The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-15 00:00:00

of " the upper crest" of English aristocracy.
When to these we add the very large number of
Guardsmen who are sons and nephews of large
landed proprietors—scarcely, if all, less exclusive
in their ideas than the oldest families of the no-
bility—it may be fairly allowed that the officers of
these corps, with hardly a single exception, belong
to what aro termed the "higher classes " of this
country. Throughout the Line—cavalry as well
as infantry—there was even before the war (and
much more so now) in almost every regiment one or
two officers who had risen from the ranks. But not
so in the Guards. They only allow their meritorious
non .commissioned officers to become quartermasters
in " the brigade," or have them promoted into Line
regiments as rewerds for good conduct: the Guards
must ever be kept as exclusive as possible.
It is not generally known out of military circles
that the Commander-in-Chief of the English army
has no more to do with the nominations to or the
promotions in the Guards than I have. Although
the responsible head of the service, and answerable
to Parliament for every appointment made through-
out the army, Lord .11ardinge has nothing what-
ever to say to the appointments in " the brigade."
These are exclusively in the hands of those three
distinguished soldiers, the Prince Consort, the Earl
of Strafford, and the Duke of Cambridge—the three
colonels of the three regiments, and they alone, order
the promotions in these regiments. In short, the
Guards are at St. James's considered the cream of
the army, therefore not to be mixed up with vulgar
milk in any way whatever. As for the interest re-
quired to obtain an entrance into these corps, it is
of the usual description. Noblemen and gentle.
men who want to get their sons into the Guards, if
they do not happen to have -interest with any of
the three colonels, manage by some means or other
to get at some one who knows a party who is ac-
quainted with another person who can get an intro-
duction to the great man. County influence does
much, parliamentary interest more, Court patron-
age most ; and by some means or other—provided
the candidate is well connected, of a good family,
wealthy, and not smelling too strong of the City—
the means attain the wished for end.
But money—money is required, and that in
plenty. The first COMMIS,RiOII in the Guards, that
of ensign in the Guards and lieutenant in the army,
costs 1,2001., instead of 4501., as does an ensigncy
in the Line ; the next step, that of lieutenant in
the Guards and Captain in the army, costs 2,0501.;
for the rank ofcaptain in the Guards and lieutenant-
colonel in the army, 4,8001. has to be paid ; whilst
major in the regiment in the Guards, with the
rank of colonel in the army, cost 8,3001. ; and to
command one of the regiments the price is 9,0001.
These, remember, are only " the regulation" prices
—the actual money given for each step, is very sel-
dom less than cue-third more than the sum stated.
Thus " the brigade" is most fully protected against
the possibility of any save men who can command
money obtaining rank or command amongst the
officers of its respective corps. By interest and
capital combined, young men may enter this fa-
voured corps, and once in it, the staircase of pro-
motion is mounted by two steps at a time.
It will he said that, granting the officers of the
Guards are both of " good" families and are
wealthy men, these facts do not prevent their being
brave soldiers. I allow that. The Guards fought
well at the Alma, and at Inkerman ; so they did
at Waterloo, and in the Peninsula ; but not one
iota better than other regiments of the English
army. If the Guards were officered exclusively by
men who had distinguished themselves in other
corps—if, for instance, a lieutenant of a regiment
serving in India, the Cape, or Australia, distin-
guished himself greatly, and was for this promoted
to be a lieutenant in the Guards, with the rank of
captain in the army, and so on throughout the
other grades—no one could object to the favoured
brigade being thus marked out with the approval of
royalty. But when we find that, with the double
promotions at every step, the Guards are the only
regiments who do not take any share whatever in
colonial duty, it becomes really too much of a good
joke that these privileges should be continued--
least of all that the boon, which they now have the
coolness to ask for, should be granted them. Al-
ready are the majority of our general officers Guards-
men, but should the rank of full colonel be granted
to each one of that corps who serve for three
years in the command of a company, the officers of
the Line may bid farewell to the hope of ever rising
beyond the command of regiments. The Guards
will become to our service what the Staff Corps is
to the French army, a certain and almost exclusive
stepping-stone to the highest commands. There
will, however, be this slight difference, that whereas
the French corps d'etat major is composed of per-
haps the best military educated officers in the
world, the English Guardsmen have less profes-
sional knowledge, and less means of attaining sol-
dierlike experience than any regiment in Christen-
dom. To seek for actual service in India or else-
where, or to enter any regiment except the favoured
Guard, will in future be considered an act of mad.-
Ross on the part of those who have money and in-
terest, for it will be throwing away all hopes of
advancement, and running the chance of losing
health, and perhaps life.
The Guardsmen are, however, wise in their
generation, for should the boon they ask be granted
them—not very likely, I should think—their com-
missions will be worth nearly twice as much as at
present. The purchase of a company in the Guards
will be buying that which, after holding for three
years, an officer can sell, retire upon half-pay,
roam about at his ease for a time, and then be
certain of his promotion to major-general.
Napoleon 111. is filling up his Imperial Guard
with officers who have undergone "the baptism of
fire" in Algiers or the Crimea ; it would be a good
deal more to the purpose if we were to do the same.
Our Guards have privileges enough in all con-
science ; any attempt to increase them will end in
a result which " the brigade " little desire. When
the English army is—as it soon must be—reorgan-
ised throughout, I doubt much whether the house-
hold troops will be allowed to retain their present
double promotion.

GU ARDS AND LINE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR, —There can be no doubt, from all that has as yet
transpired, that the Guards' petition 11.4 s been got up in
secrecy, and I regret to find that the Royal Consort,
"still more so" his Royal Highness the Duke of Cam-
bridge, should have condescended to be parties to any
such invidious petition to her Majesty. Just at the
period when the officers of the Line, with their men,
have borne the exposure of the trenches—have twice
assaulted the Redan when the Guards have been in corn•
parative safety—is not the moment to select for confer.
ring advantages on the officers of the Guards over their
harder worked, but less favoured, brethren in arms. It
is to be hoped, therefore, that Lord Hardinge, as Com-
mander-in-Chief (although I fear only so in name), will
not give his sanction to a measure which, if his more re-
solute predecessor had been alive, would never even have
been mooted. As the press has at length freely given its
opinion on the interference of his Royal Highness Prince
Albert in army matters, it is to be hoped that, for the
future, he will abstain from such, and, beyond the cloth-
ing, the cut of the coats and shape of the head-dresses,
leave the management of the army in the hands of the
executive appointed by the Government to administer
its affairs.—l am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
A RETIRED OFFICER.
London, Dec. 14, 1855.