RECRUITING METHODS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXI, Issue 16604, 27 April 1916, Page 3

RECRUITING METHODS.

' THE OLD AND.THE NEW.

One advantage of living, as we do, on an island is that~ given a strong navy, we need have Jittie-wear in invasion. One of the disadvantages is that in ■times ofi peace we are likely to onink perhaps too tittle of the possibility of war.

In" view, however, of" the interest which the Great War has aroused in the subject of recruiting, and in the pros and cons of voluntary and compulsory methods, it may be profitable to examine tho recruiting methods of other times and places without advocating any in particular.

.With the work of the voluntary system we in this country are all familiar. During the piping times of peace which, with' tew intervals, characterised the last cent.ury, the-recruiting of our comparatively small professional army was entrusted to those plausible and" picturesque fellows1, the recruiting sergeants, who were seconded in their efforts by, the attractions of showy uniforms and the martial strains of. military .bands. . .

But when the outbreak of the Great "War in ' 1914/ when this country had to put in-the field vast armies on.tne Continental or conscript scale, the old easy-going methods of peace time, had to be speeded up. In the first place the patriotic spirit of the manhood of the nation was so ardent ttnd the .Tjoluntary recruiting was on so magnificent and unprecedented a scale that the whole system of recruiting had perforce to be reorganised and remodelled. When the first wave of enthusiasm showed signs .of exhaustion the services of the brightest and keenest organisers and'busiess men in the country were enlisted^in a great publicity or poster campaign. For many months the posters were a familiar feature of the hoardings, combining the direjt Tutorial appeal with the more subtle psychological reminder of the text. This was supported and reinforced by a vigorous speech-making recruiting campaign, and culminated in the Derby scneme which may be said to have been -> voluntary system modelled on conscription..

THE MILITIA SYSTEM

Another system of' recruiting which has many advocates, even' in these days, is the quota or militia system, which, is said to date from Saxon times, the national levy or fyrd having fought at Hastings. The militia, as we know it in modern times, however, may be said to date from 1757, when the regular Army, being absent during the Seven Years War, the militia was organised for home defence. In that year an Act was passed providing a fixed number of men (called the quota) should be raised in each county. Each, parish had to prepare a list of men between the ages of 18 and 30. The quota was apportioned among the parishes, and the men were then chosen by ballot from the lists. Each man drawn had to serve three shears or provide a substitute. Latterly the militia was raised under the Militia Act of 1882, which is a voluntary enlisted Act, but it is worthy of note that the compulsory system with balloting for recruits may be revived at once by an Order in Council. ' ;

THE PRESS GANG.

One of the best known—not to say infamous or notorious —methods of' recruiting was that of the "Press Gang," a drastic and often brutal species of compulsion, round which a whole series of stories have been woven.

The practice of impressing seamen for the Royal Navy began so long ago as the year 1355, immediately after Britain had been ravaged by pestilence. The resources of this country, which was engaged in the long struggle with France, were strained to the uttermost, and the system of impressment was in troduced by Royal Proclamation. For centuries afterwards, in any national emergency, impressment was resorted to^'with more or less vigour. Maitland tells us that on the morning of Easter Monday, 1596, the Lord Mayor of London received Queen Elizabeth's command to raise 1000 men with tho utmost haste. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen, with their deputies and constables, at once repaired to the churches, and having ordered the doors to be closed, simply seized and took away the required number of men. They were marched t off the same night for Dover, but the'news of the reduction of Calais by the Spaniards having arrived, the pressed men returned to London about a w.eek later.

Pressed men were not, however, always so fortunate. The press gangs were armed bands of callous and often brutal sailors, who seized and carried off any able-bodied man they could lay their hands on. 'I ne press gangs would go to almost any lengths to get suitable men. They thought nothing of knocking men senseless and flinging them on board ship like so many sacks. In some cases the Government paid as much as £5 per head for pressed men. OUTWITTING THE PRESSMEN. This harsh system of recruiting, so contrary to our modern ideas of liberty and fair play, was continued until the beginning of the nineteenth century. A "story is told of a Newcastle sailor who was impressed in the year 1813. He was safely - lodged in the house of detention, and the same evening his sister, a young woman of 20, decided to eftect his rescue. She went ostensibly to say good-bye to he' brother, who was. to be sent away in the tender next morning. She was :»?- lowed to have a short interview t\ !th him, but during, the' few minutes they were alone together they contrived to exchange clothes. On the door being opened, a figure in feminine attire emerged weeping. It was only when it was.too late that* the press gang'discovered that they had been duped, and that the plucky sister had remained -n her brother's place. Popular sympathy was, of course, altogether in her favour, and she was speedily released by order of. the magistrate. It. is not generally known that press gang or compulsory methods were also employed to recruitthe'Army. This occurred in the reign, of Charles T. whon 5460 men were required to bring' the Parliamentary or "New Model" Army up to strength. No call was made for volunteers, but "county committees were ordered to -im press the required number'of able-bodied men, and Tollowing upon this order young men were forcibly carried off from the streets of London and mad<? to serve as soldiers". . Jn.Kent a baiid'of recruits had b©°rc .forcibly gathered together, .but on tlip marrVto the depot the recruits turned on their'guards, and .after overpowering them*, caijtnred a manor house near Wrothnih..' There they'defiad aU comers ..until tfce Tiouse, was 'stormed by a s,trong military force/ when tne imj>ress*>d -fffmts, were .'dislodged and * marpKed, efffip. serve uTtne Parljamen--1 tary .army. ''~,. " ;~ ,' t - ' /

COMPULSION IN THE PAST.

As. a matter of_ fact", it may be said that in almost ail our wars, donrn to the end of the eighteenth century, compulsion m ■ one form or another was resorted t0... Sometimes- it was only applied to particular classes. Thus one Act provided that men who deserted their families were to be impressed for military service. , This also applied to smugglers. From-1695 to 1702 only those imprisoned for debt were liable to become Army1 conscripts.

The system of conscripting convicts and criminals persisted for some time, as witness the following extract from a newspaper of 1793 : —" Mention has already been made that a number of convicts lying m Newgate Prison, under sentence of transportation, have been permitted to enter into marching regiments; the Crown debtors within the various prisons have now received similar offers." At least three regiments of crimmals were formed during the Peninsular War, and one of them particularly distinguished itself in tho field. '

During the Napoleonic wars large sums of money called "bounties", amounting to £30, £40, and sometimes £50, were offered to likely men to induce them to join the Army. The term of enlistment was then, however, foi life. These large sums of money proved a strong temptation to needy and unscrupulous men who enlisted, deserted, and re-enlisted over and over again, so as to get the'bounty money. Such men were called "bounty jumpers/ and one of the most notorious, Jerry Ryan, confessed to haying enlisted 19 times, netting in bounty money no less taan £420.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION,

Conscription, or the r compulsory enrolment of men for rtavalor military service, may be sard !id -dafte from the French/ Revolution.°-Tjffe-"whole manhood of France tKexL'-b^Aiiid' available for military service, .though' exemptions were granted for bniyisons and'so on. Until. 1870 the annual Mass'jirew i ofcs and those .whose :16t.,it was' rtb enter the Army could provicle'' si|ptitii|es. 'ihi* sysfcem;was abolishe'd.qitt,Jlte;reebnstruotion; ol:the. Acmy in! 187^i-and .atteriy there have been theoretically. no <<£ emptions, except for physical or mental incapacity, and about' cent, o-t each class were called, up.,, In ttnl' year, however, .the proportion was raised to 64 per cent.' The men of the best physique were selected, and although there were some legal exemptions, the young men ot all classes have to serve their term in the Army. It is sometimes forgotten that durng the American Civil War both sidfss had to resort to conscription. In 1862 Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, called out all white male citizens between the ages' of 18 and 45 So great was the wastage and the need for men tha ehttli

far the men that the limit was afterwards raised to 55. and the substitute and exemption conditions were repealed. In the North the Conscription Act came later. The voluntary response was good, but the triumph of the Federal arms at Vicksburg and Gettysburg seemed to put new life into the defeated Confederates. President Lincoln called for drafts from the States militia, but these were found insufficient, and the Federal Congress with all speed passed a general conscription law. All citizens between the ages of 20 and 45 were ordered to be enrolled for military service. It was ordained further that levies wouid be called up in drafts as required. The results were disappointing. Of those called up over 80 per cent, reported, but of these about 30 "per cent, were rejected as medically unfit. Altogether, from one cause or another, only about 40 per cent, of those examined were retained for service. One serious weakness of the American _ system wrw that a man could escape military duties by paying 300 dollars (£6O). One-half of those examined and passed for. service took advtantage of this means of escape.

RECRUITING BY COMBAT,

. Some curious, and interesting instances of wliat may be called recruiting by combat have occured from time to time. Ifuring the Peninsular JWar, Sir George (then Captain); Napier was sent to Ireland to obtain recruits for,his regiment. He was in the company of another offi--cer. on a,similar mission when they encountered ten fine- strapping Irish "bhoys". The young fellows were appealed to, and, like true sportsmen, offered to : enlist under the officaY that could beat! them\a't runnirig arid jumping.- Napier-tried—and failed. Bis fellow-officeri however, managed to beat -the " bhoys," and - true to their word, they enlisted in the 43rdEv-

A somewhat similar*-mefehbd=:was adopted by Capt. B. R; Hblnies/ of the 36th Sikhs, as a means*of-obta*R';ii* Sikh recru'ts.for the IndiaftV^AVmy; Ho challenged all the able-bodied me v in the villages he- visited- ttf^a at wrestling on condition t^h^P^very m'.n foe defeated was to ipm^the' Indian Amy/: The -response tß;yts[e ''challenge was so good arid the captain proved so at wrestling that he"ie*c\;red no 'fewer than 777-recruitOSrltfie'sraxid Meerut Durbar. : ™~ ;•■-■■■