The Sun.
London, England, 1812-02-13 00:00:00

leCeSSlty WAS 1111pUSCU U.

man to show ias expediency ; and in this point,
he conceived th it the . 'Honourable Gentleman
had entirely firded. The principal grievance of
which the Honenrable Gentleman complaint-el on
the part of the Officers of the Royal Marines was, that
they were not allowed to perform garrison duty.
Really this was a mili,ary detail Which the House
could hardly be supposed willtngly to entertain.—
However, he would make a few observations on the
inconsistency of the Hon. Gentleman. The Hon.
Gentleman stated, and stated truly, that the Marines
formed an impottant part of the Naval Service.--
Was it natural, therefore, to suppose, that when on
shore and in barracks, they should be allowed to per-
form garrison duty e ith the Line and with the Ar-
tillery, when they did not actually form a part of
the garrison ? He admitted that in time of peace,
should that time ever arrive, when so many Marines.
would be on shore as to form part of the guard of
the different garrisons, Marine Officers would par-
take int he garrison duty. But he could not see
how 'they were degraded by not being allowed to do
so under the present circumstances. The Hon.
Gentleman complained that the Officers of the
Royal_Marines did nOt enjoy the same emoluments
and advamages as the Officers of the Line and of
the,Arttllery ; and that promotion was not so rapid
among them as among the latter. But hew again
he must recal to the consideration of the House,
that the Marines were not a part of the military,
but a part, and -an essential part of the naval ser-
vice. But although a material part of the navy,
the services of the Royal Marines were so diffe-
rent from those of any other corps, that except-
Ling, in-point of gallantry, it was itnpossible to 'make.
any comparison between them and any other curs.
Of 30,000 Marines, 25,000 were actually set yin; on
board a ship, for Ming pat t of the various -crews, and
being under the command of Naval Officers.—No
Marine Officer above' t he
,rank of Captaie was ever
called upon to serve on board a ship.—When he be-
came a Field Officer, he passed into a kw.l of re-
tirement. He was placed in one of the diaisions,
and his services were confined to the preservation of
good order there. There was -this material distinc-
tion, too, between the Army and the Marines. No
Marine Officer purchased his commission : rising by
seniority, he was not compelled to invest any part
of his fortune in the acquisition of rank. It was
reasonable, therefore, that if one service were to
possess greater advantages than the other, those ad-
vantages should be on the side of the army. It had
been said the sorvici-s of the Artillery accorded
in some reepeas to ith those of the Marines. Did
those who made that assertion consider, that in pi o-
portion as an Artillery Officer rose in rink, his ser-
vices became more iniportant, and that when he ar-
rived at the rank of a Field. Officer, he wits
more responsible than in any other steo.ol his ser-
vices ? Fro n the earliest periods, the high situa-
tions in the Marine Service had been fitted by offi-
cers, in the Navy, and for. this good reason, that
the Marines, when at sea, always nerved under.Na •
val Officers. Even if- a body of Marines h ippened
to be sent on shore in a boat, a Naval Officer was
appointed to command them. It was a diffetent
affair when large bodies of Marines were assemb ed
to ad on shore independently of shipping; for in-
stance, as in the late case of the battalion of Ma-
rines in Portugal, where they had done them-
selves, as they always did so much credit.—
They indisputably then ought to be commanded by
their own Officers. The situation of the Royal
Marines was taken under the consideration of the
Board'of Admiralty in 1809, and in consequence
an Order of Council was issued, by which great.
additions were made to the advantages of the
taficers of that corps. And he was persu ,d-
-ed, notwithstanding what was said by the Ho-
nourable Gentleman, that although a few individuals
might still be dissatisfied (and where was there
a service in which there were nut dissatisfied in-
dividuals ?) the 'corps in general wa,, cemented with
what had.been done' for them. He then proceed-
ed into a comparison of the pay of the Command-
ants with that of the Majors General on the Sea,
contending, that the former had considerably the ad.
vantage. The Right Hon. Gentletnan then proceed-
ed to shew that the difference between the Offices
of the Marines and the Artillery Officers was not
what the Honourable Gentleman supposed it to be,
as it was much less disadvantageous to the former.
He admitted promotion to be more rapidly gained in
the Artillery than in the Marines; but this he ex-
plained to be, in consequence of the greater risk at-
tached to the former service. He then noticed the
circumstances of Captains and Lieutenants in the
Marines, as compared with those in the-Navy, ant
replied to what had fal:erefrom the Hon. Gentleman
on that subject. Whatever might be the advan-
tages enjoyed by Lieutenants in the Navy, he con-
tended, the present situation of a Lieutenant,of the
Marines was more advantageous. Greenwich Hos-
pital had been spoken of, as if the Marines contri-
buted to its support, without derisieg any benefit
whatever front that institution; but the fact was,
they derived the same advantage from it as the sea-
men themselves enjoyed. It was true there were
certain offices which they were not entitled to hold;
but with respect to pensions, allowance, &e. Offi-
cers in the Marines were placed precisely on the
same footing with the Officers of the Navy. As to
what had been said of the Marines but being allow-
ed the benefit of two years service in the East or
West Indies, in common with other forces sent to
these,parts of the world, he had to observe in reply,
that the Marines never served in the E ,st or
West Indies, but on board their ships. This being
the stale of -the case, he would ask, could they in
Justice be placed on the same footing with those
who were obliged to serve on shore, and who were
so much more exposed to the dangers of the Climate?
Every one at all infirrmed on this sniijed knew that
the service on board the ships in the East and West
Indies was absolutely healthy, compared with the
service on shore. Having now gone through nearly
the whole of the Hon. Glitlethan's statements, he
would leave it for the House to consider whether or
not any thing had been proved to exist that called
for their interference.
Mr. E. BULLER had been in the service not less
than five and twenty years, yet was quite'surprised at
the complaints he had heard. He had never
known that there was the slightest cause for com-
plaint.