The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-02 00:00:00

professors ; but after being so crammed he was often
iun-
able to answer the questions put to him, and sent back
for not being able to give the date of the death of ITero's
second wife. (Laughter.) Ho did not think it necessary
to ascertain whether he had certain specific attainments,
but whether he had good natural abilities. On his eexami-
nationfor a captaincy, he might be examined on higher
ground, and asked as to his military knowledge, as to
out-
post duty and such matters. That was the way in which
he thought the question ought to be dealt with. It was
incompatible with that of promoting any large number
from the ranks at present. But if the examination was
made the main test for admission, and the soldier should
be brought to a high state of cultivation, that system
would not produce all the materials necessary for a good
officer. He had seen many men of high rank to whom no
amount of politeness would induce him to apply the word
" gentleman ;" and, on the other hand, he had seen many
men in humble life whose conduct entitled them to that
appellation. But if an education test was applied, they
might have men whose intellects were crammed up to a
certain point, but who would not inspire confidence in
those under them. It was for the advantage of the lower
ranks of the army that there should be frequent promotions
from the ranks, but he objected to lay down any
fixed proportion and say, because there are so many
men in the ranks so many shall be promoted. By that
meats the best men might not be promoted, and a sys-
tem of class legislation would be established. He
might here take the opportunity of saying that the gallant
general was wrong in what he thought was the intention
of the Government in promoting one sergeant-major in
each of the regiments in the Crimea. It was not the in-
tention of the Government that these promotions should
be—to use the expression of the gallant general—patronage
to the commanders of regiments. The measure was in-
tended to be a reward to the regiment in the person of
that non-commissioned officer who, by his good conduct
and gallantry, was the best entitled to it. With regard to
Sergeant Sullivan, ho had no hesitation in saying that if,
besides distinguishing himself in the field, he was a man of
respectability, a great injustice would be done to him if
he was net promoted. (Cheers.) He only hoped that the
gallant general had represented to Lord Hardingo the
claims of Sergeant Sullivan, because he was certain that
the Commander-in-Chief would refer to the colonel of the
regiment for the reasons why he had not recommended
him ; and he had no doubt, if the reply was favourable—
and he presumed it would, after what the gallant general
had said—that Sergeant Sullivan would at once receive a
commission. But the question more immediately before
the house was, were promotions in the army to be by pur-
chase, or seniority, or merit ? He admitted at once that,
in argument and in fact, there was a great deal to be said
against the system of purchase ; but before the house
blindly decided how they would deal with it, and to what
extent, he hoped they would maturely weigh some con-
siderations of a not unimportant character. It was their
duty, in the first place, to estimate what the cost of any
change would be. His hon. friend the Under-Secretary
for war had put it down at 100,0001. a year. He had not
come to the same conclusion, and only that morning he
read in one of the daily papers which supported the pre-
sent motion, that the value of commissions sold annually
was 5,000,0001.
Mr. PEEL explained that, when he mentioned the sum
of 100,0001. he was speaking merely of the amount which
would be necessary to induce persons to retire.
Mr. HERBERT would pass on to another point. Ho
.sat last year upon a commission appointed to inquire,
among other things, into the subject now before the house,
and in that commission they discussed very much the means
of rendering the army more efficient in its upper ranks.
Among the members of the commission wilco were civilians
were Lord Panmure, Earl Grey, Mr. Ellice, and other gentle-
men intimately acquainted with the subject, and who enter-
tained very liberal opinions upon it, and there wore at the
same time in the commission many military men of the old
school who were much wedded to the system under which
they had been reared. Ho would not say that the report of
that commission embodied all his opinions upon the subject of
protnotion.s in the army, but, at any rate, it was a step in the
right direction. The commissioners laid down th, rule that
professional merit and exploit ought to be rewarded by pro-
fessional advancement, and that without reference to sail-
ority. (Hear.) He believed that principle was not popular
in the army, where seniority was regarded as their great safe-
guard against favouritism and jobbery, and it was so to a cer-
tain degree. He was an advocate for rewarding merit with-
out reference to seniority. But he could not conceal from
himself the fact that it was liable to very great abuse. (Hear.)
The commissioners likewise proposed to guard the promotions
to the upper ranks in the army by the greatest possible pub-
licity—that the grounds for the promotions should bo stated
—that, in short, they should be surrounded with greater form
and solemnity so as to attract public attention and prevent
abuse. (Hear, hear.) But he observed that, even when
honest promotions were made, it was difficult to avoid mis-
conception. He recently read iu a newspaper of a scandalous
job perpetrated at the Horse Guards in the promotion of
Rowland Hill Gough—au aristocratic name—to the Guards.
Now, what were the facts ? He took the trouble to inquire
into the matter, and he found that Lieutenant Gough was
the officer who the other night, when a sortie was made from
Sebastopol, himself with a small picket kept the Russians at
bay until Col. Waddy came up with a larger force. (Hear.) At
the present moment there was a great tendency to praise the
Indian army. It was worthy of great praise ; but if they
compared the Indian army with the Queen's, they would see
there was a great difference between them. They would
find that the age of the officers in the Indian service was so
great that out of those who were at the head of the army
there were a smaller number of men fit for scrviee than there
were in the Queen's army. Let them recollect, too, that iu
the Indian service the pay on retirement was much larger
than in any other army, and that the system of expenditure
was such as would not bear the scrutiny of one year's army
estimates in that house ; and yet there was not sufficient
youth among the officers to make the army efficient in its
upper ranks. He repeated, tlaerefote, that when they con-
sidered the present system of purehitie they must also look at
the mode by which they must get rid of it, and to the system
they desired to substitue for it. He would not say that it
was defensible on principle, but, at the same time, he thought
there was a great deal of misconception as to what purchase
in the army was. Some people imagined that whenever a
vacancy occurred in a regiment it put up to sale and knocked
down to the highest bidder. Now, that was not the fact;
and he said, moreover, that the system of purchase did not
necessarily retard any person's promotion in the army. If
a purchase did not take place, the officer of the rank imme-
diately below the vacancy remained exactly where he was ;
all that happened to him was, that a man with a different
name now stood above him. He admitted, however, that
there were occasional injustices perpetrated by the system,
as indeed there were by all systems, and this one among the
number, that the family of an officer who died lost, to them,
an immense amount of money. (Hear, hear.) The truth
was, they must weigh the whole of this question together.
But then look at the manner in which it was propounded by
the noble lord the member for Huddersfield. It was doubt-
ful whether the non-commissioned officers themselves would
like to do away with the system of purchase. They looked
forward to increased pay, with the prospect of a pension.
Their wives probably earned a considerable sum of money
weekly by taking in washing. Well, they made of these men
an officer. His wife instantly was obliged to dress like a

lady ; at any rate she could no longer engage in her industrial
pursuits. Supposing there was no purchase, the officer so
promoted had nothing to leek forward to but his pay; he
could not get half pay until ho had served twenty-one years ;
and after that time he would find his half-pay not much bet-
ter than the pension ho would have received as a serjeant-
major. But under the system of purchase the case was diffe-
rent. The non-commissioned officer came in as an ensign ;
perhaps in course of time he became a captain, and then ho
sold his commission and retired from the army with 800/.,
thinking he had made a good thing of it. Was that an adven-
tags to the service or not ? He believed in many cases it was.
Nor was it truo to say that no men rose from the ranks under
the system of purchase. Many instances could be given of
the contrary. The case of Sir John Elly had already been
mentioned. General Cureton was at one time a corporal in
the 4th Dragoons. He could name many others who bad been
almost as successful. Many of those who had risen from the
ranks were excellent officers ; but some of them were said to
be deficient in the power of commanding others. That might
be denied ; but it was the opinion of the men who served un-
der them—a circumstance of considerable importance. (Hear.)
The house was referred to foreign armies. In the French ser-
vice, one-third of the officers were necessarily raised from the
ranks. But the French were under conscription, and gen-
tlemea of small means in the country, could not afford to
pay for substitutes, allowed their younger sons to be taken,
and those younger sons—gentlemen by birth and education—
were in course of time selected for officers. (Hoar.) That was
quite another thing. Ho would tell them what they said in the
French army. They said, "The advantage you have is that
your officers are all gentlemen ; your men obey them more wil-
lingly than they would do officers of another class." (Hear.)
In Russia every officer was obliged to pass through the rank
of non-commissioned officer. That, again, was quite another
system, and could be compared to nothing found in this coun-
try. Our army volunteered ; and looking to the class from
which the men were drawn, its physical and intellectual con-
dition, it would be impossible to lay down a fixed rule that
so many non-commissiored officers should he promoted. It
had been said that when a young officer joined his regiment
in the Crimea, ho was 'lauded+ over for drill and instruction to
a sergeant ; and hence it was inferred that the sergeant was
more fit to command the regiment than he. So he would be
for that day, but what would ho be at the end of six months?
(Hear.) To drill was one thing, and to commard was another;
and there was an old saying in the English army that the
sergeant drilled the men, but the officer commanded them.
But, after all, he admitted that there ought to be a fair pro-
motion of men every year from the ranks. It would encou-
rage volunteering up to a certain point, and induce persons of
character and education to enter the army with a view to ob-
tain promotion. The question was not one of principle, but of
degree. He desired that the system of promoting a certain
.number from the ranks every year should be continued, and
heowas convinced that the increase of education in the army
wui d justify not only its increase, but its extension. But he
asked the house not to sanction an indiscriminate promotion
because the
or to lay
clo,Ten were drawn from a particular class of society,
was their int:lu fixed rule, or induce the army to believe it
prominoto lay down a fixed rule, for the regula-
tion of the
her Majeety's army. in theaeny class whatever in the ranks of
Sir E. PERRY, ee;aidat ra-)
dress tho house. Out
the principle affirmed indoorsai a Popular opinion in favour of
growing up, and it must ultimatelynoblewas alre
friend's resolution was
receive the attention of
the house. That principle
actedf
.i upon by every
country but our own. The argameat
right hon. gentle-
(Mr. S. Herbert) ho characterised as i 7
man
and adduced the example of France, Pruw:iTetd:Ts subtleties,
favour of the principle of p from
opteda in
these countries this principle hadromotion been aans'' a •
By all
salvationmeans of
, at a time when they were in danger from foreign
enemies. Now, when we were almost in as great a peril, 1:
behoved us to resort to the same principle. (The honourable
interrupted by cries of
gentleman was frequently
and " question, and " though ho continued speaking'
for some time, but fesseof his sentences could be heard.)
Lord PALMERSTON—Sir, it is impossible to deny that the
subject which my noble friend has brought this evening
under the consideration of the house is one of great import-
ance, and also one of great interest. It is important because
it regards one of the great institutions of the country, an in-
stitution upon ahich rests the dignity and honour of the
country. It is of interest because it contains, I may say, all
the classes of the community. I shall, in the first place, how-
ever, beg to say that I differ from many of those who have
.spoken in an opinion as to a fact. I differ from the hon. and
learned gentleman who has just spoken, and who has talked
of a great democratic movement which he says has been mak-
ing progress during the last 20 or 40 years. I hear a great
deal about aristocratic progress and democratic progress, but
if the lion. gentleman means what I conceive him to mean,
that the humbler classes of this country have, during the last
forty years made great and rapid progress in everything that
constitutes worth and value as men, I deny that that is a de-
mocratic movement. I say it is an aristocratic movement.
(Cheers.) lam delighted to see the humbler classes raising
themselves in the scale of society by cultivating those virtues
and those intellectual qualities which dignify men and entitle
them to the respect of their follow-men and a h'gh position in
thesocial c
of that democratic to which they belong. lam not afraid
elm dtiveraent. I am glad to see it, mud I hops
it will continue. differ also
a
s
with regard to the fact. One
argument of my noble friend and those who have followed