The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-11 00:00:00

THE INDIAN ARMY.

The following memorial of Brevet Lietitenant-
Colonel Henry Tod Tucker, C. 8., of the Bth Regi-
ment of Bengal Native Infantry, Adjutant-General
of the Army, and Honorary Aide-de-Camp to the
Most Noble the Governor-General, has been ad-
dressed to the Directors :

" Your memorialist begs respectfully to bring to the
notice of your hon. Court the disadvantages under which
he labours, in common with the rest of the officers of
the Indian army, in consequence of the restrictive na-
ture of the commissions granted to them by her Majesty.
" As your hon. Court is aware, these commissions ex-
tend to the East Indies only, and consequently the rank
which her Majesty has been graciously pleased to accord
to officers of this army entirely ceases on their returning
to England on furlough, or at the conclusion of their
service in India.
" It would be regarded as a great boon by the officers
of the Indian army were this restriction removed ; and
your memorialist is induced to hope, that if the matter
were laid before her Majesty with a plain statement of
details, her Majesty would at once extend to her loyal
subjects of the Indian arms the privilege of retaining
titularly in England, and in every part of the British
empire, while on furlough, or after retirement on the
pension of those grades at which they have respectively
arrived, the rank now held by them in the East Indies
only .
"Her Majesty has not a body of more faithiul, loyal,
and devoted subjects than the officers of this army, and
the services of many her Maje-ty has been graciously
pleased to acknowledge, from time to time, by conferring
on them the honours of the Bath or by appointing them
Aides-de-Camp to her Royal person. Your memorialists
would instance Lieutenant-Generals Sir G. Pollock,
G.C.8., and Sir W. R. Gilbert, G-.C.8., Bart. ; Cols.
T. M. Douglas, C. 8., and Pat. Grant, C. 8., Aides-de-
Camp of the Queen, who have been thus respectively
honoured. These honours they retain wherever they
may be, but their military rank, to attain which, in some
instances, half a century has been devoted, they are
forced of necessity to forego, or retain on sufferance
merely, on quitting Innia ; and, even in the presence of
the Sovereign, when called there by duty or affection,
they can only lay claim by courtesy to the title of officers
or to wear the uniform of the army in which those
honours were won.

" Your memorialist has had the distinction of the
Companionship of the Bath conferred upon him by her
Majesty, and has been appointed by the Royal brevet a
Lieutenant-Colonel for his services in the field. By her
Majesty's royal favour ho will be allowgd, should he re-
turn to England, to use his military decoration by right,
but the corresponding military rank, which, as a soldier
of the empire, it has been his pride to attain, he will be
no longer entitled of right to assume.
"Your memorialist is convinced that, were rank and
precedence at home granted to officers of this army,
according to their commissions, it would be considered a
real boon by all, and thankfully regarded as a gracious
acknowledgment of their exertions in the services of
their Queen and Country.
"At the same time your memorialist would.promi-
nently bring to the notice of your hon. Court, that the
interests of the Royal army would be in no manner
affected by granting this concession, as it is the recog-
nition of their rank only that your memorialist is now
praying for on behalf of himself and brother officers, and
not for employment for them in the Royal army at home.
" Your memorialist begs humbly to state his convic-
tion that whatever of honour and distinction can with
justice be conferred on a soldier is an advantage to the
State, producing, as such rewards assuredly do in all
honourableminds, the emulation and ambition to excel,
a stimulus which is at present wanting in your service,
owing in a great measure, as he believes, to the feeling
that, even after the utmost devotion to the service, pro-
longed estrangement from his family and country, and a
life spent in an inimical climate, the Indian officer is
debarred in his native country from the use of Chat pro-
fessional rank and distinction, the hope of which is ne-
cessary to sustain his exertions."

CRYSTAL PALACE, JULY 10.—ONE SHILLINCI- DAY.
Number of Reason tickets sold to this date, 20,370. Ad-
mission at the doors, 12,881. Admission by season
tickets, 01. Total, 13,682.