The Sun.
London, England, 1818-04-25 00:00:00

OFFICERS WIDOW!.' PENMONS.

The Marquis of LANSDOWNF, Moved for a Copy
of the Regulation, dated.the 17th February,lBl-7,
limiting tie granting of Pensions to the 'Widows
of Military Officers to those cases only where they
ve. re not possessed of• an income of double the
111 no tit of the P,nsion. Ills Lordship stated
fly the origin of the Fund out of which those
Peitsot;s were granted, and obsetved, that the
pr, posed reeurition AVOtild operate uniastly, and
in many cases produce grtat hardship. The Pen-
sions in themselves were so small, beitag only upon
the scale of 120!. yrar to the Widow of a Gene-
ral Officer, 501. per annum to the widow of a
Captain, and 301. a year to the widow of an En-
sign, that they could scarcely be considered as
olij-ects for regulation ; the a hole amount of them
did not exceed 90,0001. per annum-, and, the sav-
ing that could !nide by the regulation must be'
ektrentely trifling, whilst the harthhip that'result-
frinn it most he in many instances very great.,
it was, in his opinion, going much too far, to say
that the widow of a General Officer, having an
income of little. more than 2001 per annum, or
the widow of a Captain having 1001. per annum,'
should be excluded from the enjoymrtit of that
Pension which had hitherto been Considered as a
right ; and when, as was actually the case in some.
instances, the huhband had sunk part of his in-
tirme in oifkr by -insurance
.10 •ohtain art annual
sum fo.r.his widow, after lets death, in additiOn to
the Pension which he had a right to calculate rise
would receive'. Since, how6-e'r; he had come into
the House, hehad heard nith•satisfaetion, that a
ni.ktlificatiOn of the Regulation wai in co-htertipla-
f"on,whklk would do away some of his objections.'
The -Eirl of LIV4SPoot referred to tie origin
of the Fluid, and to the different warrants regu-
lating the grants of thee Pensions, fur the
pUrpose of shelving that they had all reCognizt(l
the principle of not allowing the pension where
the party, applying for it had already a sufficient
income. The w,rding, lion ever, of these war-
rants in that respect, was, Ise ad-witted, vague and
indefinite. The practice of the Navy had been'
more precisely regulated, 'it having been long
ainte established that the widow of an Officer
sliOnitl not be entitled to a Pension it she possess-
ed-an income of double the amount. In the Army,
`on the contrary, front 'the principle not having.
been accurately defined, 'it had grown up to be
considered its a right that the Widow of an Offi-
cer should be entitled, under whatever circum-
st4nces,to a,pension.- it was very de3lrahle that
the Navy and Army, in this respect, should be
both -placed upon the -same footing ; and with .a
dice regard to that liberal feeling which ought 'in
such cases to prevail, it was in contemplation to
issue a new regulition, arranging for both ser-
vices, that the widows of Offieers should be en-
titled to the Pension, except incases where they
were already in posSession of all income of four
times its unionist. And smith regard to the regu-
lation respecting the widows, of Military Officers,
es the pension had been, from the practice re-
specting 'it, for some time considered as &matter
of right, and as .t,here were undoubtedly cases
where, from the insurances eff,!cted by the hus-
bands out of their incomes, their widows would
be-hardly dealt mTltll if they were refused the Pen-
sion, it was proposed that the regulation, with
regard to the widows of Military Qacers, should
not operate retrospectively, so as to affect those
who were married before tbe day of its date, but
only prospectively, upon those subsequently mar-
;ed. Thine new regt3ltlon3, would, ike trusted,
be satisfactory to both services.

The. Eat I of RossLYN reterred to the origin of
the practice of purchasing Commissions in the
Army, apart of the money arisit.g from- which
was, in the first instance, applied to the esta-
blishment of a Fund for granting Pensions to the
Widows of Officers ; anal he theretore cow-ended,
that there was in Some degree a difference, in this
respect, between the Army and the Navy ; the
Officer in the former having, by buying his Com-
mission, itt addi:ion to ti deduction of one day's
pay in the year, purchased a right to the Pension
for. his Widow. God forbid ! hoWever, that he
should attempt to set -tip any distinction between
the Army and the Navy, to the detriment of the
latter. He was merely anxinui that the question
should rest ►tpon its proper footing. With regard
to the ❑ew regulations mentioned by the Noble
Earl, he was disposed to confider them satisfac-
tory.

Lord Viscount EXMOUTH begged leave, in-the
name of the whole service with which he was con-
nected, to thank the Noble Earl'(Liverpool), and
the Ministers generally, tot the regulations now
proposed with regard to the Pensions to the Wi-
dows of Naval Officers, which, he was convinced,
would be quite satisfactory to the Navy.
After a short explanation from_ the Marquis of
LissnowNri; the motion was agreed to.
Adjourned till Monday.