The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-07 00:00:00

possible to imagine a Worse system than'ths.t. Not only
was the officer promoted though he had no service, but
in point of fact he had "a better chance of promotion
thin those serving abroad in unhealthy climates. That

system was swept away, and instead of it was substituted
piamotion by service. The rule now was that no man could

rise above the rank of lieutenant-colonel unless he served in

he rank of lieutenant-colonel for a certain period, orunless

he served on the staff tor a certain period. The staff would
very soon be cleared of everybody who had not passed
throught the Staff College. Numbers of regimental officers

never did so; and their only chance of rising•ta the higher
positions of the army would be five years' command of a re-
giment. How did that operate ? Suppose that an officer did
not happen to have at his banker's a certain sum of money,
he never could rise to the higher ranks. Thus the non-
purchasing offipecs, by this system, could be debarred from
rising. (No, no.) How was that ?

An HoN. MEMBER—They may retire on full pay, or they
may rise by death vacancies.
Mr. S. HERBERT said that the chance of rising by
death vacancies was very small. If that were allowed to
become the rule of the British army, it would be an injustice
that would be quite intolerable, and itwould lower the army

as a profession in the eyes of the British pe•ple. It was Re-
cessary to create some means of breaking through that bar-
rier for men who had not money. This did not apply to the

other ranks to the same extent. The view of the commis•

sion was, that the cessation of purchase in the higher ranks
would open the way to those who had no, money, and
would check enormously the illegitimate prices given for
lower grades, which could only be done by diminishing the
temptation. It was said that the danger of selection was
very great, on account of favouritism and political pres-
sure. Some went so far as to say that, in a despotism,
you might select the best officer for a particular service,
but that in a free country this was impossible. He be-
lieved that this was a libel upon free institutions. He did
not see that necessity. He knew that selection was made
in other professions, and made under the influence of public
opinion brought to bear upon them by that house. All that
was meant by the objection was, that the selector would have
a very uneasy life. (Hear, hear.) That was true, but at
the same, time it was a guarantee against the exercise
of favouritism or political motives. (No, no.) At
least it was a guarantee to that extent. Look at the Ad-
miralty. For many years they used to promote from poli-
tical motives. (Hear, hear.) That was notorious. The
feeling of the country revolted against the system ; that
house had done much to put it down; and at the present
moment a Minister would not dare to give a man a ship
who was not capable of commanding it. But the person
who made the selection, the Commander-in-Chief, was not
amenable to political influence. Reference had been made to
the Secretary of State; but he had no knowledge of the
officers, and could not make the selection. Another argument
against the system of selection was that it would not only
be corrupt, but that it was impossible to make the selection
satisfactorily. He doubted that very much. Sir G. Brown
said that the Commander-in-Chief had the means of knowing
the character, for efficiency and intelligence, of every field-
officer in the army, if he chose to go to the proper quarter.
The same thing had been said by Sir George Simpson, and
Lord Panmure had stated that the Commander-in-Chief and
his military secretary and the adjutant-general bad the
opportunity of knowing the character of every field officer in
the service. He believed that if there were no sales of lieu-
tenant-colonelcies it would not stop the rapidity of promo-
tion. A number of officers entered the army for the purpose
of amusing themselves and then leaving it. They remained
until they arrived at the rank of major, when they sold out,
because they could not sell as lieutenant-colonels. With
regard to selection, the Duke of Cambridge had said he could
easily select at home, but he had a difficulty about selecting
abroad. He (Mr. S. Herbert) fully admitted there was a
great difficulty about selecting abroad, but at the same time
he thought arrangements could be made to meet that diffi-
culty. lie had now gone through all the objections raised
as to the question of selection for the rank of lieutenant-
colonel—for abolishing sale in that rank, and for not adopt-
ing the bugbear of thelt n. gentleman opposite with regard
to seniority. The best authorities had said that the period
of a command in a regiment ought to be limited. The.dis-
tinction drawn by the royal commission was, that it was in
the upper ranks that abuses occurred, and that the purchase
system in the lower ranks kept the army in a state of youth-
ful energy and vigour. He had signed his name to the re-
port of that commission, believing the course proposed was
the best to pursue, and he had since seen nothing to change
his opinion. Holding that purchase in some ranks was
necessary, he believed it was better to abolish it in the upper
ranks. Without pledging himself to details, he must say
that the principles laid down by the commission were those
which the Government acknowledgeel in dealing with the
question. Itwould therefore be his duty to prepare a scheme
with the greatest care, thought, and caution, and lay it be-
fore the house and before the military authorities for their
consideration; but beyond the point to which he saw his
way clearly he would not budge an inch, because he
thought this great machine—the British army—was not a
thing to play with. (Hear.) Under these circumstances
he felt he must disagree with the motion of the hon. and
gallant officer, and also with the amendment—not because
he did not admit seniority was a bad thing, but because he
thought the amendment did not draw a right distinction
between what existed in the scientific corps and in the line.
Mr. ELLICE said he did not think that the plan pro-
posed by the right hon. gentleman would meet the diffi-
culty. He was not willing to touch the existing system
by a measure which he believed would only aggravate the
evil, and he advised the house to be careful how they gave
their consent to the proposition of the right hon. gen-
tleman. The plan was no doubt based on the report of the
majority of the commission ; but the minority of that com-
mission included two generals who believed that the plan
proposed would aggravate the evil, and one of these generals
had risen to the highest rank without ever having pur-
chased, and he believed that his promotion had been acce-
lerated by the system of purchase. This measure was only
brought forward to meet the motion of the gallant officer the
member for Westminster. His sight hon. friend based his
opposition on the abuses existing in relation to exchange,
and in the way in which officers arrived at the rank of
lieutenant-colonel. But since his Royal Highness the
present Commander-in-Chief had been at the head of the
army these abuses had not existed. Officers with money
had consulted the convenience of poorer officers, and had
purchaeed commissions which placed them in positions in
which the higher ranks fell as it were a prey to them. But
the War Office was itself to blame for having sanctioned
these proceedings. Would officers purchase in the lower
ranks, and then have the favourite of the Horse Guards
put over them? As to foreign armies, they weuld do for
foreign countries, but not for this country. (Hear, hear.)
Take the middle .class, from which the mass of our officers
is derived. A clergyman or a lawyer wanted his son to be
a soldier, and had £2,000 or £3,000 with which to set
him out in life. He knew that if the young gen-
tleman conducted himself properly, no one could
now be placed above him by patronage or by jobbery.
(Hear, hear.) No man now could be promoted in the army
unless he showed his competency by passing his examina-
tions. There were now two examinations for the army as
well as for the navy. Formerly there were no examinations
in the army, and a man could arrive at the command of a
battalion without any one knowing whether he was fit for
it or not. These examinations, however, had done away
with a large proportion of the evil resulting from the sys-
tem of purchase. Our army was exceptional in another
way ; our forces were scattered in small detachments in
every quarter of the globe. The officers of those regiments
were happily united by an espy it de corps. Would it not be
unjust to these men, many of whom were serving in pesti-
ferous climates, to put a young man over their heads just
because that young man happened to be the protegee of
some member of that house. (Hear, hear.) As to the
scientific corps, nothing could be worse than its condition
six or seven years ago, when most of their captains were q)
years of age. During the Duke of Wellington's campaign
in the Peninsula, several superior officei a were sent out,
and one Captain Dixon was sent out with them. The duke
found the superior officers all of them too old ; and, in order
to avail himself of the services of Captain Dixon, being a
general in the Portuguese service, and the two armies act-
ing together, he made Captain Dixon a general in the Por-
tuguese army; and placed him in the command of 12,000
men. It must be borne in mind also, that men who were
incompetent were far less likely to be appointed under the
present system, which involved examinations ; and his
Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief had stated that
he would certainly not sanction the appointment of an in-
competent officer if he knew it. It ought to be provided
that officers should only retain their command of a regi-
ment six years ; but if they did this, they must be prepared
to provide liberally for them. (Hear,
hear.) If a man
embarked his money and spent his life in their service,
they ought not to deprive him of his reward. There were
other difficulties which ought first to be dealt with. He
saw Indian officers walking about discontentedly not know-
ing who was their master. (Hear, hear.) The fact was
that we unsettled very fast, although we settled very
slowly. (Hear, hear.) Having said so much, he felt it
his duty to add that the army was greatly indebted to the
right hon. gentleman ; for, to whatever branch of the army
they looked, they would find that his hand had been at
work in the right direction, (Hear, hear.) This made him
all the more regret that he was obliged to differ from the
right hon. gentleman on the present occasion. He en-
treated him to consider that a British regiment of infantry
was after all the best pawn upon the military chessboard of
the world. (Cheers.) They might find fault and pick holes
here and there, but it always did its duty, and they ought
to be just to it. If they erred at all, it ought to be on the
side of generosity. (Cheers.) They ought to show no
desire to curtail its privileges and advantages. This was
particularly a moment at which they ought to encourage a
feeling of generosity towards the army—(hear, bear)—and
he was confident that this proposition would be very badly
received by the army in general.
Colonel NORTH regretted to hear the conclusion of the
speech of the Secretary for War, and could not help think-
ing that the small end of the wedge was to be driven so as
to lead an a very short time to the destruction of a system
which he believed most advantageous to the country. This
was merely the beginning of the end. They had not the
plan of the right hon. gentleman before the house, but it
appeared that for the future the only prospect an officer of
the army would have was that he might obtain the rank
of major. However bad the present system might be in a
money point of view, he held that it was still worse to
have to look to the patronage of men in power. (Hear,
hear.) He did not understand how the officers were to be
selected. He especially objected to doing away with
purchase in the army, because of the way in which it
would affect the interests of as brave and good a body
of men as were to be found in the world—the non-
commissioned officers. (Hear, hear.) How could these
officers accept commissions if the system of purchase was
abolished ? Was it worth their while for the sake of an ad-
ditional ls. or Is. 3d. a day to accept a commission which,
in nine eases out of ten would bring ruin on them ? They
could not meet the expenses which such a commission
would entail upon them; and the only reason why non-
commissioned officers accepted commissions was that, being
often married men, they looked upon the commission which
was worth about £l,BOO as a fortune which would enable
them to provide for their families. ("Hear," and ".Divide.").
Lord STANLEY did not wish to continue the discus-
sion, but merely to express a hope that the house would not
think it necessary to go to a division, which could not really
convey the intentions of those who voted on either side.
He was a member of the commission which sat four years
ago, and no man entered into the inquiry with stronger,
convictions than himself of the anomalies and inconve-
niences of the purchase system considered as a general ques-
tion; but he could not but see that to attempt its total aboli-
tion in all grades of the army was a work of very great diffi-
culty, attended with enormous expense, for which no
mature plan had been laid before the house or the public.
(Hear, hear.) That being the case, he readily acquiesced
in tin eoraprpraise adopted by the majority of that com.