The whole of the
Front is one vast cemetery--a "God's Acre" hallowed by prayers if
unconsecrated by the rites of the Church. The French Government has
shown a noble solicitude for the feelings of the bereaved, and a Bill
has been submitted to the Chamber of Deputies for the expropriation of
every grave with a view to its preservation.

The Deputy Judge-Advocate-General and his representatives with the
Armies are legal advisers to the Staff in the proceedings of
courts-martial. The Judge-Advocate attends every trial and coaches the
Court in everything, from the etiquette of taking off your cap when you
are taking the oath to the duty of rejecting "hearsay." He never
prosecutes--that is always the task of some officer specially assigned
for the purpose--but he may "sum up." Officers are not usually familiar
with the mysteries of the Red Book,[29] however much they may know of
the King's Regulations; and a Court requires careful watching. One
Judge-Advocate whom I knew, who was as zealous as he was conscientious,
instituted a series of Extension lectures for officers on the subject of
Military Law, and used to discourse calmly on the admissibility and
inadmissibility of evidence in the most "unhealthy" places. Speaking
with some knowledge of such matters, I should say that court-martial
proceedings are studiously fair to the accused, and, all things
considered, their sentences do not err on the side of severity. Even the
enemy is given the benefit of the doubt. There was a curious instance of
this. A wounded Highlander, finding himself, on arrival at one of the
hospitals, cheek by jowl with a Prussian, leapt from his bed and "went
for" the latter, declaring his intention to "do him in," as he had, he
alleged, seen him killing a wounded British soldier in the field. There
was a huge commotion, the two were separated, and the Judge-Advocate was
fetched to take the soldier's evidence. The evidence of identification
was, however, not absolutely conclusive--one Prussian guardsman is
strangely like another. The Prussian therefore got the benefit of the
doubt.

The prisoner gets all the assistance he may require from a "prisoner's
friend" if he asks for one, and the prosecutor never presses a
charge--he merely unfolds it. Moreover, officers are pretty good judges
of character, and if the accused meets the charge fairly and squarely,
justice will be tempered with mercy. I remember the case of a young
subaltern at the Base who w