The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-20 00:00:00

Of the six new regiments raised at the close of 1823
end beginning of 1824 four had, on the 31st December,
18:37, served eleven years abroad and three at home ;
and two battalions had served twelve years abroad and
two at home. Three of these new regiments have since
been ordered on colonial service two of the three have
sailed for Ceylon, and the third is under orders for New
South Wales.

The general result of the service performed by the
103 battalions in the course of 20 years is, that there
Were spent—
At home 620 years
In the colonies
—2,024
Of these 1,404 years' colonial service, 770, or up-
wards of one-half, were at the folic sing stations within
the tropics :

Windward and Leeward Islam'. 1444.
Jamaica 975
Mauritius
Ceylon
East Indies
.
St. Helena
-770
The period during which troops of the line serve in
!he colonies may be estimated, therelo:i., at about dou-
hle that spent at home ; and of those on foreign service,
it may be said that more than one-half are in tropical or
unhealthy climates.

This routine of unremitted Colonial service must
produce considerable inefficiency among; the officers of
the Army; and the result would inevitably be, either to
maintain an enormous retired establishment at the pub-
lic charge, to furnish. a provision for the worn-out
officers, or to leave the commissions of the Army in the
hands of those incompetent to discharge the duties at-
taching to them, if it were not for one of those very
anomalies to which we have alluded at the commence-
ment of this division of our Report—viz., the system
of sale and purchase of commissions authorised by the
retaliations of the service.

This important question must be considered in a
ia!er part of this Report, when the evidence respecting
'll2 sytlems of promotion and retirement now in opera-

come to be examined. It is on!y noticed here as

obvious cause for the present genera! capacity of
t!!•! regiments to discharge the duties required of them
ui.der all the disadvantages of varied service in all
cl:iratcs.

Sir Edward Blakeney, at present commanding in
Irela, d, informed the Commission, thit, in the course
of llis duty in that capacity, he has had 50 regiments
of i:Zantry, about 18 of cavalry, and between 30 and
49 ,j..:,,t5, under his observation ; and he gave it as his
0p:,0:1 that the army is at this moment in an efficient
state generally, although there may be some command-
ing uiiicers, and others of various ranks, who are too
old for their duty. These, however, he described as
ex,.:,:ions, but he admitted that such arc existing in
almost every regiment.
11:.on roference to the War-office Returns, which
have' Leen laid before the Commission, it will be seen
• that this general efficiency is in the lower ranks of offi-
cers, and that the ages of a large portion of the field-
oll•crs are considerably advanced.
It is shown by those Returns, that of 254 lieute-
nant colonels serving upon full-pay, in June, 1838, pre-
vious to the brevet

46 were below 40 years of age
46 between 40 and 45.
69 between 45 and 50. •
93 between 50 and 65.
—254.
It is p,;ssible that fur colonial and fixed duty the Ca-
pabilitLs of the commanding officer may be prolonged
to a more advanced period of life than they would be in
the more active and harassing duties of field service ;
and although, therefore, the ages of some of these offi-
cers may exceed that qualifying them for efficiency as
regimental ctlicers in an active campaign, their position
at the head of regiments is in no part of the evidence
shown to be detrimental to the public interest under
present cireumAances.
The same -Return also shows that there were °6O
majors upon f 6" p
between
were below 40 years of zge.
G
7:3 between 45 and 50.
pay,
of whom—
een 40 and 45.
43 between 50 and 65.
_ 060.
young men, and more than
therefore be considered 1 .
te equal to every
one-third ofi tl,iis class of field-officers may
Nearly
sort of duty, whether of c
efficiency, as far as
' the general
one-half of an age rendcril
In the rank of' captain,
it can be tested by age, ningiatteleomr qfiuelid.
of this class, is more apparent, Of 1,354
311 were below 30 years of age.