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

1187 6 4
93 '2 6

PURCHASE AND SALE OF COMMISSIONS AND

HALF PAY.

COMMUNICATION FROM THE DUKE OF WEL.

LINGTON TO LORD HILL.
MEMORANDUM UPON THE MILITARY GOVERNMENTS.
[From the Appendix to the Commons' Report on Army
and Navy Appointments.]

STRATIIFIF.LDSAY, MARCO! 7.
In order to elucidate the question of the military Go-
vernments, it is necessary to consider the constitution of
the British army, the establishments and mode of promo-
tion of its officers, particularly to the higher ranks, and
the amount of their pay. I should wish to compare the
real pay and establishments of the officers of the British
army with the pay and establishments of the officers of
other armies, and with the pay and establishments of the
British navy ; but I have not by me the means of stating
accurately the amount of either of the latter.
The British army is one of which the officers obtain
their commissions by purchase, up to the rank of lieute-
nant-colonel inclusive. This practice is so general as to
be almost universal. It extends to at least three-fourths
of all the officers appointed to fill commissions; and it
would he universal if the King did not claim the right to
dispose of the commission of an officer who is promoted
without purchase, or who dies or is killed in his service ;
which commissions such officers, in three-fourths of the
instances, had previously purchased.
The detailed effect of this purchase of commissions upon
the payment of all officers for their service will be shown
presently. It is obvious that in calculating the remune-
ration which any officer receives for his service, the amount
of the interest which he loses upon the sum paid as the
price of his commission must be taken into the account;
it is a direct deduction from the pay of the officer.
This fact must never be lost sight of; and it will be
of great importance in the comparison between the amount
of the pay and allowances of the officers of the British
army and those of foreign armies, and those of the corre-
sponding ranks of the British navy.
The promotion of an officer by purchase cannot be made
after the rank of lieutenant-colonel; after having attained
that rank, officers of the British army are usually promoted
by brevet, or by being made aide•de-camp to the King, to
the rank, but not to the pay, of colonel, major-general,
lieutenant-general, general, field-marshal.

No pay is attached to any of these ranks, according to
the ordinary regulations of the service, unless the officer
holdin4 such rank should be appointed by his Mij esty to
be colonel of a regiment. In that case he has the pay of
a colonel, and the advantages derived from the contract to
clothe and equip the regiment of which the colonel holds
the command.
At the close of the late war there was a deviation from
the ordinary regulations, and in June, 1814, it was settled
that generals were to have a pay as such, amounting—

Per diem, to £l 18 0
Lieutenant-Generals
Major-Generals
But in February, 1818, this rate of pay was restricted to
120 general officers, at 1/. is. each per diem.
The general officers removed from regimental commis-
sions in the Foot Guards were to be allowed as follows

From being regimental lieut—col. per annum £BOO

First major, It Regiment UOO
First major, Coldstream, and 3d Regiment BOO

_
- .. .
Other majors 7OO
Senior captains of battalions 550
Other captains
___ . 500

This was altered by a subsequent wat rant : and general
officers promoted from commissions in the Foot Guards
now reevive—

Regimental lieutenant-colonel, per annum £6OO
Regimental major
Regimental captains and lieutenant-colonels 4OO

If colonels or general officers of the army are specially
employed on the staff, they are paid the staff allowances
of such employment so long as they are so employed.
Excepting the colonels of regiments and the 120 general
officers who receive each 4561. per annum, and certun
general officers removed from their regimental commis-
sions in the Foot Guards, there is no officer of the rank
of colonel, or of the different grades of general officers,
who receives any allowance, excepting the half-pay or
foil-pay of the regimental commission of lieutenant.
colonel, or of the last regimental commission which he
held previous to his promotion ; which commission of
lieutenant-colonel or other he purchased in three instances
out of four.

It must not be supposed that promotion of the officers
of the army by purchase is merely an abuse unauthorized
and unknown to authority. It has prevailed, it is be-
lieved since the ware of the revolution.* The prices of
commissions have been repeatedly regulated by his Ma-
jesty's orders ; the last regulati'n was issued in the year
1821.

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and highly beneficial to the service, although it falls
severely upon individuals.
It is not the practice of the officers at the bead of the
army to refuse to those desiring it the permission to sell
purchase-money
their commissions which they have purchased ; Lind many
King's. service,d au.d
retire and are satisfied to live upon the interest of
.the
of their commissions or urn an annuity,
busavti.
being no longer able to render the actthrevean energetic
winigampuatssoibtblyerlafpusitivsiphsieeorinmr
ihboseiraoinrthewtofsdea
ilfeotr
ht
ter
er o m In i services, i
services required from an officer of British army in
all climates and situation!.
Neither is it the prsctice. of the officers at the head of
the army to re
those under the rank of colonels of regiments who had

Tins is not accurate. Purchase commenced in the reign
of Charles 11., and has continued ever since. The price was at
first very small,—Beport.

-
served for Went), yearly hittough they have tiOt purchased
their commissions.
These officers would probably be bereft of an means of
subsistence upon their retirement from the service, rendered
necessary by their advanced age or their loss of health.
They would endeavour to remain in (and could not be
removed from their situations in the service) rather than
expose themselves to want.
The permission to sell their commissions to younger,
more active, healthy, and energetic and better qualified
men, relieve the service from a burden, at the same time
that it throws none upon the state in the shape of remu-
neration, reward, or provision for men worn out by the
length and arduous nature of the services required from all
British officers.
It is the prt;motion by purchase which brings into the
service men of fortune and education—men who have
some connexion with the interests and fortunes of the
country besides the commission which they hold from his
Majesty. It is this circumstance which exempts the
British army from the character of being a mercenary army,
and has rendered its employment for nearly a century and
a half not only not inconsistent with the constitutional
privileges of the country, but safe and beneficial.
On the other band, an examination of the detailed ope-
ration of the system of promotion by purchase, or the re-
muneration
intended to be given by the public to the
officers of9the army for their service, will show that those
who purchase their commissions, which are certainly
three-fourths of the whole number, receive but little for
their service besides the honour of serving the King.
The following is a statement of the annual pay t of the
officers and cavalry and infantry of the British army.
The second column states the regulated price of the
commission of each rank.
The third, the interest upon that sum, calculated at
four per cent.
The fourth column shows the net annual reward of
service of each rank, after deducting the interest of the
purchase money.
2't
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=o .p.
ow OOOOO ©© •

ield officers and captains (lieu•
t Guards receive certain allow•

Besides these sums, the
tenant-colonels) of the Fool
ances from the stock purse.
It must be observed, that the loss in column 3 is no.
the only one to which the officer who has purchased is, or
his friends are, liable.
He is besides liable to the loss of the whole purchase-
money for his commission, if he should be promoted to be
colonel of a regiment, to receive 1/. ss. per diem as a
major-general under the regulatio❑ of 1818 ; or if an
officer of the Foot Guards, he should be promoted to be
a major-general, be removed from his regiment, and
receive the allowance under the warrant applicable to that
branch of the service ; or his friends will lose the pur-
chase.money if the cfficer should die or be killed in his
Majesty's service.
Let us now see in what manner this system of promo-
tion by purchase affects the situation of the general officers
in his Majesty's service.
Of these there are 456, besides the generals of the
marine forces and of the corps of artillery and engineers,
in which the system of promotion by purchase does
not exist.

Of these 456 general offieers,there are 138 who are colonels
of regiments, to whose situation I will advert presently ;
120 receive 11. 51. per diem, or 4561. ss. per annum.
The others, 198 in number, receive either the allowance
under the warrant applicable to the Foot Guards, or their
pay or half-pay as lieutenant-colonels of cavalry or infantry,
or as holding any other regimental commission when pro-
moted by brevet to be major-generals.
I will suppose them all to be lieutenant-colonels of
cavalry or infantry.
Those who receive 4561. 55., if they served in the ca-
valry, paid for their commissions 6,175/. ; of which sum
the interest, at 4 per cent., is 2171. They, therefore,
now receivea net 2091. ss. for their service.

If they served in the infantry of the line, they paid for
their commissions 4,500/., of which sum the iuterest, at
4 per cent., is 180/. They receive as a reward for their
service 276/. per annum.
The general officers who were regimental lieutenant-
colonels of the regiments of Foot Guards receive, under the
warrant as general officers, 6001. per annum.
They paid for their commissions 9,0001., which sum, at
4 per cent. interest, would produce 3601 ; consequently
these officers receive 240/. per annum for their services.
Those who were regimental majors of the Foot Guards
paid for their commissions 8,3001. ; of which the interest
at 4 per cent. is 332/.
They receive under the warrant 650/. ; consequently
the net reward of their service is 218/. per annum.
Those who were captains and lieutenant colonels of the
Foot Guards receive 400/. per annum as general officers.
They paid for their commissions as captains (lieutenant-
colonels) in the Guards 4,8001, of which sum the interest
at 4 per cent. is 1921. ; consequently they receive 2081.
per annum as the reward of their services.

Those general officers who were lieutenant-colonels of
cavalry, and paid for their commissions 6,1751., of which
sum the interest at 4 per cent. amounts to 247/., receive
1721. 12s. per annum as the reward of their services.
Those who were lieutenant-colonels of regiments of in-
fantry, and who paid 4,5001. for their commissions; of
which sum the interest at 4 per cent, is 1801., receive as
the reward of their service 1301. Ss.

I believe that according to the regulations and practice
of the service, those general officers who receive only the
pay of lieutenant-colonels of cavalry or infantry might be
Permitted to sell their commissions, and to retire alto-
gether from the service, and be succeeded by officers unat-
tached, notwithstanding that this arrangement would
burden the public with the payment of an annuity to a
young man instead of to an old one.
But those 120 general officers who receive 4561. se, per
annum, and who have paid 6,175/. for their commissions
in the cavalry, or 4,5001. for their commissions in the
infantry, and the regimental lieutenant-colonels of the Foot
Guards, who receive 6001. per annum, and have paid
9,000/. for their commissions, and the regimental majors
of the Foot Guards, who have paid 8,3001. for their coin.
missions, and receive 500/. per annum, and the regimental
captains and lieutenant-colonels of the Guards who have
paid 4,800/. for their commissions, and receive 4001. per
annum, cannot retire from the service by sale of their
commissions.

They receive from the public an annuity for which they
have sacrificed a capital larger than any that could be re-
quired from them, either by the public or any annuity
office, fur the same annuity.
I now come to the 138 general officers who are colonels
of regiments of cavalry or of infantry.
These are the favoured of the service.

The colonels of regiments of cavalry receive about
1,4001. per annum, including their pay, 4991. 45., as
colonels; the overplus being the profits of the contract for
clothing and equipping their several regiments.
Those who are colonels of regiments of infantry receive
above 1,1001. per annum, including their pay, as colonels,
4101. 12s. 6,1. per annum ; the overplus being the pro-
fits on the contract for clothing and equipping the regi-
ments of which they are severally colonels.
But let it be considered how these officers stand.
They have purchased their commissions, those of the
cavalry for 6,1751., those of the infantry for 4,5001.,
those of the Foot Guards for still larger sums.
Being colonels of regiments, they cannot be allowed to
sell out ; their money is sunk in the service, and lost to
them and their families for ever.
An officer can scarcely attain the rank of lieutenant_
colonel under from 12 to 20 years service ; and he then
pays 6,175/. or 4,5001 for his commission.
He will serve from 14 to 20 years more before he shall
be promoted to be colonel of a regiment, and to receive
this advantage of 1,4001. or 1,1004 per annum.
Putting out of the question the advanceswthiiicihhbeeswhailli
have made for his commissions in the service
1

t In making out this statement, the allowances for paying a
company, repair of arms, mess allowance (50 guineas a year), to
the actual commanding officer of the regiment, are not in-
cluded. They do no more than provide for the charges; and
do not belong, some of them, to the officer not present with the
regiment,