The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-31 00:00:00

ARMY CONTRACTS.

Mr. MACARTNEY called the attontion of the house to
the paper No. 34(5 (Army Account 18"6-7), in which ap-
peared the Report of the Commissioners of Audit, con-
demning the system of keeping and furnishing the accounts
of army receipts and expenditure in the War Department,
with the correspondence between the said commissioners,
the Treasury, and Department ; also, to the Paper No.
424 (Establishment of the Consolidated War Department),
with the view of pressing the appointment of professional
actuaries to examine and arrange the army accounts for
1856, 1857, and 1858-9, so as to enable the house to ascer-
tain the correct army expenditure previous to the next
session of Parliament, when forming estimates for the year
1859-60 ; and further, to place the civil establishment
under the Minister at War upon a better and more efficient
system than existed at present. The hon. member also
complained of the great increase of temporary clerks in
these departments, who received a larger salary than the
regular permanent clerks. He trusted the subject would
during the recess occupy the attention of the Government.
Mr. G. A. HAMILTON said it was the intention of the
Government to direct their attention to the mode of keep-
ing the public accounts in accordance with the report of
the committee upon public moneys which sat two years
ago, and they hoped they would be able during the recess
to devise considerable improvements in the mode of keep-
ing the accounts now ad,pted.

PROMOTION IN THE ARMY.-ORDER OF THE

BATH.

Lord ELCHO, in rising to call attention to the army
regulation which requires an officer to have served six years
before he can be promoted to the rank of major; and fur-
ther, to call attention to the limitation of the Order of the
Bath to field officers, in consequence of which there are
now no means of rewarding an officer below that rank in
the British army, said that, seeing the state of the house
--there not being 20 members present—he would condense
the observations he bad to make as much as possible. The
regulation which required six years' service bef we promo-
tion to the rank of major was doubtless necessary for se-
curing the efficiency of the service. He thought it faulty,
however, in the present regulations, that there was no
power of modifying them in time of war, as was done in
the French and Sardinian armies, thus enabline the State
to enjoy the advantage of having officers of the h'gbest
grade at a comparatively early period of life. In the
navy it was possible for a man to attain the rank of post-
captain at the age of 2', whereas in the army, supposing
him to have entered at 18, he could not attaia the rank of
major under 24. He trusted the Government would con-
sider the propriety of shortening this term in time of war.
With regard to the Order of the Bath, he thought that
distinction ought not to be confined to field officers only,
but might with great advantage be extended to all grades
in the army. Merit and not rank ought to be the qualifi-
cation for an order of merit. The Duke of Wellington
wrote, in 1815, when the reconstruction of the Order of
the Bath was under consWeration, to the puke. of York,
stating that 'redid not concur in the limitation of the order
to field officers, and proposing
, for including captains and other officers, and the
Duke of York, in reply,
out his suggestions in
w rote certain
that modifications
he
e.
con-
curred in principle evith the Duke of Wellington,
making individual
consequence
wor
th e preventeddiffi eni
Lye carrying y
tions. He (Lord Elche) suggested also that the statutes of
the Victoria Orderof Merit shoal i he remodelled, mention_
ing that, according to them, Sir J. Inglis was not entitled
to the Victoria Cross, while a bombardier who threw a live
shell out of a parapet would receive it. TI e Bugg, sted that
these statutes should be remodelled after those of the
Order of St. George of Russia, which provided that every
officer should be inserted in the list who, when in the com-
mand of troops, and animating them by his own example,
capturing a ship, a battery, or any place held by the
enemy, or stood a siege without surrendering. He was
het
hweaosrPauerre
wt hoeujliciin
hi oor officersv
ery
a c 7,3;7.
anxious that the Secretary for W. ar should consider the
subject, and he hoped he would, if he thought it consistent
with discipline and the efficiency of the service, relax the
rule with regard to the Order of the Bath, and nstitute a
fourth bar, or extenl the third bar to all effacers.
much indebted to the noble lord for having advocated
able ; but, perhaps, as the Duke of Wellington had been
in power subsequently to 1815,
eFa.usSeA.IITN/To
deaolu4lbt
and done nothing in the
matter, that might, show that there were objections to it.
reiliaps, tee, IL truOt tr:::-.4.b hz:artburrirt-, ii It were ;Nell
their Sir

Gen. PEEL said, with regard to the motion of his hon.
friend behind him (Mr. MacartneY), he could assure him
that every one of the recommendations made by the Trea-
sury, as to taking the accounts in the War Department,
had been ordered to be carried into effect. With regard to
his remarks on the War Department generally, he might
have contented himself with assuring him that so far as in
him lay he would do his duty in connection with his office,
if his hon. friend had not referred to names of individuals
connected with that department before his time. Hie hon.
friend had alluded to Major Martin, paymaster at Wool-
wich, having risen from the ranks. Well, then, he (Gen.
Peel) said so much the more honour to him. There was no
extraordinary increase in the number of temporary clerks,
and there was this advantage, they could be reduced at
once. During the last two months the increase of letters,
compared with the corresponding amount of two months
last year, was 14.000, and of letters written 15.800. The
clerks were employed 14 hours a day. He could assure the
house that the War Department was ( ve..wcfeed. As to the
remarks of his noble friend (Lord Elcho) he thought the
house ought to take no part whatever in the control and
regulation of the army, which were far better left to the or-
dinary military authorities. Ho did not think the com-
parison of his noble friend between a brevet major and a
post-captain at all a suitable or appropriate one. As to
the Order of the Bath, to which his noble friend adverted,
he believed the Victoria Cross was intended as a substitute
for the Order of the Bath, because the statutes of the
latter did not allow of a greater number than 550. He
gave no opinion as to the Vioioria Cross Order, No one
knew better its effect than the hon. and gallant gentleman
opposite (General Codrington), who had addressed the
house. The consent of her Majesty had been obtained to
extend the Victoria Cross to such cases as that of the Sarah
Sands. It would be his pleasing duty to advise the ex-
tension of such rewards of valour as far as possible, for he
could assure the house that no man had the honour or wel-
fare of the array at heart more than he had. (Cheers.)
After a few words from Sir W. FRASER,
Sir D. NORREYS wished to ask the Chancellor of the
Exchequer whether, before final determination on the
scale to be adopted in future, he would cause inquiry to
be made, firstly, as to the expen e ; and, secondly, as to the
correctness of the system of reduction by photography now
practised by the Ordnance Department for forming the
6-inch and 1 inch maps?
Lord STANLEY was informed, upon the authority of
those who had the conduct of the survey, that the reduc-
tions were perfectly accurate, and that a saving of 650 per
cent, would be effected by the use of photography. Ho
believed that no further inquiry would be necessary.
With respect to the question of the gallant officer, he
could only pay that the services of General Inglis wore as
much appreciated by the Government as by the people of
this country.