The Sun.
London, England, 1802-01-07 00:00:00

TO THE .EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,

A Zit-Agra- ph appeared. in yOur F`aper,of Thursday.
last, statitt the relative Proportions of the Pay
,1-ialf-pay must have been meant) of the Army arid
Navy to be.as•follows ; • •

Per-Day. Rank with Army. Per Deli,.
•s. d. s et.
.tieutenant -- r - 3 o - - • 5 6
Commanders = - 6 e n4jors - • 7
.• 6
Post Captains, uncle; 3 yrs A o Lieutenant-Colonels 9 6
Post Captains, af tek dito 6 b- Colonels - o

.Nu~y..

7,chi Statement ,is.serroneous in almost every ,par-
ticnlar, and, Oiould ' therefore he coi-reded. The
relative proportion of the -Half:pay in 'the Army
.and .Na v 101.oty.s :

Per Pay. . Ar my . - :.- Pe Day..
1. s. d. . . I. s.- d.
Admirals - ---1 is o General, ' No!-pity
Vice-Admirals - I 5 d Lieutt-General? lifor these
Rear-ar-Achni;-als ' - o 17 6 MajOr-aenerat ) 'Ranks.
Post Captains (30 of the .
oldest) -•- aro o Colonels -
Ditto, the next 5o - o 3 o Lieut:-Colonels
.Ditto, the rest -' a 6 o
__
Commanders - - -

Navy.

- 0 12 0
- 0 86

o 6 o Majors - o 7 6
? Capt.-Lieutenants o 3 o
o 3 or Lica. in the Guards
) Captains - S ° 5 °

Lieutenants

The obvious •tendency of the statement now car.
-reaed,- is to sheW that' the Half-pay of the Navy
is too small, comparing it ''with' the corresPonding
Rank in the Army. .That it may be too small, I,
shall admit. That it may become more, I wish.
But that they haye a greater claim to it th'an the
Army, from acompariSon of .the Half:pay allotted
to the respective-Ranks in both Services, and other
ciectonitances, I,deny.„ To
.notice only .the first
and most prominent Rank pointed out in the State-
Anent-alluded to, vii. that of Lieutenant in the
Navy, and Captain in the Army : I believe I am.
not very incorrca in saying, that when the rank
of Captain in the Army was given to Lieutenants
in' the .14.1‘i vy, whenaCting 'ashore with the Army,
i(was intended, in rtse(l, as a Mark of -favour and
encouragement, not as a plea for eXpeaing likewise
the Half-pay of a Captain in the Army, without
considering the great difference in the chance of
Prize-money, and in expence attending the services.
of these two class of Officers, from their nature, or
the lengthOf time by .which they are. usually ac,
quired (putting purchase out of the question), and
judging of their acquisition, b,`, service alone, which
is the only fair criterion to judge by. This will
be evident from the length of service requisite: to
acquire rank if the Artillery, 'Engineer, and Ma-
rine Forces, where service alone can procure it.
The commission of a Lieutenant in the Navy is
his fist in the Service, frotti' the situation of Mid:
Shipman corresponding with of Volunteer or
Cadet in -the Army. A Captain in the Army has
the previous CoMmissions of Ensign, or..zd Lieute-
nant, Lieutenant, and Captain,Lieutenant, to serve
for, before acquiring the rank of captain.—Lieute-
/tants of .the Guards and Captain-Lieotenants of the
Army have; like the Lieutenants of the Navy, the
rank of .Captain in the Army, but they have not
on that account the Ualf.pay of Captains in the
Army : the conclusion' is obvious.-
I do not'mean to infer from this, that the Half_
pay of the Navy. 'should not be augmented. The
great increase in the expence of every necessary of
life, renders such a measure only just and proper ;
but I would not have it brought about at the expellee
of another Service equally- meritorious, and no less
needful of it, .by holding out that Service 'as already
provided for in a more ample manner than the
Navy—this too, by an inaccurate anti unfair com:.
parative Statement of the'Half.pay of their respec-
live Ranks, as they stand, at present.
. •-
Your oot to is f( Solem ?nis dicerefaltum audeat e'
Presuming that your impartiality is equal to your
truth, I have no doubt of yourgiving thisa place
in Your Paper, and thus afford me 'an opportunity
of being correaed, if I am wrong.
Dec. 30.

VERUS.