and penalty of £40.” (16). But the striking a clergyman whether in the execution of his office or otherwise is punishable in a more severe man

ner.

"There is also one species of battery, more atrocious and penal than the rest, which is the beating of a clerk in orders, or clergyman ; on account of the respect and reverence due to his sacred character, as the minister and ambassador of peace. Accordingly it is enacted by the statute called articuli cleri, 9 Edw. II., c. 3, that if any person lay violent hands upon a clerk, the amends for the peace broken shall be before the king; that is, by indictment in the king's cts. So that upon the whole it appears, that a person guilty of such brutal behaviour to a clergyman, is subject to three kinds of prosecution, all of which may be pursued for one and the same offence: an indictment for the breach of the king's peace by such assault and battery; a civil action for special damage sustained by the party injured; and a suit in the ecclesiastical ct.”—(Blackstone, vol. iv, p. 217).

3. Charges.] See Forms, Nos. 39 and 40, Chap. I. That A. B. did, on, at -, profane the place dedicated to Divine worship, (state the particulars and acts). Or, that A. B. did, on

atoffer violence to C. D., a chaplain of the army, &c., the same being in breach of the Arts. of War.

4. Evidence.] Nos. 1 and 2, as at Chap. III. sec. ii. art. 1. 3. Prove the place to be dedicated to Divine worship. 4. Prove the acts of profanation; or, prove C. D. to be a chaplain, and prove the offer of violence to him by A. B. One witness would be sufficient.

5. Punishment.] Discretionary.-(See punishment at the end of Chap. XXIV., and Case 1).

CASE 1.] G. O. C. C. 27th Nov. 1820. At an European gen. ct.mar. Capt. A. B-H. Cs. En. regt. was arraigned upon the following charges, viz.

"Captain B-H. Cs. En. regt. is accused by me, of scandalous and infamous conduct, in the following instances:

1st. "In having violently entered my private sleeping apartments at Chowringhee, although the doors were locked and bolted, for security against intrusion (I having retired to my family, being an invalid), and thereby alarming my family, by forcibly breaking open bolts, locks, &c. on the afternoon of the 9th instant.

2d. "For conduct highly disgraceful, infamous, and unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, in shamefully abusing, and violently assaulting, and beating brutally, and afterwards kicking when on the floor, the Rev.Mr.H. (without one single word of communication)

(16) Russell, on Crimes and Misdrs., vol. i. p. 405.

on

on the evening of the 9th inst. on or about half past 5 o'Clock P. M." -Chowringhee, Calcutta, 9th Oct. 1820.

FINDING-Guilty (except of the words in italics). SENTENCE-TO be discharged the service.

Approved, (Signed) HASTINGS.

REMARKS by H. E. the Most Noble the Com. in chief. "The court has solicited lenity towards Capt. B., on account of his length of service and his wounds, as well as from the circumstance that he committed the outrage under feelings violently irritated through false representations.

"The Com. in chief gives full weight to the recommendation of the court, which is strengthened by his own consideration of the gallantry shown by Capt. B. on service: but he could not reconcile it to himself, to remit the penalty of the sentence (which he hereby does), without pointedly censuring the vindication attempted by Capt. B. Instead of resting on the natural and true extenuation of his conduct, that officer has made his defence the vehicle for gross imputations on the rev. gentleman, whom he is pronounced by the court, to have brutally ill-treated. Those charges, extravagant in themselves, were supported by the testimony of witnesses, the two principal of which deposed positively to their having been present at the transaction, and who were proved satisfactorily to the court, not to have been near the place. The adduction of such witnesses to maintain an incorrect endeavour, is a substantive transgression, established on the proceedings of the court, which the Com. in chief thus marks with strong reprehension."

CHAPTER III.

SECTION 2.-MUTINY.

Penalty of speaking traitorous or disrespectful Words against the King, or any of the Royal Family.

Art. 1.] WHATSOEVER officer, non.-com. officer, or soldier, shall presume to use traitorous or disrespectful words against our royal person, or any of our royal family, if a com. officer, shall, upon a conviction thereof before a gen. court-mar. be cashiered; if a non-com. officer or soldier, he shall suffer such punishment as by the sentence of a gen. or regl. ct.-mar. (1) shall be awarded.

1. As to traitorous Words.] "If a man curse or damn the king, wish him

(1) As the importance of the case may require. A gen. regl. ct.-mar, may be assembled in H. M.'s service.—(Sec warrant, at sec. xiv., art. 14.)

him ill, give out scandalous stories concerning him, or do or say anything that may lessen him in the esteem of his subjects, may weaken his govt., or may raise jealousies between him and his people; or if he deny the king's right to the throne, in common and unadvised discourse (for if it be by advisedly speaking, it amounts to præmunire (2): all these are sedition" (3), See the 3d charge in case No. 1. With regard to high treason it does not apply to this article, there the punishment is death, here it is discretionary.

2. As to disrespectful Words.] "Words, whether written or spoken, used by way of argument on any subject, which may incidentally call in question any particular exercise of the royal prerogative, or discretion, come within the meaning of this article. The disrespect towards the office, would seem rather an aggravation than a diminution of the offence against the person exercising the sovereign authority"(4). See case 2. Words may be disrespectful when used or spoken of concerning the king, which if used in respect to another person would not be so construed. The king is considered, by the constitution, to be not only incapable of doing wrong, but even of thinking wrong (5). The king is at the head of the army, and therefore, disrespect may be offered to him either in his civil or military capacity; and any insinuation or word to his prejudice or disadvantage is an offence contemplated by this article. There are omissions also which are disrespectful, such as wanting in that respect to the sovereign when abroad, which is due to him from all his subjects in general, but more particularly from those in his immediate pay. And acts, or gestures may be considered as comprehended in the term disrespectful (See art. 1, sec. vii.)

3. As to Words.] If the words be spoken, their import and meaning cannot be doubtful as applied to the sovereign, and if they are contained in any writing, the context will explain the meaning of any particular word. Inuendoes, ironical expressions, asterisms, initial letters may, in connexion with other words, be explained. "Ironical expressions will describe and express the intention of the writer or speaker, as clearly and plainly as direct ones, whether they do so or not, where they are ironical or figurative, depends upon your consideration, from the circumstances of the case, and the evidence that is laid before you. If there are asterisms, initial letters, or terminations, they may throw no disguise on the meaning; if they do, they disappoint the intention of the writer; nor are courts of justice so precariously formed as to mistake the meaning of what all the rest of the world would understand, and to shut their eyes against that, which is plain to every body else" (6).

4.

(2) An offence highly criminal, though not capital, and more immediately affecting the king and his govt."-(Jacob's Law Dic.!

(3) Archbold's Crim Plea., p. 287.

(4) Samuel on M. A. and Arts. of War, p. 239. (5) Blackstone, vol. i., p. 246.

(6) Speech of Mr. De Grey, Atty. gen. on trial of John Almon, for selling Junius's Letters to the King-(Howell's St. Tr., vol. xx., p. 824.)

on

4. Charges.] See forms Nos. 39 and 40, chap. I. That A. B. did at use traitorous or disrespectful words (as the case may be), against our Sovereign Lord the King (or C. D. of the Royal Family), viz. (here insert the particular words, or if in writing, set out the whole of the writing), the whole or any part thereof being contrary to his allegiance (7), and in breach of the Arts. of War, &c.

5. Evidence.] 1. See as to limitation of time, M. A., sec. lxxi, chap. L. p. 192. Prove the party to be an officer, comd. or in pay, or soldier, &c. enlisted or in pay (M. A., sec. i. chap. 1, p. 4.), and prove the nature of the office held by the officer prosecuting, or in whose favour the prosecution is instituted, where the case requires, producing his commis., or patent, as govr., &c. 3. Prove the words used by the party, or if in writing, the hand-writing of the party. One witness would be sufficient.

6. Punishment.] An officer shall be cashiered. With regard to N. C. O., and soldiers, it is discretionary. Generally speaking, any words, acts, or writing, tending to vilify or disgrace the King, or any denial of his right to the crown, even in common and unadvised discourse, amounts, at common law, to a misprision, punishable by fine and corporal punishment (Russell on Crimes and Misdemeanours vol. i, p. 318-19. The punishment is made discretionary by the art. (not extending to life or limb.) See art. 1, sec. xxi. Arts. of War, and punishments at the end of the 24th chap. See cases 1 and 2. If by a gen. regtl. ct.-mar., see Warrant, sec. xiv, art. 14.

CASE 1.] G. O. C. C. 19th Jan. 1816.-At a gen. ct.-mar, private J. Ford, of H. M.'s 34th regt., was arraigned upon the undermentioned charges, viz. (3d charge applicable to this article.)

1st. "Disorderly and unsoldierlike conduct, in having made use of very abusive and highly disrespectful language towards his Comg. Officer, towards the Act. Adj. of the regt., and towards the pay serjt. of his comp., Serjt. G. Brasher.

2d." Mutinous conduct, in threatening to shoot his Comg. Officer, the Act. Adj. of the regt., and Serjt. G. Brasher, the pay serjt. of his comp.

3d. "Mutiny, in making use of traitorous and disrespectful language towards the King and Constitution, damning the King, the coat he wore, and those that made him wear it; or words to that effect."

FINDING-Guilty. SENTENCE-To suffer six months' solitary con

finement.

Which sentence was confirmed by H. E. Lieut.gen. Sir T. Hislop, bart., Com. in chief at Madras; and upon which occasion H. E. deemed it expedient to make the following observations:

"H. E. the Com. in chief cannot publish the foregoing sentence to the

(7) Oath of Allegiance, 39 Geo. III., cap. 109. Schedule (E). Ann. M. A. 1824, p. 238. "That I will bear true allegiance to Our Sovereign Lord King George, and that I will, as in my duty bound, defend him in his person, crown, and dignity, against all his enemies." The Hon. E. I. Co.'s soldiers take the same oath.