The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

LONDON, SATU.RDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 19, 1857.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INV!: ,ALIGENCE.

The Argo steamship, Capt. Benson, left Ports-
mouth Harbour for Spithead yesterday morning
with 800 troops on board for India. They were
liiudly cheerect on passing out of harbour ; and on
reaching Sou t hsea-beach the North Lincoln Militia,
who were at the time under drill, rushed to the es-
planade and gave them a hearty farewell, which
was cordially re-echoed by those on board.
The Bth company of Royal Sappers and Miners,
under the command of Capt. W. F. Lambert, R.E.,
120 officers and men of all ranks, will leave Chat-
ham this morning and proceed to Southampton for
the purpose of embarking for China to join the other
companies of Royal Engineers who have preceded
them to that country. The Bth company will be
conveyed to Alexandria in the Peninsular and
Oriental Company's steamship Pera, and proceed
overland to Hongkong. The following officers of
the Royal Engineers will embark with the Bth com-
pany :—Lieuts. J. A. Papillon, E. H. Courtney,
R. M. F. Sandford, and Shearman Bird.
Col. W. H. Edtia, in command of the troops at
Chatham garrison, has received orders to hold in
readiness reinforcements for the Bth, 29th, 43d
(Light Infantry), 70th, 75th, and 84th regiments,
who are to embark for India at an early date. A
number of officers will be selected from each of the
corps named to embark with the reinforcements.
The Argus, 6, paddlewheel steam sloop, has been
docked at Chatham for the purpose of undergoing
some extensive repairs, which will necessitate her
remaining in dock until Feb. next. _ _

The Victor Emanuel, 91, screw line-of-battle-
ship, was removed from dock yesterday into the
steam basin, Portsmouth, preparatory to trial of
her engines.
The experiments announced to come off yester-
day morning in Woolwich-marsh, with a view of
testing the capabilities of the 36-inch mortar, de-
signed by Lord Palmerston, were partially carried
out. The first shot was not fired until noon. The
external injuries sustained on the former occasion
having been repaired the mortar again presented
an appearance of solidity, and was more firmly
secured by extra lashings, and the divisions more
firmly bolted. The peculiar mode in which the bar-
rel is constructed, it being composed of hoops of
wrought iron,9 in. broad, and 3-1- in. thick, laid over
each other, has been shown in each of the experi-
ments to be: extremely defective. Ou examination,
after the 6th discharge, the segment nearest the
chamber wherein the charge was contained, was
found to he burst asunder. The damage extended
to the exterior ring alone. The experiment there-
fore closed as soon as the accident was discovered.
Each charge of powder employed on this occasion
consisted of 401 b., which was contained in 8 bags
of 51b. respectively. It had been arranged by the
select committee to fire nine rounds in equal charges,
without variation or progressive increase, as at the
first trial. The bags of powder were also embedded
as formerly in a layer of sawdust, in order to fill in
the superfluous space, and counteract the effect of
the shock on the metal. The elevation of the weapon
was at 42 deg., aid it was stationary, so that the
shells were all projeetedin the same direction; never-
theless, the range varied at each shot, the average
distance being about 1,500 yards, the flight over
that range occupying 17 sec ends. A 13-inch shell
was likewise fired immediately before the discharge
of the heavy mortar, as a kind of precursor, and to
contrast the velocity and flight of the two missiles.
Tue undermentioned Paymasters have retired with
the rank of Paymasters-in-Chief :—Mr. William Soady,
Mr. William Bowden, Mr. Thomas W. Parker, Mr.
Walter Burke, and Mr. Henry South.

THE MILITIA.
The Leicester Militia arrived at Portsmouth yes-
terday by railway, and embarked on board her
Majesty's steam troop-frigate Vulcan, Commander
John Sec combe, for Queenstown.

ARMY PURCHASE COMMISSION.

REPORT OF THE RIGHT HON. EDWARD ELLICE,
M.P., LIEUT.-GEN. EDWARD BUCKLEY WYN-
YARD, C. 8., AND MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HENRY
JOHN BENTINCK, K.C.B.
We have given the fullest consideration to the
report made to your Majesty by the other members
of the commission which your Majesty has appointed
to inquire into and report their opinions on
the presentsystem of purchase in the arusy. Agree-
ing generally in the report, we regret that our sense
of duty prevents our concurring iu the partial
change recommended in regimental promotion—
that the rank of lieutenant-colonel should in future
be filled by selection.
All the witnesses examined upon the commission
concur in opinion, which opinion is confirmed by
the most distinguished foreign officers who have
lately served in the field with your Majesty's forces,
that a British regiment, as at present organised, is
equal, if not superior, to any similar corps in the
world. We are of opinion that every improvement
should be adopted, every exertion made, still fur-
ther to promote this discipline and efficiency, and
to maintain the superiority of our regimental force.
We also fully admit the abstract objections to pur-
chase. We should not be prepared to advise the
introduction of the principle if we did not find it
already established and interwoven with our whole.
regimental system. But we have in vain endea-
voured to elicit from the witnesses, most loud in
their condemnation of the system, any other scheme
of regimental organisation which would secure for
your Majesty's service abetter or so good a class of
officers, accelerate promotion, so as to bring regi-
mental officers at an active period of their lives
into the higher ranks of the army, provide indem-
nity for the officers who have purchased their com-
missions, and at the same time obviate the evils
CO lb pl
a.ined of in the existing system. Our col-
leagues so far agree with us that they have been
unable to recommend more than a very limited
modification in the system of purchase.
There is no recommendation in tho reports in
which we agree more cordially than in the necessity
of adopting an amended system of education and
examination, both as respects officers entering the
army and at a subsequent period of their service.
Wo think it essential also, that every security
should be taken against, the irregular promotion of
officers of inexperience by undue influence, or by
the joint operation of exchange and purchase,
which has been the subject of complaint iu former
times. These complaint
would have been the
same whether purchase had existed or not, nor do
education and proficiency in military knowledge
affect the question. Under a vigilant and honest
administration of their duties by the military
authorities, the same proficiency in this respect
would be required on the promotion of an officer,
whether by or without purchase.
Our hesitation in agreeing to this partial change
in the system of regimental promotion arises from
the following considerations :
In the first place, the making the rank of lieu-
tenant-colonel the exception to the general rule of
purchase in the regiment would remove none of
the general objections urged to the principle. The
objections to "buying and selling places of emolu-
ment "—" vicious in principle, and repugnant to
the public sentiment of the present day ; ' " the
demand of a sum of money from a young man en-
tering the service," his whole means being in-
vested in his commission," "his promotion being
dependent on his purse : the effect of purchase in
discouraging exertion, in depressing merit," and
the habit of extravagance which the introduc-
tion of young men of wealth is supposed to en-
courage ; if these objections, so much insisted upon
by one class of witnesses, and so counterbalanced
by the advantages of the system in the opinion of
others, are really destructive to the efficiency and
character of the army, neither remedy nor mitiga-
tion would be found for them in the mere selection
of lieutenant-colonels. It would appear more
reasonable, with a view to arrest those evils, to
begin with the abolition of purchase for the first
instead of the last step in regimental promotion.
All these objections have been considered by the
Duke of Wellington and the other high military
authorities in the commission of 1840, who, not-
withstanding, concurred unanimously in recom-
mending the maintenance of purchase.
Since the report of that commission, the Indian
Government, in consequence of stagnation in pro-
motion in their service, have confirmed and
sanctioned a practice, which has gradually been
growing up, for the fficers in a regiment to con-
tribute to a purse for the purchase of the higher
ranks in their corps. We understand that a similar
practice, from the same reason, is creeping into some
of the continental armies. We believe that it
sn in t the
es e
as
would be very difficult, if selection for promotion
purchase
eion is
of
to the commands of regiments were adopted while
generallyinon e
y to
r ectraeianteed , v
at oo a
npori
ceve
where officers had means of information
as to their
chance of succeeding to them.
It appears to us that if the. principle is to be
nriintained at all, it is equally essential it should
he maintained in the higher
as in the lower regi-
mental ranks. If is •
no tope given to the junior
officers of succeeding in their turn to the command,

the ties which bind them to the regiment and their
co:erades may be seriously impaired, and the
greate-t incitement to professional exertions taken
away. An officer eutet's the service, whether by
purchase or not, on the condition and with the full
keowledge of the regulations eoncerniug promotion,
and can have no cause of complaint, if the officer
prepared to purchase, and considered qualified by
the authorities at the Horse Guards, succeeds to his
promotion, according to these regulations. But a
very different feeling would be occasioned if an
officer selected during peace, not for distinguished
conduct in the field, or from any acknowledged
superiority, was placed over the heads of his com-
rades. His promotion would naturally be ascribed
to favouritism or influence. This might take place
in a regiment, stationed in some distant and un-
healthy colony where it would be considered a still
greater act of injustice from the other officers having
had to incur the danger of a long and irksome service
while the selected lieutenant-colonelhad been gaining
his promotion by easy service in some comfortable
siaff appointment at home. So strong would be
this feeling, in the opinion of his Royal Highness,
that he could not undertake to contend with it.
H. R. Highness can conceive no possible standard
on which the army would be sat'siied with selec-
tions of lieutenant-colonels, and is convinced that
the attempt would end in promotion to that step,
which it is so important officers in the prime of life
should be brought forward to .fill, being wholly
governed by seniority. Lord Grey, the only other
witness examined on this point, was of the same
opinion. . . . _ _

If the object of the proposed change is to secure
greater care in the appointment of officers to com-
maud regiments, an object zln ,which we concur,
that may be accomplished by a firm exercise of the
undoubted duty of the Commander-in-Chief, to in-
terpose his veto to the advancement of officers by
purchase whom he believes, or may be advised, are
incompetent to the charge of the higher rank. His
Royal Highness states that a more stringent use of
his authority in this respect would be much felici-
tated by the support of public opinion, which we
are satisfied will not be withheld from it. This
check on the appointment of lieutenant-colonels,
if exercised with caution and discretion, would be
much aided by the option of retirement on sale
being reserved to the officer, and would in our
opinion be as great a security against the appoint-
ment of inefficient men to command regiments as
the proposed means of selection.
It is true that this power has always existed, and
that the exercise of it has hitherto been unusual,
but on some occasions it, has been resorted to, and
the army would be satisfied with its more frequent
application, although it might be considered a hard-
ship by individuals whose promotion was stopped
by it. _ _

We do not enter upon financial considerations
and arrangements which must be the consequence
of the proposed alteration. it could not be adopted
without the fullest indemnity to field officers for the
money they have paid for their commissions, nor
without some new arrangements for the emoluments
and retirement of general officers, who bad been
selected without purchase for the rank of lieutenant-
colonel, and who would no longer have a claim to
the present scale of emoluments, after having re-
ceived compensation for their commissions. It
would be furth.. r expedient to provide otj er in-
ducements to old officers to retire, if the privilege
of the sale of their commissions, atter 20 years ser-
vice, whether they had purchlised them or not, was
taken from them. These inducements would be
still more necessary if the attempt to select lieu-
tenant-colonels shoulh end, as his Royal Highness
and Lord Grey are of opinion, in promotion to that
rank being wholly by seniority.
It is said the selection of commanding officers in
the service of the East India Company has suc-
ceeded so well that the same practice may be in-
troduced with advantage into the regular army.
That selection, however, only takes place after the
officer has arrived, by seniority, or frequently by
put chase, to the rank of lieutenant colonel. A re-
ference to the age of the,e officers will at once show
that the adoption of their system would in no re-
spect benefit your Majesty's service. These reasons
make us entertain serious doubts of the expediency
of any partial change in regimental promotion.
We shrink from the responsibility of throwing out
mere suggestions, which may disturb without
amending the present system, be unsatisfactory to
the army, and paralyse, during the suspense they
may lead to, the current of promotion which it
must be the great object to encourage. Greater
stringency in examinations as to professional edu-
cation and attainments will be an adequate secu-
rity against abuse of purchase. We are. not of
opinion, however, that the principle of competitive
examination should be adopted, which can afford
little proof of the moral and physical qualities
essential in military life.
We agree with the other members of the commis-
sion, that the commands of regiments should be
held for a certain fixed time, as is now the case with
staff appointments. Such a change would give
great impetus to promotion, and be accompanied
with other advantages which it is unnecessary to de-
tail. Bu t even this alteration must be cautiously con-
sidered with reference to officers who may be still fit
for active service, and who would be reduced, with-
out some further arrangement to half-pay. A selec-
tion from this class of otlic..q.s who would have gained
great experience in the command of their regiments,
if otherwise qualified, to
higher appointments on
the staff, would appear expedient. When not so
selected, it would be necessary to makesome allow-
ance adequate to the difference of pay till they
attain the rank of ma•
or-general. Tae option of
leaving the service, J
retaining their nominal, or
even a superior rank, or some payment of money
equivalent to the value of their commissions, might
be an inducement to officers to retire who had little
hope, from their age, of arriving at the higher ranks
and emoluments of the
however, be borne cheerfully this description must entail • expense, which will,
contribute to the efficiency of the army.
ca ni
fg
they
hs
eoyf
We think it right to advert, with reference to the
proposed change, to the comparisons that have been
profusion. All
Aplulbelhi
made between the promotion of the army and navy,
and between our own regimental system and that
of other countries.
All promotion in the navy is in the service gene-

No analogy exists between the organisation
of a ship and that of a regiment. The ship is com-
missioned, the officers and crew appointed for a
certain period, when the crew are paid off, and the
officers reduced to half pay,
till their services are
again required. Selection is less difficult in time of
peace, when opportunities always occur for the dis-
play of peculiar qualities, and personal skill and
conduct, which distinguish the character of a supe-
rior officer.
A regiment, on the other hand, is a permanent
depending for its body,excellence on the general
fellowship of a permanent set of officers—on their
general relations with the non-commissioned offi-
cers and men under their command—a high esprit
de corps—and the preservation of old associations
and recollections counected with its history and
achievements. The officers during
opportunities of distinction, and peace have few
are often, from
the nature of the duties imposed on the English
army, removed irksome employment
fromtheseeneofonsetthivee mostsery
ieeand
distinction. It
would be hard if, on that account, they should be
deprived of their chance of promotion after having
entered the service on the faith of existing regu-
lations.
mental organisation
in It
the is
of foreign armies. Of course the relative state of
society in different countries
_-the
armyd thatis
in the
no respect
--the difference be-
tween voluntary and compulsory service—must be
taken into consideration in attempting to form any
connection between their military inbtitutions. In
this free country it is essential to the maintenance
and popularity of a permanent military force that
the independence of our officers should be upheld
and respected. The authorities in charge of our
military administration are called ‘e upon to justify
their advice with respect to appointments by selec-
tion, and frequently have to explain and defend
them against the suggestions of partiality and pre-
judice. Our army is suddenly increased on any
emergency of war, and as suddenly reduced on the
return of peace. A system of half-pay and other
arrangements necessary to meet the incidents of
this changing •condition become necessary, which
exist in no other country. On the whole, our regi-
mental officers are younger than those in other ser-
vices, especially in the French. If selection, much
more easy when troops are acting together in large
bodies, and more or less engaged in actual war, or
preparation for war, brings forward occasionally
younger officers to the higher ranks, seniority tends
to stagnation in the lower ones.
The commission of 1854 has already recom-
mended to your Majesty the selection of officers for
higher rank on the staff, from officers having at-
tained the rank of colonel, after three years' ser-
vice, in the command 'of regiments. The junior
ranks of the staff are equally filled by selection.
We entertain a strong conviction that if selection or
the staff is judiciously exercised, and the general

regulations strictly adhered to, that no officer shall
be permitted to remain on the staff beyond the
limited term of five years, that the complaints of
which so much has been heard lately, of the in-
efficiency of our military system, will receive their
best and most satisfactory answer. The principal
complaint has been, not of the regiments, but
of the manner in which they have been
directed, provided for, and handled by the
staff, on service and in campaign. Purchase
cannot have given grounds for that complaint,
for purchase has only influenced regimental, and
never staff, appointments or promotion. Whether
the adoption of other reforms and ameliorations,
admitted on all hands to be necessary in our mili-
tary system, may in the end place the army on the
efficient and satisfactory footing expected by the
country, or whether it may still be nessary, at some
future time, again to raise the question that has
been submitted to our examination, we do not pre-
tend to anticipate. If the abolition of purchase
shall ultimately be determined upon, we are certain
that the arrangements to be substituted for it will
be best left in the hands of the executive Govern-
ment, unfettered by the suggestions or recommen-
dation of partial changes of doubtful expediency
and of difficult accomplishment. We submit these
reasons humbly, and with great deference, to your
Majesty, for differing in opinion with our colleagues
in the commission as to the expediency of recom-
mending this alteration in our regimental system,
which, we fear, might only produce discontent
throughout the army, lead to uncertainty and hesi-
tation in existing arrangements, and produce no
adequate benefit to your Majesty's service.

EDWARD ELLICE.
EDWARD Bucauxr WYNYABD, -Generak-
H.
BENrINeK, Major-General.
August 3, 1857.

P ,ao, STAMPED 5 r .]

obtain at least one-half of the number of marks allotted
to them. The following subjects can be taken up or not
at the: option of the candidate ; but one-third of the
marks as,igned to each must be gained, in artier that it
may he allosed to count in determining the candidate's
place on the list, viz. :

German
Hindostanee

Marks.
300
300

Natural philosophy, chemistry, and geology, as ap-
plied to military seieuao 3OO
(13). Any officer, with the sanction of the Gene-
ral Commanding-in-Chief, compete at the annual
final examination without previously passing through
the college. And, further, any officer who desires to
enter the college for one year only, will be permitted, if
there be a vacancy, to present himself at the first annual
examination of the junior division of students (who will
then have completed their first year), and, if qualified,
may join the college accordingly. In each case the
qualifications noted in paragraph 3 (above) will be re-
quired
(14) After the final examination, the Council of Mili-
tary Education will draw up, and submit for the consi-
detation of the General Commanding-in-Chief, a list of
the successful candidates, arranged in three classes ac-
cording to merit, with a special report of those who
particularly distinguish themselves, whose names will
also be mentioned by the council ia its annual report.
(15). The first annual college examination, under the
system above described, will be held in December,
1858.
(16). Officers who Phan have passed their final exami-
nations at the Staff College will be attached to each of
the arms successively in which they have not previously
served. They will be required to attend drills, parade,
and field days, and they will avail themselves ofi every
practicable means of making themselves generally
acqua'nted with the discipline, interior economy, field
movements, and duties .of those arms- -
Cotlicatirs to this effect will be forma:mica to the
adjutant-general—in the case of officers attached to the
artillery, by the inspector of drills at Woolwich ; and in
the case of officers attached to regiments of cavalry and
infantry, by the officers commanding such corps.
It is presumed that a period of six months with each
arm will be the utmost that will be required in this re-

spect. •
(17). The order of the 9th of April, 1857, relative to
the qualifications of officers for staff appointments, will
c uatlaue in force until the Ist of January, 1850, when
the system which has been above detailed will have fully
come into operation ; and the examinations referred to
in that order will be conducted
_under the direction of
the Council of Military Education.
" Officers, however, who have attained the rank of
lieutenant-colonel will he exempted from the operation
of that order.
•` Alter the Ist of January, 1850, no officer will be
appointed to the staff who 914.11 not have gone through
the Staff College, or passed the final examination of that
college (paragraph 13), with exception of those who shalt
have attained, at that date, the rank oflieutenant-colon-1,
and in every case excepting officers of proved ability in
the field.
" (18). Although the course of mathematics at tl
college has been limited to that amount of knowledge
which is considered essential to complete the education
of the staff officer, it is probable that many officers may
desire to pursue their mathematical studies to a much
higher point, and any candidates, therefore, who shall
have proved their fitness for employment in the ord
mance survey or in the topographical department, by
superior progress in the science of geodesy, as will as of
topography, will be named in the annual report of the
Council of Military Education to the Secretary of State
for War, as deserving employment in those services.
" By order of his Royal Highness the General
Commanding in Chief.
" G. A. WETHERALL, Adjutant-General."