The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-18 00:00:00

The Purchase System in the Army.

Sir Charles Trevelyan has published a second edi-
tion of his pamphlet on the purchase system, with
the following new preface :-- "As the commissioned
ranks of the army are based upon purchase, the non-
commissioned and private ranks depend upon a sys-
tem of recruiting calculated to attract scamps and
repel respectable men, and upon flogging, which was
re-enacted in 1859, for the special purpose of keep-
ing together an army so recruited. Flogging has just
been abolished as a punishment applicable to deser-
lion; a,,,a recruiting laysatern i Praire-Y opposed
to the morality of this
survive, now that public
attention generation that
has ibt
been
nn n
directedtlon g
to it. There is therefore hope for the future. Old
things are passing away, and the
con-
formed to the actual state of society. army
Lord
beGrey
showed a just appreciation of the u bject when he
said, many years ago, that he hoped to live to see the
day when the most serious punishment that could
be inflicted on a soldier would be that he should be
dismissed the service. This is
th
self-supporting healthy state ofaeytorluune
voluntary
yt
army.
When this point is reached our difficulties will be at
an end, for the 10 per cent. who are the sole cause ofe
weakness, waste, and discredit, will give place to
a k
proportion
w tfein from the respectable and educated
i
classes, and the British army will become a profes-
sion for every part of the British community. When
I made the statement relating to the great extension
which has been
given to the purchase system since
the Russian war, through the medium of the military
reserve fund, I was not aware that a discussion had
1 taken place on the subject in the House of Com-
mons, in which General Peel exposed the genuine
i3rought them to an character of these transactions with a lucidity and
force have
im-
mediatewhicclhosoeugh
close.
All t l
ta
on the occasion will
be found in the appendix to this edition. If the
proposals I have submitted for consideration were to
be adopted, the current of promotion would flow
with a certainty and steadiness, as well as with an
equal application to all officers, according to their
services and qualifications, which are totally want-
ing in the present system. The
different sources
!of promotion would be :—lnvaliding on half-pay
previously to 20 years' service. 2. Invaliding
on full pay after 20 years' service. 3. Compul-
sory full pay retirement to the maximum age
to be fixed for each rank. 4. Voluntary full-
pay retirement after 30 years' service. 5. Volun-
tary retirement, without pension, previously to 30
years' service. 6. Death vacancies. 7. Military
and Administrative Staff Corps, Depot Battalions,
Staff Officers of Pensioners, Army of Reserve, and
Militia. Whatever form the militia and army of
reserve may ultimately take, they must be officered
to a great extent from the regular army, whereby
a wide field of employment will be opened to officers
and non-commissioned officers who are incapacitated
for foreign service, by health or family circum-
. stances, and the vacancies thus created in the regu-
lar army will be filled by promotion. There is no
purchase in the French army ; but the limit ',of age
works well, and many of our colonels see their
juniors in the French service made generals, al-
though they cannot themselves hope to be promoted
for several years. Owing to the habit which pre-
vails among our wealthy families of serving in the
army for short periods, to the greater liberality of
our retired allowances, and the much larger pro-
portion of collateral appointments open to our
officers, the British army will, when its regulations
have been properly adjusted to this object, have an
amount of promotion very superior to any which the
French army can offer."

LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET.

This Day.

Market opens quiet. Sales probably 6,000 or
7,000 bales.

A curious difficulty arose on Monday, in the Court
of Common Pleas, where Lord Chief Justice Bovill and
Justices Keating, Byles, and Smith were sitting in banco
to hear appeals. One Moffatt had sent a mare by the railway,
which was strangled during her transit in a horse box. He
brought an action against the company on the ground that
the mare had been improperly secured in the box, and re-
covered damages. Against this verdict the Great Western
Railway Company appealed. As Mr. Justice Keating had
tried the case, he felt bound to withdraw from the Bench,
as did the Lord Chief Justice and Justices Byles and Smitb,
who were all three shareholders in the railway. It became
necessary, therefore, to defer arguing the case until Mr.
Justice Winos could sit with Mr. Justice Keating to hear it.