The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-31 00:00:00

APRIL.

THE PURCHASE SYSTEM OF THE
BRITISH ARMY.

(From the Anglo -American Times.)

The purchase system of the British army is inex-
plicable to Americars, and a mystery to other na-
tions. The general idea is that her Majesty sells
commissions as a broker sells bales of cotton, and
that the Prince of Wales spends the. proceeds on
the turf and other extravagances. What thelimi-
tations are, people do not take the trouble to under-
stand, supposing when the. purchase and sale of
commissions are sanctioned they obey the atlinary
laws of commerce, and are knocked down- to the
highest bidder. As the subject is likely in this ses-
sion of Parliament to be fully debated, itsw,ill not
be out of place here to explain the All C of this
queStion; as the _discussion
__cannot be understood
s_ -
without stfcTiknowledge. .
In olden days, when the King required to raise a
force, he empowered gentlemen of influence in cer-
tain localities to organize regiments, aiding them
with a grant, and leaving in their hands the gift of
.officering the corps. Thus armed, they proceeded
to their counties and gathered around them young
men of lesser influence, to whom they entrusted
the raising of the different troops or companies,
with the understanding that when completed they
should have the command, the expense being thus,
subdivided, while the King became possessed of a
regiment at a trifling outlay to the exchequer, but
with some cost to the officers themselves. At that
time the: highest posts in England were openly
bought and sold, and if the Prime Minister paid
for his place, we cannot wonder that • a colo-
nel who raised a regiment, perhaps at consider-
able expense to himself, required to be reimbursed
his outlay before he surrendered the command. If
his right was recognized, that of the captain could
not be denied, nor of the lieutenant or ensign, each
of whom had brought in many men. So completely.
was the regiment considered the colonel's that it
bore his name, and it was some time before every
corps received its numerical designation. Even to
this day the companies of a battalion are known by
the name of, their caatains, and the colonel ap-
points the agents for his regiment, which he never
sees, indeed may never have seen in his life. This
is a remnant of an obsolete system, which, having
prevailed for centuries, does not appear so absurd
to officers as it does to the outside _ public. The
colonel of a battalion is a major-general, and his
duty in connection with the regiment is essentially
honorary. :The fixed number of general officers is
272, of Whom 150 are titular colonels of regiments,
selected by the Commander-in-Chief 'as v icancies
i fall due, when their pay rises from £455 a year to
I perhaps
.more than- £l,OOO, an unjustia tble dispa-
rity, the appointment being a sinecure. The
colonel then is not a regimental officer at all, and
as regards the regiment .is a mere myth, the chief
.of each battalion being regimentally a lieutenant-
; colonel, though by brevet he may hold the rank
of colonel ; its establishment consists, besides, of 2
majors, 12 captains, 15 lieuten nits, 10 ensigns, to-
gether with 4 regimental staff officers, two others of
that staff being included in the subaltern grades.
, A cavalry regiment, besides its titular colonel, his
a lieut.-colonel and major; Bcaptains, 9 lieutenants,
and 8 cornets, that is 3 officers to each troop, with,
a supernumerary lieutenant as adjutant. In the
Artillery, the Engineers, and the Marines purchase
never prevailed, nor in the regiments lately trans-
fsrred from the Indian service, neither cavalry nor
infantry. Our remarks therefore apply simply to
the hundred old regular regiments' of the line, and
the cavalry (excluding those added from India),
together with-the household troops, and the few
colonial Corps. The • first commission, that of
_cornet or ensign, costs' £450, promotion to the next
grade £250 more, and ,to captain an additional
£l,lOO, between which and major the difference is
£1,400, while the lieutenant-colonel is one hundred
less, being only £1,300, Making a total of £4,500
, up to that rank, beyond which: there is' no purchase.
IBefOre the Crimea, cavalry commissions were much
I
higher; fa cornet commencing at £B4O, paying £350
lextra for his lieutenancy, and £2,035 more for his
troop, the cavalry majority being appraised at a less
' diference than iu the infantry £1,350, while a sum
of £1,600 wss required for the lieutenant-colonelcy,
a:king-a total of £6,175. The highest post, both
in the Life Git trals and 11Orse Guar Isscost; £7,250,
,tvaill
although these regiments differ in the- subaltern
grades. Prior to 1856 a majority in the Foot
Guards was reached at £8,300, and a lientenant-
colonelcy. at X 9,000. But the purchase of these steps,
we presume, has been abolished. Now a captain in
the Gnards pays £4,800 for his commission; but that
cotrMission in the line equals a lieutenant-colonel's,
with whom the captain in tie Guards can exchange,
being paid handsomely to do so by those who pre-
fer commanding a company iu these favour d regi-
ments to commanding an.ordinary battalion, while
: the lieutenant ranks as captain and the. ensign as
lieutenant: The system requires the officers of the
• junior grades to return their names if they dssire to
purchase, informing the regimental agents, where
the money is lodged. If A, the senior of the
grade, declines, and B, the next, declines, C, being
the third, is taken, his money called for, and he i
duly gazetted, when A and B find their former
junior C at the foot of the next grade over them:
All officers promoted up to captains must be re-.
ported qualified,' after examination, and if C, als
though for purchase, were not so qualified, D, who
c,
.., Was, would pass over his head ; but it is necessary
to serve in the subaltern grades two years ere elig-
ible for promotion to captain, and six years for the
rank of major. A and B continue to be purchased
over until a death or other vacancy occurs, and the.
step is -given in the regiment without purchase, when
the seniors, being qualified, succeed. One of those
extraordinary anomalies of the British army grows
directly from the system. Tile prices are all fixed
by regulation, and the Mutiny Act decrees a severe
. punishment to any officer who shall offer or give
more, or any agent ,who shall negotiate such
I traffic. The Commissions are first put up sfOr
sale, and then the buyers and sellers are pro-
hibited • from buying of cl selling in their own
way. Of course such -a. law is only made to be
vbroken, for it has never yet been found practicable
to tie down by enactment the venders and. pur-
COURSING FIXTURES. I chasers of anything. A senior desires to retire ;if
JANUARY. i , he be a major the regulation price of his commission
t -
Border Union (Longtown) - .: 54 ecd. is £3,200, and he lets it be known that if that such
Kenilworth (Warwickshire) ' - £5,000 by tho-se who will sue-
Neptune Open (Lytham) Lancashire '
Coola (Cork), Ireland — 7pre. ceed to the vacancies, that he will do what is tech-
Annan, Dtiniftiesshire - 8,19. nicallysealled "send in. his
.papers,". Thefiret. cap-
Wigtownshire C1ub....,,.,,....,......... ' -
—'-'—t2r4tr,--"Trm lietitetant;'auiFetasignioi purchase get into
Ilitrd oouth Lancia:re 13, &c. ; , .
Altcar Club, Lancashire.. 13, &c. : consultation and apportion among them this dif-
Mere Down, Wilts' - _ : l4, &c. '
BAdciek Club, Herts
SpOtherrie Club (Ashdown Park) ' 2l, &c. an appeal is made to those who stand next. The
Bartntrongllkitiber,. Lincolnshire ' 25. second captain for purch'ase • May consider it worth
Ridgway Club.(ltyth a ni) Lancashire 27, &c.
Creagh Open, Ireland. .27 : his while to pay for becoming first; and the arrange-
• •
' PEBRUARY, i nisnt ' being completed the step is duly gazetted.
When wealthy" officers are willing to sacrifice money
for rank they enter liberally into such arrange-
ments, carrying them even a step further, for they
pay their,poorer brethien to withdraw their names
for purchase, and thus throwing gold into the oppo-
site scale rapidly ascend to the head of the regi-
ment. The outlay in the cavalry was enormous,
and in the infantry there were commandieg officers
who had paid for their commissions a sum which,
if put into the 1 hree per Cunt. Consols, would
have giVen them an iliterest much hig!,er
than their pay; While they were liable ,to
tropical' service:, and •if ' they . died, the capi-
tal thus liutik was -wholly lost to their, families.
This made the profession a "-screaming farce," and
a 'sciearning:farce it provSd ill the, branch wherein
the sYSCerii Was 'carried ;Mit -to the fullest event on
the fiery ordeal of war. When the Crimea became
a trying canipaign iu which these wealthy gentle.
men were subjected to hardship and inconvenience,
the cavalry collapsed. and the G.)vernment hawked
cornetcies about in vain. But a few years before it
was the pride of a rich parvenu to. get his son into a
cavalry regiment, and the young man's airs when
he put on his spursexeeeded ordinary bounds. But
paterfamilias, when heweht to thellorse Guards dur-
ing the Crimean war, had a cornelcy thrust in his face,
and was often teen running down the stairs With
he Military Secretary after • him flourishing a
commission of a cornet. Every effort was made on
-his discovery to . break up the, exifen,,ive cavalry
system, and the first Step was the reduction of - the
regulation price of commissions to a leyel with the

Bromley 1, 2
:Aldershot l, 2
est tur;Plr Prir]tr.- • , . ls
6 7
Streatham 8, 9

Newmarket Craven...l2; &c.
Eastbourne l9
........... 2Ct., l3j.
Croydon 22, 23
Newmarkt4t Ist Spring
26, &e:
AY.

Chester 4, 5, 6,7
Winchester ll, 12
York 11, 12
St. Albans
Salisbury l3, 14
Doncaster 13, 14

1 West Drayton l7, 18
I Bath 18, 19
IManchester l9, 20, 21
Croydon 20, 21
Harpenden 2l
1 Epsom Summer .....`25, &e.
NE.

Croydon,,,Sal 2,3, 4
Newton 2,3, 4
Ascot .....8, 9, 10, 11
Liverpool Summer ...15, 16
Windsor 15, 16
Hampton l7, 18

I
Newcastle 22, 23, 24
Oldham 22
liibury Club 23
Stockbridge 24, 25, 26 1
Chelmsford
Sutton Park
LY. _

Worcester l, 2
Newmarket Tuly 6, &c.
Kingsbury 9, 10
Pontefract 12, 13
Nottingham 13, 14

Reaaing 15, 16
Huntingdon 2O, 21
Southampton 22 23
Stamford ... 22. 23
Goodwood 27, 28, 29, 30

Brighton • 3, 4
Brighton Club 5
Lewes 6, 7
Eghtqn lO, 11
Wolverhanr pion lO, 11
Windsor 12, 13
St. Albans
Stockton lB, 19; 20

'UST.
Oxford
Canterbury ...... .... . 24, 25
York 24; 25, 26
Pl 3 mouth ~......26
Windsor August l2, 13
Derby Summer ...31, Sep. 1
I Weymouth 31, Sep. 1

- SEPTE
Warwick.., 7, 8 1
Abingdon • .9, 10 1
Doncast.r 14, 10! 16, 17 I
Richmond 21; 22 I
Lichfield

OCTOBER.

XlOO,

Powderharn
Everleigh glut), Wilts 2, 3.
Rufford Open, Lancashire t, 3.
Cardi-- .Bedr v. 3, &c.

_at awton • ,
Wenvoe o;tstlia- 3, 4-
Ludbam, Ntsrfolk 11; 12.
Brampton, Cumberland ' ll, 12.
Waterloo (Altcar), Latictuthire 17, etc.