The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-05 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION

portion of his time in prison—that man, on the contrary,
was kept a long period in the army. His Noble Friend.
now Secretary of State, who was then President of
the Board of Commissioners of Chelsea, had his
attention forcibly attracted to that circumstance. It was
a matter of constant occurrence, that the commanding
officers of regiments had inserted in the dischart;es of these
men the statement—" character bad, and a notorious
drunkard"—and yet in that case the Chelsea Commis-
sioners had no power of refusing to that man the same
pension which was claimed by the best soldier. His Noble
Friend, at the time he was a 'Commissioner of the Chelsea
Board, perceived very strongly that objection ; and it was
also found that after twenty-one years' service there was so
little advantage to be derived from a further continuance
in the Army, that strong inducements were held out to the
soldier to endeavour, by pretending illness, to escape from
the service. It was a curious fact in illustration of this
point, that in the return of soldiers discharged after that
regulation had been introduced by his Right Hon. Friend,
in a very large proportion of those who obtained their dis-
charges and pensions after completing twenty-one years'
service, such disorders as chronic rheumatism were
frequently given as the cause of the discharge_
( Hear.) It was certainly a remarkable coincidence,
that after twenty-one years' service chronic rheumatism
immediately began to show itself, and that was presutnp-
tire proof of the desire to get out of the army.—( Hear,
hear,) He was aware that the pension warrant of 1833
was that originally adopted by that Right Hon. Gentleman
when he was Secretary at War. That arrangement, how-
ever, did not effectually meet the case. Looking at the
circumstance, that there was no distinction between the
worst and the best soldier, and that on the contrary this
worst soldier had the advantage of being sooner worn out,
and retiring upon his pension, it was felt by his Right
Hon. Frien the Secretary at War, that it was necessary
to make an alteration in that respect. The principle,on
which that alteration was made was, that when a soldier
was discharged at an early period of life from mere disabi-
lity to perform the active duties of a soldier, he should have
a smaller pension than was previously awarded under such
circumstances ; but that the soldier who was entirely dis-
abled from earning his own livelihood, should, on his dis-
charge, have a larger pension. His Right Hon. and
Gallant Friend had represented the existing pension as
being only sixpence a day after twenty-one years' service.
Why, even by the warrant of the Right Hon. Gentleman,
the President of the Board of Control, the pension
was sixpence a day at the time when the man was only
incapacitated from the active duties of a soldier, but for a
greater degree of disability it was raised to 9,1., and under
certain circumstances it was still further increased, pro.
vided it did not exceed the maximum of Is. the amount of
his pay. The Right Honourable Gentleman in alluding
to the pensions of the army, had totally left out of his con-
sideration the m,nsiderable alterations made in the amount
of pensions received by the soldier, since he (Lord
Howiek ) had the honour of being Secretary at War.
Before he left the history of the warrant of 1833, he would
advert to an observation of the Right Honourable Gentle-
man and Gallant Officer. The Right Honourable Gen-
tleman said that previous Governments had thought it
necessary, in the alterations they had made, to carry all the
other departments with them ; that these departments
were consulted before any change was made at the \Var_
office. The same course had been followed by his Right
Honourable Friend the President of the Board of Con-

troul. That pension warrant of 1833, was framed with the
greatest care and attention by his Right Honourable Friend
with the assistance of his Noble Friend near him.
That warrant received the entire concurrence and appro-
bation of the Commander-in-Chief.—( Hear, hear). That
warrant was also laid before the Cabinet, of which the
Right Honourable Baronet, then First Lord of the Admi_
ratty, was a member, and it received the full and entire
f approbation of the Ministers in office at that period. This
was the mode in which the warrant of 1833 was framed
and adopted.—( Hear, hear. ) But at the same time he
would admit, and no doubt his Right Honourable Friend
would agree with him, that that warrant wanted due means
of rewarding peculiar good conduct in the soldier. The
warrant laid down a fair rate of pension for ordinary ser-
vice and discipline, and at the same time had a just regard
for the public, from whom the resources were drawn. But
some further provision was necessary, as a reward for espe-
cial good conduct. Accordingly he (Lord H.) had the hotieur
of submitting a warrant, which was in like manner ap-
proved of by the Commander in-Chief, and by the other
departments of the Government, and subsequently by his
late Majesty, and which authorised " a good conduct pay"
io the soldier under certain circumstances and regulations,
and fur carrying his extra pay in addition to his pension.
Now what was the combined effect of the warrant of his
Right Hon. Friend, and under the good-conduct warrant
which he ( Lord Ilowick) had the honour to lay before the
late King ? He found, on referring to a scale of amounts
which he had in his hand, that the soldier, instead of being
worse under the provisions of the existing warrant than
under those exclusively of the Right Hon. and Gallant
Officer, that for some period of service the soldier was now
better off, and that he was scarcely more than a fraction
worse off in any comparative situation. Under the
warrant of the Right Honourable and Gallant
Officer, a soldier, after fourteen years' service,
would, if disabled, have a pension of from Gd. to 9d, a
day ; under the existing warrant he would have from 6d. •
to 9d. a day. At nineteen years' service, under the old
warrant, he would from Gd. to 9d. ; now he would have
from sd. to 10d. A soldier after twenty-one years' service,
had a slight advantage under the old warrant, his pen_
sion would then be Is, a day. But, for any period after
twenty-three years' service, the soldier had every consider-
able advantage under this warrant. But the Right Hon.
Baronet said that the advantages from the present system
were enjoyed under very peculiar circumstances of good
conduct. Now, in his (Lord H.'s) opinion, that was the
very character which constituted the present system—
( Ilear, hear.) By the warrant of the Right Hon. a,.(1
Gallant Officer, a soldier received his pension, without
the slightest regard being had to his conduct, or to
the character he bore in his discharge. If a sol-
dier had been punished ever so often—if be had
but barely escaped sentence of loss of service for desertion
—if he had merely avoided the brand of absolute infamy,
he was entitled to the full pension that could be claimed
by the very best soldiers in the army. It hod frequently
happened that a soldier coming to Chelsey Hospital, and
being, in the official words, " a notoriously bad
character, and a confirmed drunkard," receives as
high a pension as the most honest, sober, trust-worthy,
well conducted soldier in the service. Now, be'
( Lord Hoevick) was not ashamed of the difference be--
tween that system and the present.—(Hear, hear.) The
principle of the present system was, that a soldier,
who had not misconducted himself was entitled to a
higher rate of pension, and unless he had been
convicted of some specific offence, he was not
to be deprived of that advantage.--( Hear, hear.) If on_
der the existing warrant a soldier once received the good
conduct pension, he could not be deprived of it unless be
the sentence of a Court-martial ; but if he were deprived
of it for only one offence, he might be re-instated in all
his privileges within one year He was happy to assure the
Right lion. and Gallant Officer that he had over-esti-
mated the difficulty that a soldier would have to surmount
in attaining the advantages of the present system. Con-
sidering the short time the existing warrant had been in
Operation, and the little inducement held out to soldiers
to enlist before 1833, a very large number of soldiers had
been entitled to claim the benefit of good conduct pay, and
were now enjoying it.—( Hear, hear.) He should not say
more upon the subject now, but would entreat the
• House and the country not to suffer themselves to
be impressed with the notion that the remuneration of
the British soldier had been unjustly and eruely
reduced—( Hear, hear)—he would remind them that now,
twenty-five years after the war had terminated, we Its(' a
vote of 1,300,0001. for Chelsea Hospital, and that duritug
the last year the Chelsea Pension-list was diminished only
by 2,000/. under the amount of the year before. Let them
remember those facts, and he was sure they would be disin-
clined to circulate any censures or comments respecting
pensions calculated to excite dissatisfaction. No prejudice
whatever seemed to exist at present against the army.
Within the last few months the number of recruits which
had entered was almost unexampled, in time of peace.
This fact was a proof that the army had lost none of its
popularity ; he hoped, therefore, that lion. Members would
see that they ought not to make any remarks likely to ex-
cite dissatisfaction in the army. lie ( Lord II.) for one
should be always most anxious to improve the condition of
the soldier, and to consider and reward his merit ; but he
should remember at the same time the duty he owed to-
wards that public who paid those taxes from which the
heavy expenses of the army were derived.—( Hear, hear.)
Mr. F. H. BERKELEY said that as the question or
the state of the navy had cost his brother, Capt. Berkeley,
the (Ace which he had held at the Board of Admiralty,
he trusted the House would suffer him to direct their
atten:ion to the suhject ; and as it was the first time that
he had ever had the honour of addressing the house, be
felt some little embarrassment.—(Hear, hear.) His brother
had formed en opinion, in conjunction with the opinion
held held by several most distinguished naval officers, thatcob.
manning of the navy had been for several .s
ducted on false principles ; that morepa mannad.
r triseairs past
the war the navy had been most
inefficientlyl
Long before the conclusion of the war conf
our gallant naval
upon this subject ; and if the despatches o'paints had existed t drivsince
would be found that
o.nrotheeemNpli::i:ltsul'had
commanders were examined, it
to
the
em
time
ee
l of the crews
existed touching the deficient complementsnargument to say that
of British ships of war.
It
was.
•oh Nav —that the great
otfimteheobfattthhe
the success attendant on the Brats. Navy '—that
excust..
e
deeds of thet naval war could in any
ofbatNtlaevar
t As the
of the Admiralty on this su p. well
Carelessness
for inhumanity of the master of
might we apologize t
excellent fierce which. having been urged by him
come
somes almost superhuman feat, had strained itself in the ,
performance,The success of the horse would be no excuse
for the inhumanity of his master, and the victories
which bad shed such lustre on the British flag had
been frequently won by ships which had been undermanned.
At that time there existed great carelessness on the part of
the Admiralty ; but when the combined forces of France
and Spain ceased to offer any opposition—when Spain had
no vessel on the ocean, and the navy of France was fugi-
tivcd, demoralized—he had almost said denationalized—the n
this carelessness on the part of the Admiralty became at.)-
solute apathy ; they never looked to the other side of the
Atlantic—they seemed to have forgotten that there
was a Republic on those shores rising into strength
in consequence—they had forgotten that that Republic
had a navy, young and vigorous like itself. The
apathy of the Admiralty, with regard to naval
matters, could not be bettor proved than by the fact that
they actually sent out cast-iron water tanks for the use of
vessels intended to cruize on the fresh water lakes. He
believed that an apology for this conduct might be found
for their gross ignorance on the subject ; for if they had
known better, they would have stood convicted, not f
apathy, but of great culpability. The consequence of this
ignorance was the loss of many of our finest frigates ; and
never
since navy then received a blow which it has
since recovered. The Eperr othericr and several
I gallant frigates fell vietims,because they were undertnad
—they fell victims to vessels of war which were manned
1 a superior manner ; and what had we to show against
m unnOTO any reverses? Merely the victory of the Sh so
Over