The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-11 00:00:00

"URGENT PRIVATE AFFAIRS."

The following is an extract of a letter from an officer
with the army :

Camp before Sebastopol, Nov. 21.
In spite of General Simpson's order regarding
leave of absence " urgent private affairs" continue to
take away a great number of our officers since General
Codrington took command. During the last seven days
—from the 13th to the 20th inst.—no less than seven
colonels and lieutenant-colonels, three majors, five cap-
tains, two lieutenants, an adjutant, and an assistant sur-
geon, hare found "urgent private affairs" sufficient ex-
cuse to obtain leave from the camp for longer or shorter
periods, some for two, some for three months. The
cavalry division appears to have fewer of these marvel-
lous " urgent private affairs" than the rest of the array ;
the brigade of Guards unquestionably the most. So much
so is this the ,ase, that what with officers absent on sick
leave, on staff employ.nent, and on "urgent private
affairs," one battalion of Guards, that of the Coldstreams,
has hardly any officers on duty with it. A lieutenant in
the regiment (although of course a captain in the army),
Thelluson, who only entered the service in 1847, is in
orders to act as a field officer with his corps, so few effec-
tive officers of rank are there present. This is the case
with almost every regiment, and the unfortunates who
remain doing duty with their c,-,rps instead of starrin4 it
at Christmas parties in England are very hard worked
indeed. Still the evil is continued, for, as I said above,
19 officers have in seven days got leave of absence on
" urgent private affairs." All this causes a great deal
of discontent and grumbling, as you may suppose.
There are only hots for about one-third of the men as
yet, and for two-thirds of the officers. The rest of the
array are mostly in very comfortable double-roofed tents,
and all have gained many wrinkles in making themselves
snug since last winter, partly by digging out holes under
their tents, and thus getting more space and more
warmth together.
The winter clothing of the men is most exce'lent—
nothing
could be better. We officers have to pay very
highly for ours ; mine has cost me 6/. 10s,, and I am not
yet complete.
What I have told you about the great number of
officers obtaining leave of absence will, and does, tell
upon the discipline of the army. Every regiment is full
of recruits, and the services of all are required to get
them into something like order before the spring,. But
how can this he done if so many officers are allowed to
rush back to England whenever the fancy takes them ?
And what makes this worse is, that whilst many officers
who have been out here from the very first have been
refused leave to England, others who came out twelve
months later have obtained the indulgence. But here,
as in London and everywhere else, Horse Guards inte-
rest does everything. When refused leave (by either his
colonel, his brigadier, his commander of division, or eve❑
by the commander•in-chief of this army) the roan who
" has good interest" writes home. His father, brother,
cousin, wife, aunt, mother, or sister, manages to " get
at some one in the Horse Guards." Out comes a letter
to the camp (a private letter, of course, but considered
demi official, and something more), saying that Cap-
tain So-and-so may have leave home upon " ur-
sent private affairs," provided General Codring-
ton or Simpson, or whoever may be the commander,
" has no particular ohjection"—a hint, in short, that
" there is no compulsion, only you must." Of course
the obstructive out here sees "no objection" directly ;
and so, as Mr. says, "matters are pleasant" forth-
with. Thus it is that the Guards get so much have,
notwithstanding the ♦ery few officers present fur duty
with each battalion. If a general officer goes home, all
his personal staff go with him, and the officer who takes
his place takes more officers away from regimental duty
to make up his staff, and thus the number of working
men is farther reduced. No matter. The old game of
interest is kept up, and the plebeians tsught their "pro-
per places."
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