The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-31 00:00:00

Sir G. TYLER, on behalf of his hon. and gallant friend
(Admiral Walcott), urged that ho had been recommended
for the honour of the Bath by King William IV., when
Lord High Admiral, and in 1837 he made application to
the Colonial Secretary, who was then also Secretary for War,
on the subject, and he received an answer, which be would
read. It was to the effect that the services of Captain
Walcott were acknowledged, and his not being made
a Companion of the Bath was excused on the ground
that the number allotted by the statutes of the order to
the navy was full, but expressing a hope that ho could re-
ceive it on a future occasion. His hon. and gallant friend
felt that when there was an extension of the order he
ought to have been included in it, and his object now was,
by the production of the minute of the Admiralty, and its
being laid on the table, to have a record of the acknow-
ledgment of his title to the honour.
Colonel NORTH hoped that the new order of merit
would include those officers who had distinguished them-
selves in the Peninsular war, and who had been excluded
from the Order of the Bath. Although it was the fashion
to sneer at Peninsular officers, there were many of them
now who had shed theirblood in the service of their country
who had received no such decoration as the Order of the
Bath. There was the present military secretary who had
received the war medal for the Peninsula with ten clasps,
and the Waterloo medal, and had served in America
and at the Cape—(hear)—there was the officer at
the head of the Quartermaster General's Department,
General Freeth, who had received the Peninsular war
medal and two clasps; there was General Lowell, a most
distinguished cavalry officer, who had received the Penin-
sular war medal with 11 clasps ; and Colonel Derinzy, who
had received the war medal with 9 clasps, and the gold
medal for Toulouse; none of these had received the deco-
ration of the Bath. Many of the best Peninsular officers
had been thus passed over. Why had none of them been
made field-marshals ? We had one or two honorary field-
marshals ; but look at the case of the officer who com-
manded the cavalry through the greater part of the Penin-
sular war, and who took the fortress of Bhurtpore, which
wee called the Gibraltar of India, who had on two occa-
sions received the thanks of that house in person f-r his
services, besides being raised to the peerage, who was the
senior Grand Cross of the Bath, and the second general on
the list. Was not he entitled to the rank of field-marshal ?
for such were the services of General Viscount Comber-
mere. Ho hoped that in any order of merit, those who
had served iu the Peninsula, and had received no honours,
would be included.
Mr. ALCOCK said., as Captain Scobell's motion with
regard to promotion in the navy was postponed, he wished
to make an observation on one point, and that was with
regard to death vacancies in the navy. The report of the
commission on the army and navy which sat in 1840, stated
that death vacancies in the navy was an equivalent for the
system of promotion in the army. He would urge that that
was not the case, and he pointed out cases recently in the
Black Sea and the Baltic in which promotion did not go
by seniority in the case of death vacancies. It was not
'therefore true, as stated by the report of 1840, that the
death vacancies went by seniority. He hoped the Admi-
ralty would give their attention to that point, and recol-
lect that no officer in the navy under the rank of post cap-
tain could get his promotion by seniority, as in the army.
Admiral WALCOTT said fie could not withdraw his
motion, but would allow it to be negatived ; and he could
only say that the Admiralty might break his heart, but
they should not break his spirit.

SCOTTISH SCHOOLMASTERS.
Mr. E. LOCKHART called the attention of the house to
the serious inconvenience that will arise from the act for
regulating the salaries of the parochial schoolmasters of
Scotland being allowed shortly to expire, without any fur-
ther provisions being proposed by the Government to meet
the extreme urgencies of the case, and urged that unless
some measure was introduced on the subject at Martinmas
next, the salaries of the schoolmasters would be reduced by
one-fourth. He hoped the Government would support the
bill ho proposed to bring in.
SERGEANTS' GOOD CONDUCT MOSEY.
Mr. PELLATT had given notice of a motion for an
humble address to be presented to her Majesty, praying her
to remedy the grievance of sergeants in the army being de-
prived, while serving, of the good condact money allowances
to which they had been entitled before they were promoted
to that grade. He spoke of the responsible duties which
they performed, having the care of the good order and
morality of the privat men, and being usually men of
better education than those in the ranks. The sergeants
were perfectly satisfied with the existing arrangements for
retiring pensions, and for compensation in case of losing
their limbs ; but it was not fair that they should be placed
in a worse position, during service, than the corporals and
even the privates were. In the artillery, a corporal with
four distinguishing marks received more pay than a ser
geant, by three-farthings a day, and if ho got another
badge, he received a penny farthing a day more than the
sergeant. He (Mr. Pellatt) knew one case where there
was a private with eleven distinguishing marks, receiving
a penny farthing a day more than a sergeant got. In the
savalry, a sergeant had to pay two shillings a week to a
man for cleaning his horse, because it was regarded as
infra dig. for a sergeant to clean his own horse. A hospi-
tal sergeant received an extra allowance of only fourpence
a day for his incessant toil in assisting the service of the
hospital, and often in keeping accounts; while a private
soldier, employed as orderly in the hospital, received the
same. It had been observed that when a soldier attained
the position of sergeant, he attained the climax of his
ambition as a non-commisaioned officer, and, therefore, he
ought not to be placed at a pecuniary disadvantage.
The SPEAKER reminded the hon'. gentleman that his
motion was irregular, and the subject dropped.
The LORD ADVOCATE, in reply to the remarks of
Mr. Lockhart, said there would be ample time to provide
for the parochial schoolmasters of Scotland at the begin-
ning of next session. There would be no time to consider
and pass a bill during what remained of the present ses-
sion. The salaries of the schoolmasters would not be di-
minished till after May next. The course which he was now
taking was precisely similar to that adopted by the Aber-
deen Government in 1853. He must say, however, that
there were the greatest possible objections to mere con-
tinuance bills to regulate the salaries of the parochial
schoolmasters. He bad endeavoured during the present
session to raise those salaries, and to place the school-
masters in an improved and permanent condition, but
his efforts had been defeated by honourable gentlemen
opposite and their friends in the other house. (Hear.) He
thought that some attempt should be made next year to
deal with the whole question in a liberal and comprehen-
sive spirit. (Hear.)
Mr. F. SCOTT objected to mere continuance bills, and
suggested the passing of an act to endure "until Parlia-
ment should otherwise determine." He thought the sub-
ject should be dealt with in the present session. The
learned lord would otherwise subject the schoolmasters to
a species of slow torture.

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SUPPLY.
The house then'went into committee of supply.
Mr. WIRE complained of delaying the miseellaneons
estimates till towards the end of the session, and suggested
that they should be taken immediately after Easter. P"
observed that certain votes which were delivered to nm"..n.
hers on the 27th of July were ordered to be printed _so wee
back as the 27th of March. He remarked on the
pent
millions the civil service estimates, from little monri!,!: "sent
millions in 1848, to about 6;,- millions L.:ll.Zta and
year. He asked for an explanation upooro:. point, all the
urged the necessity of the strictest ocf2:Boj'ae vitas for
civil departments of the State. There_
elvT:onght might be
special and temporary objects which:ft r
liament had al-
postponed for a time. The house
A° believed there were
ready cost nearly 2,000,0004,!:0nwed that half a million
estimates in existence which u
went of the metropolis. Re
being expended for
more would be requtihreedaa.
ldeonutb ti
atinheeen4o6,ooo/. for educational anenevo-
the ICafirs would have any bene
oßrneeslso objected to large sums
e complained of the confusion ,i
endstwithuteitohn:
would be taken in the' oped that
in future greater
lusion, that the r preparation.
fiwcainalteofffeoterlesiceirkvable in the estimates, and h and
.ted in cone , estimates should •
that if the committee,
enhadsotti beente contained . PriHnet eda ccomuanntye
d thingsfor
t:a whichincrease
Mr. WILSON and distributed civil service estimates
fliutensrenggesess- sessions
sbeestuabtodmitted to a select cin
in March, they would
n ienrien supplementaryitnhteheesmt i
estimates
and it would have been necessarytobri
by the fact that numerous BUMStes
paid out of the Consolidated F
the annuel eatiratitoo• lb Ci which we former y
und were here included in
_ - • _ 0 oTernmont were not prepared
_ __