Private Soldiers.
TO THE FD1TOR OF TH;E TIMES. Sir-In comrmon, I believe, with most of your readers,. I have been gratified with voir remaiks upon1 the un constitiutional favour shown to some of the Life Guards, on the occasion on which they lately came unlder the notice ot the police. In reference to the same important subject, permit )ne to call your attention to a remark of lr. Halls, of Bow-street, made on the hearing of a complaint of a somewhat simlilar ehayacter, against a sol(lier of the Foot G(uardls. In your paper of thlis day, Mr. Halls is saidl to have usecl these words-" Did soldliers sllppose, that instead of conductinig themnselves likcmen,arnd like gentlemen," &c. I have hear(d ot charges against commissioned officers concilti(ig, against their characters " as officers an(1 genile- men," but this is the first occasion oll whichi I have seen a similar aggravation of ofFi,nce chargedl against any indivi- dual of inferior rank; and though tlde distinction may ap- pear trivial to some, I confess it strikes mne that compli- inents of this kind, proceeding, too, from a magistrate in the exercise of his official duties, are misplaced and ex- tremely mischlievous. WVithoutaffecting much aristocratic feeling, it must be admitted, that the appellation of " gen- tleman" is descriptive of a class of society listinguishc(d by birth, by edLcation, or by professional or commercial importance. The term, therefore, when applied to men Wh1o can assert no other title to tlhe distinction tban the colour of their ecats, is grossly misapplied, and calculated to give to such persons a consequence in their oWII estima- tion, not only highly absur(l, but tending to scenes of vio- lence and outrage like that which has given rise to your remarks on the subject of military impunity for civil misdemeanors. I trust that Mr. Ilalls, who certainily is not remarkable ingeneral for the servilitv of his domnean-our, dtidI not make the remark in question if he (licd, it affords a fturtlher proof of the (langer of the existing military maniia, whles even a respectable magistrate will condescend, in his offieial clharacter, to court tile good-will and( sooth the self-complaceiicy of a private soldier. Your's. &c. A CIVILIAN. Jet. tsi. - vve were oursclves struck bv thc nilisapplicaiion of the term, anid verc prevented by an oversight fiom com- menting en it. P'rivate soldiers are not taken out of that class of society to whom the appellation of gentlemen belongs. PRMAT.R SOLDIERS.