The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-18 00:00:00

19767 14 4,

Oa the clothing of the army the Committee .
into a long and minute examination, with the v
certaining whether it can be plated on any
more economical footing.
It is shown by documents and evidence before them
that the present system has existed ever since the forma-
tion of a regular army in this ccuntry ; that it has been
the subject of frequent inquiries by Committees of this
House and Parliamentary commissions, and that the Co-
, lends of the Regiments have regularly drawn from it, for
the last century, nearly the same proportion of their emo-
luments as at present. In the report of a Committee of
this House which sat in the year 1746, the amount of off-
reckonings for a regiment of Infantry, on an average of ten
years to 1740, is stated to be 2,1731. ; in the present year
the amount is 2,186/. ; the colonel's profit at both periods,
on an average, between 500/. and 6001.
It further appears that the wholesome cautions and
cheeks by which the supply of clothing by the colonels
has been accompanied have invariably secured the comfort
and satisfaction of the soldier, and the complete efficiency
of this branch of the public service.
The Committee are not therefore prepared to suggest
any change In this long-established system, which, al-
though it may at first appear anomalous, and to involve
the objectionable principle of giving profit to the colonels
out of monies ostensibly voted for another purpose, secures
the responsibility of those officers for the just and punctual
distribution of the clothing to the different regiments, dis-
persed as they are throughout various and distant colonies,
and which at the same time protects the public from the
losses to which they would be exposed by the accumulation
of stores of this description, supplied under the manage-
ment of public boards, from extensive establishments, su-
peranuation allowances to those who conduct them, and
from that multiplicity of accounts which a transfer of the
charge of this supply from those in whom it is now vested
into other hands must inevitably produce.
As however it seems that an additional cost is imposed
on the colonels of regiments in their contracts with their
clothiers, owing to the money not being paid to colonels
for clothing till after it is delivered to the soldiers on dis-

lave gone

env of as-
►etter and

tant stations, the Committee recommend to the consider,.
'ion of Government some arrangement by which the off
reckonings might be issued at an earlier period, so as to
reduce the rate of interest now charged by the clothier,
and thereby effect a corresponding reduction in theamount
of the allowance made by the public to the colonel.
The Committee are of opinion that all profits under the
head of non-effective allowances for warrant men ought
henceforth to cease; but as the effect of abolishing these
allowances in the infantry would be to reduce the annual
profits of the colonels by about 200/. a year, they recom-
mend that the regimental pay (which is no greater now
than it was in the reign of Queen Anne) should be raised
to 6001. a year to all existing colonels (which, added to
the profits from off-reckonings on the effective force,
would leave their whole emoluments at nearly their present
amount); but that the pay should be reduced to 500/. to
those who shall hereafter succeed them, making the whole
pay and allowances of a regiment of infantry of the line
not less than 1,000/. a year.
The pay and off-reckonings for warrant men and haut-
boys, which were abolished in the line by Act of 1783 and
the warrant of 1828, having been retained in the Foot
Guards and in the cavalry, the application of the same rule
to those corps will effect a much greater reduction in the
emoluments of their colonels, viz. in the Ist Foot Guards
about 1,600/., in the Coldstream and Thirds about 1,060/.
in the Ist Dragoon Guards about 650/., and in all other
regiments of cavalry about 470/. The Committee there-
fore recommend that time pay of the several colonels should
be increased as follows :

In the Ist Regiment of Guards to 1,2001. In the
Coldstream and 3d Guards to 1,000/, In the Ist Dragoon
Guards to 1,1001. for the present colonel, and to 1,000/.
for those who may succeed him ; and in all other cavalry
regiments to 1,0001. for the present, and to 9001. for
future colonels; snaking the whole pay and emoluments
of the colonel of the Ist Guards not less than 3,0001.
a-year ; of those of the Coldstream arid 3d Guards not less
than 2,000/. ; of the Ist Dragoon Guards about 1,560/.
and other regiments of cavalry about 1,350/. each ; and
effecting a saving to the public of about 1,090/., on the
Ist, and of about 730/. on each of the other regiments of
Guards; and in the cavalry an immediate saving of about
1501. on the Ist Dragoon Guards, and of about 90/. on all
other regiments, with a further prospective saving of 100/.
a-year on each.

The committee are of opinion, that in consideration of
the great and glorious military services of the Duke of
Wellington, an exemption should take place in his person
from the operation of this rule, and that no change should
be made in the emoluments of the Ist Guards so long as
his Grace shall continue to boll the colonelcy of that
regiment.
In the regiments of Horse Guards and Life Guards
where the off•reckonings and other allowances have been
commuted, the committee recommend that the colonels
should receive an annual sum of 1,8001. (being a sma!l
diminution of their present regimental income) in lieu of
pay and all other emoluments.
The committee are also of opinion that the extra
allowance of about 8001. to colonels of cavalry in India
for wear and tear of accoutrements ought to be discon-
tinued.

In the amount of the pay and emoluments of the
colonels of the two West India regiments and of the
Ceylon Corps and Malta Fencibles, the committee do not
recommend any immediate alteration, but that the two
former should hereafter undergo a similar reduction to
the infantry of the line, and that as the two latter corps
are not clothed by their colonels, and are from their con.
stitution and the nature of their service wholly indepen-
dent of any connection with these officers, the colonelcies
of them should be abolished on future vacancies.

Should the reductions above recommended take place,
they will produce an immediate saving on the allowances
of colonels of regiments of about 9,7001. a-year, and of
about 15,5001. more as vacancies of regiments occur.

The staff pay of general officers has undergone no
change since 1685, and it is a fact worthy of notice,
that those who fought at Waterloo received just the same
rate of pay as those at Minden and Blenheim. The
Committee, therefore, certainly cannot propose any re-
duction on this head, nor are they prepared to suggest
any in the number of the staff employed at home or
abroad, which appears already to have undergone a consi-
derable reform, as it is stated in evidence that 103 persons
at a charge of above 27,0001. were reduced between the
years 1828 and 1830. With respect to the allowances of
general officers serving as Governors of Colonies, the
evidence which the Committee have heard leads them to
doubt whether, in some instances, reduction has not been
carried too far, which must assuredly be the case if the
officers so employed cannot suitab►y maintain the dignity
of their stations without injury to their private fortunes,
and if the Government are thereby limited in their means
of selecting the fittest persons for the discharge of those
important trusts.

In connection with three colonial appointments the
Committee desire to notice the heavy fees attached to
some of them, and indeed to other military appointments
also ; and as it appeals that all the fees formerly payable
on appointments and promotions in the navy have been
recently abolished, they beg strongly to urge the propriety
of placing both services in this respect on the same
footing.
In the staff at head quarters (comprising six officers
with the rank of general, five of whom are colonels of
regiments), though the Committee do not feel competent
to lay down any specific plan of reduction, and though it
would appear from the evidence of those who have hail
considerable experience of its duties, that the existing
establishment is not more than sufficient for their execu-
tion, they cannot avoid adverting to the opinions of the
two last Secretaries at War on that head, and calling on
the Government to consider whether a diminution may
not be effected without detriment to the public service in
the rank, numbers, and emoluments of this large and ex•
pensive portion of the home staff.
They are also of opinion that if these, and indeed all
other staff situations at home and abroad, except that of
the Commander in Chief and his personal staff, were
generally subjected to a change of holders every four or
five years, whilst the honours and emoluments of the army
would thereby be more widely diffused, and meritorious
services more amply rewarded, the country would, at the
same time, gain a greater number of officers thus better
qualified by experience for situations of trust and command.
It appears that by the King's warrant of the Bth of
August, 1814, large additions were authorized to be mode
to the pay of general officers, and that owing to a mistaken
liberality this warrant was indiscriminately applied to
those who had been reduced, or had tetired on halfpay
before the last war, and who would not have been enabl d
to establish a claim to the increased rate of halfpay granted
by warrant of the same date to officers of other ranks
reduced at the close of the war in 1814, or placed on
halfpay owing to wounds or infirmities acquired in service ;
that if this warrant had not been cancelled in 1818, a
further charge to the public would have been incurred of
about 300,000/., and that 39 of those officers are now
receiving such addition to their pay, at an access of no
less than 15,6221. beyond what they received previously
to the issue of that warrant, and beyond what they would
have been entitled to if their services had been subjected
to the same test as those of other officers of the army, to
whom the increase of pay was given, on the special
ground of meritorious services in the war immediately
preceding the date of the warrant.
The Committee are of opinion that this increase of pay
to those officers, though it seems to have been sanctioned
at the time by the general concurrence of the House of
Commons, was not justified by any good grounds of pub-
lic expediency, and that it ought now to be discontinued.
They, therefore, recommend that those officers should
revert again to their former rates of half-pay, subject to
such exceptions as the Government, with the assistance of
the Commander-in-Chief, may think it Just to make, on a
due examination and liberal consideration of the circum-
stances of the parties whose income may be so reduced,
or of the efficient services of any of the generals included
in this list ; but that they shall have the option of selling
out of the army at the regulation price of their unattached
full-pay commissions, wherever, in the opinion of the
Secretary-at-War, such sale shall not, from the age or
health of the parties, be injurious to the public interest.
In suggesting the above reductions in the pay and
emoluments of general officers, the Committee cannot for-
bear noticing the scanty provision of those unattached
major-generals who, under the present regulations, receive
only the pay of their last regimental rank. Considering
the great pecuniary sacrifices in the purchase of commis-
sions as well as the length of service to which officers are
sublemctiibeforeteeare of opinion theypcainun thatattain The em
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rank ought not to be leas than 4001. a year, and as it
could be made up to that amount at an annual charge of
somewhat under 7,0001., they venture to recommend that
it should be so increased immediately to all those who
re( 'ye no otherigrablic emoluments, subject to such excep_
tions this respect as may appear justified by distinguished
service.
Bat tha must desire, at the same time, to call the
attention of the Government to the large number of
general officela Troy., on the list, and to express their
anxious hope that no addition will he made to it except
upon very strong grounds of public necessity.
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they have deriv.d from it as to the general economy and
managarient of the army. They would have been happy
if, in the performance of the duty intrusted to theta, they
could have effected any greater saving to the public; but
taking into view the peculiar circumstances of our snititary
service, as pointed out in various parts of the evidence, and
particularly by the Duke of Wellington in tit, meinorn•
dum already referred to; and taking also into view the
fact, that whilst tlic salaries and emoluments of most
branches of the civil service have considerably increased
since 1792. those of the superior officers of the army arc,
with few exceptions, the same as they were a century ago.
They hope, that in the alterations which they have re•
commended, they will be found on the whole to have
carried the principle of reduction as far as they could,
" without detriment to the efficiency of the public
service, or to the just reward of professional merit."

Of the appointments in the navy which have been
referred to the committee, those of Vice Admiral and Rear
Admiral of England, and Lieutenant General and Major
General of Marines, are held by flag officers, and Cheer of
Colonels of Marines by post captains.
Thiir salaries amount altogether to 6,9101. 16s. Sd.,
subject, however, except the two first, to a deduction of
the half-pay of the officers holding them, whereby the net
receipt is reduced to 4,565/. 14s.
There being no naval appointments analogous to the
governorships of garrisons or colonelcies of regiments,
these are the only professional honouts or ennolumsnts„
unconnected with active duties, at the disposal of the
Crown for the reward of distinguished merit in the naval
service.

The two first are venerable from their antiquity, and
still more so from the names of those who have held them.
They are distinctions immediately connected with the
naval service, and have always been reckoned among the
highest professional honours to which a naval officer could.
aspire.

The committee therefore recommend that the situations
of Vice Admiral and Rear Admiral of England should
remain on their present footing, the whole emoluments of
both being together less than 500/. a year.
They do not however consider that the satue reasons
exist for keeping up the generals and colonels of marines,
but that they may with propriety be abolished as they
severally become vacant. In recommending this, however,
they feel bound in justice to propose, that a sum equal ill
amount to the salaries of these appointments should be
continued at the disposal of the Ciown, fur the reward of
distinguished naval and marine services, subject to the
same condition as the grant proposed to be made for the
like purpose to the army, and that all pensions so granted
should be tenable with the hslfpay of the officer boking
them.

The Committee beg leave, in conclusion, to express their
anxious hope that no addition to the number of flag officers
in the navy, any more than to that of general office; s in
the army, will in future he made, except upon very strong
grounds of public necessity.
August 12, 1833.