The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-15 00:00:00

by the_ Queen's officer,, but also by the huge '
" absentee staff" connected with the Indian service.
The wholesale grants of brevet rank to absentee
staff officers (backed by staff pay) have turned the
Indian seniority service into a mere mockery. The
line officer-whose promotion is ruined, and whose
military career is destroyed by staff absenteeism,
is openly and habitually superseded by staff officers
of subordinate regimental rank, officers who in num-
ber literally vie with their regimental brethren.
Many, appear to confound the regimental and
staff services together, apparently forgetful that the
vast majority of officers must ever remain with their
regiments, and must be ever dependent on their
regimental prospects. A glance at the Army Lists
will prove that many officers who have passed the
highest examinations never obtain staff through-
out their Indian career ; while the vast majority of
staff officers are therein shown to have merely
passed the inferior and almost nominal examination
called the P. H., s, labour of at most three months,
The staff, as a gradation service, must be obtained
early in life, and the examinations being " non-cora-
petive," and in many cases almost nominal, "inte-
rest" necessarily carries the day.
Those who point to our Nichols ons, Chamberlains,
&c., forget that these celebrated men, who were
originally nominated to the staff as young ensigns,
are representatives not of the " line," but of a
favoured body of some 700 staff absentees, mostly
selected from the Bengal army whilst still in the
junior ranks of the service. The qualifying exa-
mination, called the P.H., being quite a recent re-
gulation, the vast majority of these officers were
therefore selected before they could possibly have
given any proofs of peculiar merit. On the con-
trary, the Army Lists prove that when Lord Dal-
housie's order respecting the qualification for staff
was first issued, nearly 300 out of the 550 staff
absentees had not passed any examination in the
languages which required the opening of a•book.
(See Army Lists of that period.)
Young staff officers thus selected are granted opor-
tunities which are wholly denied to their regimental
brethren, whose career is separate and distinct.
The Indian civilian of 14 years' standing is com-
monly in receipt of company's rupees 2,250 per
mensem, besides allowances for marching.
The regimental officer of 14 years' standing is a
lieutenant of rupees 250 per mensem, and has no
, allowance -for marching. - -
Lord Ellenborough declares that luxury is un-
known in India, and is opposed to a reduction in

the salary of the civilian.
Yet the military man, eternally on the move,
existing on " one-tenth" the civil scale of pay: and
therefore exposed to debt and difficulties, is pointed
out as an example of the ruinous effects of luxury
and extravagance.—l am, &c.,
A REGIMENTAL OFFICER OF 8.N.1.

COL NORTH, M.P., ON MR. BRIGHT
AND MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

BANBURY, TUESDAY.
The annual meeting of the Banbury Agricultural
Society was held this day. In the afternoon the
members dined in the market-room of the Red
Lion Hotel. Colonel North, • M.P., occupied the
chair, and there were also present Sir C. Douglas,
M.P., the Rev. H. Holbeach, the Mayor of Ban-
bury, Mr. H. Norris, Lieut. Brickwell, &c.
The usual loyal toasts having been given,
The CHAIRMAN proposed " The Army and
Navy." He said. he was satisfied from what he
knew of the good qualities of the army--their gal-
lantry in the field, their admirable conduct in quar-
ters, their love of their Sovereign, ands their devo-
tion to the country, that they were worthy of the
estimation in which they were held. Speaking,
as he did, in a county which furnished so many
men to the military service of the country, he
trusted that they would allow him to refer briefly
to a speech in reference to the army, recently de-
livered by Mr. Bright at Huddersfield. (Cheers,)
The greater portion of the speech in question was
purely political ; but there were some passages in
it in reference to the management and discipline
of the army which ought not to be allowed
to pass by without notice. If at any other
time the remarks of Mr. Bright would admit of pal-
liation, they were most unfair and improper at
a moment when, from day to day, it was impossible
to say whether every man in England might not be
called upon to stand forward in the defence of the
country. (Hear, hear.) With regard to Mr. Bright
himself, he would simply repeat an observation
which he heard Mr. Roebuck make in the House of
Commons—viz., that although Mr. Bright, when
upon his own dunghill at Birmingham, roared like
a lion, when in the House of Commons he was mild
and gentle as a sucking dove. (Laughter and
cheers.) Mr. Bright, in his speech at Huddersfield;
began. by saying, "I am very thankful that I am
not able to speak to you on this question of the
armv.vath. the authority on minute matters of a
military man, but I can tell you this, that over the
£12,000,000 that are expended by the Horse Guards,
Parliament has almoSt no control whatever, after it

has voted the main sum." Unfortunately, every.
thing that was found fault with in reference to the
administration of the military department was im-
mediately saddled upon the Horse Guards. Per-
haps they would like him to describe what the Horse
Guards really was. The Horse Guards consisted
of the Commander-in-Chief, the adjutant-general,
and one quartermaster-general. The duty de-
volving upon the Commander-in-Chief was the
superintendence of the whole army ; the duties of
the adjutant-general were confined to the discipline
of the army ; while the quartermaster-general re-
gulated the movement of troops and supplied camps
and barracks, but neither of those officers had the
power of spending one single sixpence of the
£12,000,000 referred to by Mr. Bright. (Cheers.)
Indeed, upon one occasion his Royal Highness the
Duke of Cambridge himself stated that he had over
and over again recommended certain improvements
in the barracks as calculated to ensure the health
of the troops, but he was utterly unable to carry
out his recommendations, because the money neces-
sary to enable him to carry them out was refused.
(Hear, hear.) Now, he (Col. North) could not con-
ceive what good object could be gained by continual
attacks upon the Horse Guards, and though he
would be the last person to deny any man the right
of canvassing the acts of public officers, he thought
that any person who did .so, especially if he hap-
pened to be a member of Parliament, possessing
ample opportunities of gaining accurate informa-
tion, should at any ratestate both sides of the ques-
tion with
.impartiality and fairness. No man knew
better than Mr. Brignt that the Comniander-in-
Chief and the Horse Guards had no power over the
12 millions which he accused them of expending.
The sole person who had authority over the money
was the Secretary of State for War. (Hear.) It so
happened
,that the last Secretary for War was a
soldier, but, generally speaking, he was a man who
knew nothing of a soldier's duties, and could not
tell whether a soldier wore his pouch.over the right
shoulder or the left. (Hear.) Of course that remark
would not apply in the case of Mr. Sidney Her-
bert, as that right hon. gentlemen had brought for-
ward many measures which had proved most ad-
vantageous to the service; but, generally speaking,
the Secretary for War was a civilian, and had alone
the control of the 12 millions of money referred to
by Mr. Bright. (Hear.) The hon. member for Bir-
mingham, in his speech at Huddersfield, went on
to say, " The Horse Guards is a department almost
separated from Parliament, and uncontrolled by
it; and it is the universal opinion, confirmed by
every fact that comes to my knowledge, that the
Horse Guards management of that £12,000,000 and.
of the vast forces uner its direction, is a manage-
ment where interest asd jobbery reign supreme,
and where the interest of the nation at large and
fair dealing to all applicants for preferment are
very little considered." Now, with regard to
the control of the army, the direction of
the forces devolved upon the Duke of Cam-
bridge; and he believed that very few
men held the opinion of his Royal Highness which
Mr. Bright appeared to entertain. (Cheers.)
There was not a man in the country who had more
at heart the interest of tte service, or who vias
more thoroughly acquainted with the duties of a
soldier from those of the Commander-in-Chief clown
to those of a lance corporal, and he (Col. North) be-
lieved that there was not a man in England, except
Mr. Bright, "who would presume to say that the
management of his Royal Highness was a manage-
ment, " where interest and jobbery reign supreme,
and where the interest of the nation at large and
lair dealing to all applicants for preferment are
very little considered." If ever any man had de-
voted his whole energies to the improvement of the
con-..ition of the army it was his ROyal Highness
the Duke of Cam)ridge, and it was most - un-
fair that such an attack should have been made
upon hint by Mr. Bright. (Hear," hear, and cheers.)
'II), lion. nietnber for Birmingham went on to say
In a free country like this I wonder that cer-
tain things are permitted which now exist. I have
been engaged for the last two months in procuring
the discharge of a soldier, if I may call him so, for
he is not a man, nor indeed a young man, but a
boar, wlio'was only 14 years and a,imontli or-two
when he was entrapped by the recruiting sergeant.
It has taken the father of that boy, I believe, since
April or May to procure his discharge, end it ha
only been obtained at length on account of the ur-
gent remonstrances that I made ; for memorial
after memorial has gone to the Horse Guards, and
to his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge,
which memorials have been replied to in the usual
fashion, nearly meaning this—' We have got your
son our.barracks ;he has taken the oath; he has
taken the shilling; and, be he man or boy, we will
keep him there!' Mothers, for there are mothers
among you, think of a boy, 14 years of age, being