He thought th.it this proposal would, if adopted, have the ellect of preventing much that was discreditable at the very outset of the soldier's career, and which was the fault not hi: much of tho men as of the system, which, as hitherto administered, left a recruit,, after be had once taken the shilling, open to all kinds of degrading iu lluences until the time arrived for him to be legally ilttcwted. As things stood at present, an attested recruit could only obtain release fr.-Ui his coutrac as an indul gence, and on payment to the Government of about twenty-one pounds; but the new Uill would give him the right, *s distin guished from the privilege, to rescind his contract at any time within three months of his attestation on payment of about ten pounds, which, it was calculated, would practically cover the expense to which the country had been put on his account. " Lovers of old fashions may regret the proximate disappearance of the (Queen's Shilling, which is in substance (inly the old English ' earnest,' the French 'arihcs,' the Italian ' buonainano,' and the Greek 'arra bon.' The custom of binding a bargain by the payment of a small Slim Oil account is as old as the hills. In Paris, on hiring an apartment, live fiancs is generally given to tho cor-ciergc as the ' donier a Dieu ;'ser vants receive ' arihcs 'on their wages when they arc engaged ; but in Italy, when a contract is made for hiring a carriage by the day or the week, the employed instead of the employer pays earnest money. The vcttnrino hands to tho traveller a small .sum, usually five lire, as an earnest that he, the driver, will furnish furnish a proper vehicle and horse, and in all respects perform his agreement faith fully. As for the traveller, it is politely considered that his word in his bond. Foreigners, however, arc generally sober when they make bargains, and that the receipt of the enlisting shilling should not be regarded as definitely binding in the case of an ignorant young lellow, who had possibly hud the fatal coin slipped into his hand when more than half tipsy by a very •' wide-awake " sergeant was virtually recognised by the enactment of tho S'.Hh" or " relief " clause of the Mutiny Act. 