SECTION XI. Military Schools, Colleges, and Asylums. * Both the Articles of War and the Regulations of the Army Divine Worship. are very particular on the subject of Divine Worship. Chaplains to the Forces receive the pay and allowance of Majors. The soldiers, when convenient, attend a church; but in the field, the service is in the open air: more men are not then assembled in the open air than the voice can reach; and the service has to be performed successively to different corps of the chaplain's division, and is to close with a short practical sermon, suited to the habits and understandings of soldiers. On detachment duty, if possible, the soldiers attend the parish church. Their wives also are encouraged to attend divine service. Every soldier is at full liberty to attend the worship of Almighty God according to the forms prescribed by his own religion, when military duty does not interfere. There is an ecclessiastical officer termed the "Principal Chaplain of the Forces," who superintends all matters of religion connected with the Army; and in order more fully to provide for the services of the church, if the number of soldiers in a detachment is too great for the parish church, *This Section includes a short account of the moral training and general education of the members of the British Army. Savings' the clergyman is paid an allowance, under the Regulations, for a separate service. Full provision is also made, both in the Regulations and the Royal Warrant, for religious attendance on the sick; and the clergyman attending and reading prayers to sick soldiers is paid for his service, unless the detachment consists of less than fifty men. Allowances are not given to two several clergymen of different faiths, but to an Episcopalian or a Presbyterian clergyman, according as the body of troops under attendance contains most Episcopalians or Presbyterians. Claims for allowances to the Roman Catholic clergy for attendance at military hospitals are submitted to the Chaplain-General, for special consideration. There does not seem to be any provision for paying the ministers of Protestant Dissenters. The troops are also supplied with Bibles, Testaments, Books of Common Prayer, and such religious tracts as may be approved for the use of the sick in the hospitals. With a view to the encouragement of economical and provident habits among the troops, and to diminish the temptation to intemperance and its consequences on discipline, Regimental Savings' Banks have been established in the Army. They are intended to afford the soldier the means of profitably depositing his savings, whether at home or abroad, under Government security; and at the same time to give him every practicable facility for withdrawing his accumulation, whenever he may require it for any useful purpose. It is the duty of Officers in the Army to use their influence to encourage the non-commissioned officers and men under their command to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded them of accumulating their savings; particularly as regards tradesmen and handicrafts, as well as when the troops are in the receipt of wages for employment on the public works; but Commanding Officers are to be careful that the proper nourishment and subsistence of troops are not made subservient to this consideration, or the meals of the soldier stinted to enable him to make deposits in the bank.* Schools. The late Duke of Kent (the father of her Majesty) was Regimental the first who in his regiment (the Royal Scots) realized the idea of forming a school for the instruction of young soldiers and the children of the troops. This was about the period when Lancaster first succeeded in placing his system of mutual instruction in a flourishing condition. A serjeant, instructed by Lancaster, became the schoolmaster of the corps; and some time afterwards, when the Royal Scots returned to be quartered in their own country, twelve children of the regiment were publicly examined by Lancaster himself before the University and inhabitants of Edinburgh. The system was quite successful, and the progress of the scholars rapid and effectual. Their master considered the institution as a wholesale manufactory of non-commissioned officers. About the same time however, arose the system of Dr. Bell, a minister of the Church of England (Mr. Lancaster being a Quaker); so that when the Government determined on establishing schools in all the regiments, of the two rival methods they naturally chose that founded by a member of the Established Church. Though these institutions were originally established for the care and instruction of the children of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, yet raw recruits, until dismissed from drill, are also obliged to attend them-infantry, two hours The Savings Bank Ledgers--both regimental, or troop, or company--are to be produced and examined at all half-yearly inspections. daily; cavalry, one hour. The schoolmasters are selected by the Commanding Officer; and general and other officers in command are enjoined to consider them as deserving personal care and attention. The regimental schools are conducted on military principles, and assimilated to a regiment, according to the system of Dr. Bell, adopted at the Royal Military Asylum. Both male and female children are admitted:—the girls being instructed, in addition to general education, in useful female occupations; the boys, in a similar manner, are brought up to the trades of armourers, tailors, saddlers, boot and shoe makers, &c. It rests with the children themselves, when they arrive at a proper age, to adopt the line of life to which they give preference. The non-commissioned officers and men have the option of attending the schools at the following monthly rates:serjeants 8d., corporals 6d., privates and drummers 4d. Under the original regulations, all children in the regimental schools were required to learn the Catechism of the Church of England: except in the Highland regiments, where the Catechism of the Scotch Church was supposed to be learned; but there was little or no care taken to see the regulations enforced. Under the new system, no catechism whatever is taught; the children are instructed in the great leading truths of revealed religion, and read, as a school book, a compendium of sacred history; but care is taken to avoid controversy, and especially to shun debateable ground as between rival churches. There are clergymen appointed at all stations to attend to the military wants of the troops. These gentlemen are invited to instruct the little ones of their respective flocks in the tenets of the churches to which they respectively belong. The Sunday classes are well attended, and the children of all churches, while they work together and play together amicably where temporal matters are in hand, are trainea by their masters to pay every respect and attention to the special religious lessons communicated by the clergy To pass from the Regimental Schools to the Royal Military Royal Military Asylum. Asylum, which was founded by a warrant bearing date 1801. It is a school destined for the reception of the orphan. and other children of non-commissioned officers and soldiers; and is situated at Chelsea, near Chelsea Hospital, in extensive grounds, on which all the buildings necessary for the establishment were erected for the purpose. In 1803 the school was opened, with the original intention of receiving only 700 boys and 300 girls; but these numbers have since been increased. It was reduced after the peace, but again increased to 850 boys and 400 girls; besides 400 boys who are educated at a branch school. In 1799, the necessity of forming regimental officers, Royal Military College. and more particularly those of the staff, having a perfect knowledge of the theory of the art of war, laid the foundation of the institution known as the Royal Military College. In that year thirty officers were admitted as pupils, and two or three professors appointed; in the following year, the number of professors was increased to seven. In 1801, a royal warrant, which was in effect superseded by another in 1808, gave form and regularity to the institution. At present its constitution is as follows: It is governed by a supreme board of Commissioners, consisting of the Commander-in-Chief, the Military Secretary, the Master-General of the Ordnance, the Quarter * Return relating to Regimental Schools, by G. R. Gleig, Inspector General of Schools, 1852. |