The Express.
London, England, 1855-04-26 00:00:00

ARMY REFORM.

THE STAFF OF THE ENGLISH ARMY.
TO TSB SDITOI OH TEI DAILY trews.
Sia,—What recollections of nepotism rise before my
" mind's of e" as I write the word " Staff !" On this
topic more than perhaps almost any other connected
with army reform, de the civilians ot England require
enlightening. If the country could but get knowledge
of the way in which Staff cbers obtain their appoint-
ments, I should not have any fear as to whether our
whole military system will or will not be refiymed. All
I pretend to do is to give the electors of the nation a
plain statement of facts connected with the service.
Twelve years' experience in that service should
give roe a little knowledge of the working of the
scheme, and, without vanity, I think it has done so.
The ignorance of the great mass of Englishmen who
have served in the army. regarding all matters
connected with the service, is astonishing. But
I can account for it. Until the late disasters in the
Crimea brought soldiers, and all that concerns soldiers,
into prominent notice, the public of this country were
under an impression that the courage which every
Englishman,lrishman, and Scotchman inherits as part
of his birthright, would carry ns through any
campaign. Thanks to Government mismanagement
—and, allow me to add, to the military blunders
of Lard Raglan—the eyes of the nation are getting a
little opened on these subjects. A little enlighten-
ment is ail they now require, and the premare from
without will force upon miniver, what Lord Palmer-
ston as yet Deems determined to obstruct—namely, an
entire and sweeping reform of our whole military

system.
In former letters I have exposed the manner io
which officers, by sheer force of money, get on io the
service. I also devoted one or two of these comma-
sications to showing up the bartering, exchanging,
bujiog, selling and brokering in commissions, which I
are events of every days' occurrence. I will now do'
my best towards exposing the way in which officers
get appo rated to the Staff of the English army.
If I were put on my oath in a witness-box to-morrow,
and on that oath asked the question, " Did you during
the twelve years you served in the Royal Army ever
know an officer appointed to the Staff of that army
from either his personal merit or his military
(requirements r my answer would be, " No;
in one single instance did I know or hear of a nomi-
nation to the Staff, except on the gross& of private
interest,
_personal canoe:ems, or other similar na-
me.' I don't sey that here and there a Staff
ellen may not be found who is perfectly well
qualified for the appointment he holds. For
instance, every man who remembers "Clarke, of the
Greys" when he was a regimental officer, must
sekeowledge that be is a very proper man for the
situation of Assistant Quartermaster-General at the
Horse Guards, the post which he now fills. The same
may be said of Major Morris, of the 17th Lenore.,
lately appointed one of the Deputy Assistant Adjutant
Generals at head-quarters; but these—with a few
others—are the exceptions, not the rule. From
"General Henry Viscount Hardinge," commanding
in Chief, down to the three dozen young sides-de-
amp serving on the staff in the Crimes, personal
interest, and that alone, has been the means of
getting officers appointed to the staff If any one
doubt what I say, let him ask such officers as have
spent their time and mousy in studying at the senior
department of Sandhurst. whether they have, in a
professional point of view, derived the slightest
benefit from the examinations they have pawed or
the honours they have taken at that institution P I
venture to say that not one of these gentlemen will
affirm he h"s gained the slightest advantage
even from haviug passed the very highest exa-
mination at Sandhurst. How. then, are officers
appointed to the Staff ? By personal or family
interest, and by that alone. On looking over the
Army List you will find it an almost universal rule,
that every general officer holding a command has one
or more officers of his personal Staff of the same
name as himself. I have known aides-de-rump
selected by general officers from various motives. I
was once on the Staff in that capacity myself. A
very worthy general, now dead and gone, selected
me for his aide-de-camp because he had known my
parents very well some twenty years before he met
me. My predecessor in office was sent back to regi-
mental duty because he was given to flirting with the
governess of the General's daughters. A friend of
mine, who returned last year from Bombay, told me'
that the late Lord Frederick Finclarenor—at that
time Commander-.a-Chief of Bombay—had turned
off his Staff no less than two Military Secre-
taries and three aide-de-camps, became they were
given to flirtations with otoer men's wives. My
informant further stated that his Lordship was at the
time on the look out foe a purely moral Staff, bat bad
great difficulty in finding what he wanted. About 11
years ago I remember a General Officer of the Queen's
army commanding a division in the North West of
Ind ia,whose aide-de-campwas selected on account of his
knowledge in rearing and feeding poultry for the
General's table. And so on I might fill three or
four columns of your paper with similar anecdotes of
officers beit.g selected for the Staff, owing to qualifi-
cations which are anything but those in which a sol-
dier should take a pride. In England we have
bat one Cavalry General, properly so called, namely,
the Inspector-Genersl of Cavalry. The officer now
holding this appointment is Lord Cardigan. But his
lordship's aide-de-camp is Captain Maxie, of the
Coldstream Guards, an infantry officer. When Lord
Lucan commanded the cavalry in the Crimea, his
aide-de-camp was his eon, Lord Bingham, also of the
Coldstream', and also an infantry officer. Major-
General the Hon. J. Y. Scarlet', who now commands
the cavalry division before Sebastopol, has for
one of his aides-de-camp, his nephew, the
Hon. W. &select, of the Soots Fusilier Guards,
another infantry officer. On the other hand,
Lieut.-General Sir Richard England, commanding
the Third Infantry Division of the Army in the
Crimea, has for one of his aide-de-camps Lieut. the
Hon. (oh, those honourable') C. Keith, of the 4th
Light Dragoons, a cavalry officer ; and in the Second
Infantry Division of the same army, one of the De-
puty Assistant Quartermaster-Generals is Brevet
Major Thompson, of the 10th Hussars, • Cavalry
officer. With the single exception of Lord Bingham,
who was for a few weeks in a cavalry regiment, none
of these officers have ever served except in the branch
to which they now belong. Is not this—as you ex-
pressed it not longagoin a leading article—like setting
the groom to nurse the baby, the gardener to cook the
dinner, the housemaid to drive the carriage, and the
Gook to clean the hones ? Mr. Roebuck's committee
seem to waste a vast deal of time in asking questions
which the recruit of yesterday could answer. Wby
don't they inquire bow the staff of the Crimean
Army is constituted? Why don't they ask whether
the right men have been put in the right
places in the force now before Sebastopol?
If they did so, don't you think that much
at which the world sow wonders would be made
plain? Suppose that a railway company were to
allow their secretary to drive a looomotive, their
accountant to manage the points, a porter to take
the secretary's place, and a guard that of the to-
ooentant—what would be result P You and your
readers can answer that question better than I
ass, Yet this is exactly the way matters have
Mien managed in the Crimean Staff. Even in
tie t appointments things are not better. I
like much to hear Sir De Lacy Evans's
Neal opinion as to what he thinks of
Moe General Eatcourt or General Airey. Will
ony man who knows the A B C of mili-
tary matters say that, with a competent Staff,
we sheald have had the fearful amount of misman-
agement at Sebastopol which has lost es so many
lives P In the name of truth, let us put the saddle
on the right horse. I don't deny that many blun-
ders were committed by the home authorities, but, as
a soldier who has MD not a little service in his day.
I feel convinced that no amount of good management
in England would have served the army before Sebes-
Wel. when the Staff of that army was composed of men
perfectly unfit for the situations they held. What
mold the Doke of Newcastle, or any other minister,
lie in England, when apathy and ignorance ruled the
'temp before Sebastopol? God help our brave fellows
Is that °amp, unless Parliament do their duty to the
errantry, and insist upon an immediate reform in all
Near military departments.
I lave more to say on the subject of the Staff,
MR mist do so in a futon letter. When we come
Ileilliespee the qualifications required for a French
!bee Officer with the little that Is thought news-
fir an Englishman holding a like appointment,