The National Register. — London, England, 1809-06-04 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER., ' • t 4 7,14 k, * • • ®►ur ennystitution, anD 11-atas. 'fic • $ 1 it No. 75. PRICE Od.. SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 1809. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. NUMBER SEVENTY-TIIREE. VIOLATION OF THE ORDEItS AND REGULATIONS OF THE ARMY, BY THE APPOINTMENT OF LORD BURGHERSH. When, in compliance with publieopinion, the DUKE of YOR3 :teemed it prudent to resign the office of Commander in Chief, the public fondly anticipated that a new fera of Military Administration was abOut to commence, and that thereafter the Commissions in the Army would be distri buted on a system, froM which court favour and private partiality would he'excluded. The spirit of the army it was said, had long suffered from the want of a system of promotion which might reward service, and encourage etnalatiosi. The exemplary punishment of the Commander in Chief, for such it was, was supposed to be the establish ment of this new system. Who will hereafter, it was de manded, violate the regular order of promotion, when even Royal Rank was not sufficient to screen his Royal Ilighness from its consequences. The Military Regulations of the DUKE of Yonx were aCknovaedged by every one to have been most admirably calciilated, not only to maintain the military skill in every rank - in the army, but, as much as was possible, to exclude that system of favouritism which, in other branches of the state, supersedes merit of all kind. The complaint against the DUKE: was not• against his avowed system, buta*ainsti his secret administration. Accordingly, when on thedis missal of the DugE another Commander in Chief was ap.' pointed, the public yoke most loudly and generally de manded, that the former military regulations should be acted upon, and that the army should be honestly and purely administered on the rules and regulations which had hitherto formed its fundamental law. . . Sir D. Du NDA s, therefore, was no sooner appointed, than as his fait official act, he issued (Le folloWing MILIT %ItY ORDER. BY special Command of his 11A.Tusrv, it is hereby ordered arfl announced to all Regiments in his MAJESTY'S t•crvice ) and to :tit persons N% ht to it may concern— 1. That from thk day, Alnrch 20th,.1E09, no officer shall be plotow . ed to the rank of Captain, until he shall have been thtee Ca san act bal lballerq. 2. That no Officer shall Ito promoted to the rank or Field ()fiber Until l►e has been sevea ::er.N in the service of which he shA • hat.e been at f:•:ast two 3-ears a Captain. 3. N:► Onleer shall he pro:noted to the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel until he has been nine years in the service of which he shall have been two years at least a ;Ila}:►r. Q. No Officer shall be allowed to fill any Stair Appointment (that of Aid-dc-Camp excepted) until he has been one . year a The above Regulations having been submitted tn his MAI rsTy by the present Commander in Chief, his MAJESTY wa4 pleased to confirm them, and to order that they•hereafter he strictly exc uoted as the standing rule and regulation of ,all . Military Pro- DA VID IDVXDAS. xnu:ioa; I,XXV. These Orders, however, were scarcely issued before they were violated in the unprecedented appointment of J.ord litylwarnsit. 'This Will immediately appear. by a cornpa rion of the dates of the several appointments with those periods required by the above Order. The Papers hawing been laid before the House, we arc enabled to give the following abstract : DATES OF TUC DIE FEIIENT COMMISSIONS OF lIIEUTosCOL. LOUD BURGH mists. • • Ensign 11th Foot • 25th Mar. 1803, without purchweAo22 . - the Ist of May 1803, Vas Co/mission teas reported bg Lieut. General Grittfield, commanding in the West Indies, to havo been vacant from thc 231Aittoc, 1802. ) Lieut. 7th Foot sth Jan. 130.1, without purchase. Capt. - 23 d Foot 3d May 1805, ditto. Capt. 3tl Dragoon Guards, lst*Nov. 1805, ditto. Major 2d West India Itegt. 4th May, 1809, ditto. Lieut. Colonel in the Army,l upon being appointed to I serve in Por;ugal under the command of Lieut.-General Ileresford,vacat in the Ma jority in the 2d West India Item. and retiring upon half pay on the expiration of the above service. 11th May, 1803, ithout putchafe. . It will be seen from this abstract, that Lord BURGBERSII, • was madti a Miljor after he had been only Six years in the service, thou ?:h . the above-mentioned regulations required that such an .appointm4nt should never lte made, till after the object of it- had been seven yeari in the army. • The date of- this appointment, moreovee, hs compared with that of the order, is peculiarly . dtrirciritis.. • The order was issued on the 20th of March . , and oh the 4th of May fol lowing Lord Be antmasn is appointed" a major indirect vio lation of it. It is another feature it' this" affair; within six'days after the'abovo appointment as In 2 or, fre'was promotedtto . be a Lieutenant-Colonel., . Thy . dppoifittnelif i is still a wire . daring infrinmenient of the 'Above ciders. Acc . ordint the ordcr, no officer shall be promoted to the rank orLiets tenant-ColOne!, .until . lic has been nine years in the service. In direct contradiction to ...this . order, Lord Bunozzaaa appointed Lientenant-Colonel after six years service.? Thb above quoted regtilatioiy however, requires another qualification. No Officer, Says:the Order, Shall be ap pointed a Lieutenant-Colonel, till' 'aftei- be shall have been two ;;elms a Alajor. • • • . Now hoW has it been in the caii>of toed BURGHER= Why he is appointed Lientenant•ColOner after having beea seven days a ajoi. Therd is an additional circumstance in this picture which should not be omitted—that of the four regiments through which he passed in' his way to promotion, he never tetrad, and, we believe, never even joined, one of them. •+ All the above Commissions, ►noreover, it will be re marked, were without purchase. Surely this is not rigit. If purchase is admissiblein the army, and we really see nu reason why it should not be so, surely none are so fit 'to pur chase as thegreat and wealthy. Would it not have been more decorous if souse of these commissions bad been proc::rud .Npf % E 1 • I !it • ~~