The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-23 00:00:00

.REFOBMERS OF THE SE:RVICEg.

(From, the Bristol Mercury.)
At tho dinner given last week to Admiral Napier, at
the Reform Club, Sir James Graham congratulated the
members resent on two of their fellow-clubbists hav-
ing been appointed to command the Euxine and the
Baltic fleets. • He said nothing of their having been no-
minated beta use they were Reformers : in fact, Admi-
ral Dundas re, ceived his appointment from the previous
administration. It was a mere natural felicitation, sug-
gested by the occasion- and the circumstances. Yet Sir
James has been b.rutight to book for the expression in
the House of Corn. 01.0118, as if there were something un-
hallowed in the fat t of two Liberals being employed in
active service ! He' pleaded that the nominations were
not made through political considerations. Can pre-
vious administrations say they have not withheld pro-
motion on account of tlbe expression of strong political

opinions ?
The particulars of a 4caae in point have recently beep
published.
Lieut.-Col. Thompson:: is an old Peninsular officer of
four clasps, and has seen :service in every quarter of the
globe. He was a Major of the 65th regiment of infantry
in 1829, and then purchased an unattached Lieutenant-
Colonelcy. He was required to sign a paper stating his
readiness to serve. This mras done, and the completed
form of declaration was placed by a military friend in the
receiving-box of the office of the Commander-in-Chief at
the Horse Guards. Its receipt was afterwards denied,
and Lieut.-Col. Thompson was refused brevet promotion
in 1846 through his alleged failure to forward the decla-
ration, although the Major and his friend, Capt. Welch—
both military men, and therefore among soldier& at all
events, presumably honourable and truthful—positively
affirmed, and made affidavits to the fact on oath before the
Lord Mayor (Carroll), in 1847, that the document was duly
written, signed, and sent. Their deliberate affirmations,
on oath, went for nothing, because some under-strapper
at the Horse Guards had neglected. his duty, and subse-
quently pleaded MTh mi TICOrdO as to the declaration ever
having been received. A brevet pronvotion took place in
1846 ; but although, we are informed, Mr. Thompson's
name stood at the top of a list of 140 Officers who were
named for promotion, the 140 juniors were' promoted, and
his claims to the same distinction entirely disregarded.
What had Lieut.-Col. Thompson been about since
1829 ? Advocating parliamentary and all otAer descrip-
tions of reform, and in particular, thinking Out unan-
swerable arguments for the repeal of the Coru laws-
'Was that a man fit for brevet promotion by th,'l Tory
officials at the Horse Guards? We trow not. IVO ex-
p,tdient was to be left untried, we may rest assured,• to
keop him back, if he could not be degraded ; and Mlie
Hol Ire Guards chose to throw a slar upon the honour Cif
the v, *hole army, by refusing to accept as true the decla-'
rations of two of its officers, in order to withhold merited
promotion from so unfashionable a soldat as a Radical
Reform. T. •
_ _

The horse Guards are still determined to maintain
their chars voter. We have seen the constitution of Par-
liament alt‘ sred, slavery abolished, the East India trade
opened, mu, eicipal corporations reformed, and free-trade
infused into every public interest ; butthe Augean stable
of the Horse Guards remains uncleaned—its affairs are
managed on t. self-same principles that prevailed, as
Byron has it,
In our hot yt.luth, when George the Third was King.

The proof of this; allegation will presently appear.
Lieut.-Col.. Thompson has shown himself a most able
mom. Be:tidies political literature, he has employed bis
pen in writing treatises on military strategy and, as if
in anticipation of the present European complexities, he
long ago qualified himself to address an Arab audience,
and to
,oetn a remonstrance or an explanation in modern
Greek. Thus able to render efficient aid, the patriotic
veteran recently applied to he admitted into active ser-
vice. H s received a favourable answer, but having, it
appears, 8. abocquently intimated that in the event of an
expected I 'no vet taking place he should look for being
nominated caonel, to date from that time, he was told
that his nai ne should never appear in any future brevet.
Is not that scandalous ?—occurring, too, in the era of ga
Ministry wh vo had at least the nomination of the head
of the Horse Guards at their disposal, and whose First
Lord of the 4 admiralty elicits an abundance of cheers at
the Reform Club by congratulating its members on two
Liberals corn Telnding our Eastern and Western fleets.
Lieut.-Colo Tits' Thompson now deims the promotion
which was his d. ue in the brevet of 12..146, his place in the
Army list being in the list of colonels 4‘ between SiiOrd
Honyman and II Main Bush." It should be understood
that brevet pro tut )tions bring no additiceal
'e emolu
oubly
ment.
They are purely honorary, and consequntly d
covetable in the eyt '8 of a sterling soldier.
It is understood t, hat General Sir de Lacy .Evans will
bring the subject bet, Park
House of CominCes at the
earliest convenient oph'ortunity, and if there be
t spark
of true liberality in thot house, such an intimatfon, at
least, will Lte conveyed to the Horse Guards as will
secure justice: being rendered to the gallant corn-law -re-
pealing colonel. Not long ago i:Ne was among the hse-
.
formers of Bi istol advocating the at.loption of the ballot
Ile really 100 ked not a whit less hale' than he did ten or
a dozen years ago, when stirring up ti. ‘e country by per-
sonal appeals to effect the abolition Of the corn-laws.
The same logic :al sententiousness and 0-en 'eral vivacity of
mind character ised his later ballot and 1 earlier anti
corn-law orations. Designedly to snub so( Ali a man, and
in his cepacity of soldier too, is positively . lisgraceful to
the individual of the coterie that possesses ti 'be power to
inflict the wrong.
We have spoken of the Colonel's desire to c Ibter upon
" active" se. rvice ; and the word reminds us tliat he is
remarkably distinguished for activity, zeal, and faithful-
rYarnoaertnktetsn'h
nes s . D
nuol,,t ehfgoe
rtmßh eroaslctiaisotrredrg,auirinal
at nto single division was he absent. Thy
•
mistakeexception,Perhaps
ness, the lass itude, and the failinghs. of. ordinaryfib.ore.,:an,e we
akx
do not seem capable of affecting d7rahen,etnh eohfwealettkfououonwet
I feel confidenit4 that, whether forheadis wwiri:rk or for
cal activy—s some consideration being- given to his ;age-
not an abler man l
we
stron
gly
recoilanrmbeiele:,thoart
•
into Europe: in Turkey,
the attention of e very
stowed
reformer whom circulation should be be-
have been', sent
our reaches
in
union this case. kept. u Though we hay 'e a
nominally Liberal Government, neither in army nor ;in
navy is Li beralism looked upon as favourable to prom 0 •
tion amen. t its officers. Napo and Dundas are bu-1",
partial ly
exe etions to the ride : indeed the latter such
ceededy seniority, and the former—like his l
ceased nan resale—was selected, at a peculiar ate
time, as
the possess or of
the individ aal—Sir J. Graham—who made the selection ;
the
qualifications. All honour to
hut Reform tiers will have to bestir themselves if they
would hay e the Horse Guards to render long-deferred
ustice tot colonel Thompson.

•-r'r-7-77- —,_-_
THE SE CRET COIVAESPONDENCE.—Since the publics.-
cation oft Ile secrrist correspondence on the fate of Tur-
key a rem: akav:le change of opinion has been manffested
among tb 4 Creek merchants resident in London.
Hitherto a .la/ le majority of these gentlemen had been
warm part isa ns of ktussia, but the exposure of the us...
tore of her deigns, and of her hostility ether approuch
towards fn .a government in Turkey, under ca
Byzantine elni pire or in any other shape, has now caused
them apparent ly to regard her with unconcealed antag,P•
nism. - I