And another clause of the same bill was framed in the hope of making the service more acceptable to the peasantry, by limiting the time for which recruits were to be enlisted, and entering men, at first, in the infantry for seven years, or in the cavalry (as that branch of the service required a longer apprenticeship) for ten; then allowing them the option of renewing their engagement for two periods--in the infantry of seven years each, in the cavalry of six and five, with increased pay during each of the two periods, and a small pension for life, if the soldier retired after the second period; and "the full allowance of Chelsea," which was to be farther raised to a shilling a day, for those who elected to serve the whole twenty-one years.

This principle the present reign has seen carried to a much greater extent, but the change is too recent for even the most experienced officers to be agreed on its effects.

And it is only because of this recent extension of it that this clause is mentioned here.

But the enactment of a law of compulsory service was clearly an inroad on the great constitutional right of every man to choose his own employment.

At the same time, it is equally clear that it was only such an inroad as under the circumstances, was fully justifiable.