The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-23 00:00:00

joft.NALsl

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The incessant increase ofsilie half-pay estal
lishment, in both branches of the public servic
has long been a subject of anxiety to the ,riatis
—of anxiety not unmixed with wonder to .tho' e
who have yet to be initiated in the ways acid
means through which patronage is wrested fropi
the Minister, and applied to the, selfish ends bf
his parliamentary and other supporters. We go.
not 'admit ' the reasonableness of instituting ;:t
comparison between the amount of halfspay in
1792 and in 1827; with a view to attach cei-
sure to the Government in the exact proportiein
in which the latter period exhibits an exces
above the former. A war more than double the
diiration.of that which had preceded the peace Of
1783, and infinitely more extensive in the scale
of operation, has called for naval as well as Mi-
litary' establishments, unexampled in their mag-
nitude since the year 1792. The dismissal of
officers after .the,cessation of hostilities in 1815,
entailed, we are quite ready to acknowledge, an
unprecedented burden in the shape of half-pay
npon the country. It is not, therefore, the ex-
cess of half-pay at present over its amount in
1792 that surprises, and, we may justly add, cif:
fends the people of England ; but it is Ale al-
most incredible fact that, as compared with the
dead weight fund of ten' years ago, there can be
traced no sensible diminution of a tax, which, be-
ing on the face of, it a_ mere mass of annuities,
payable to men, a great number of whom were
much advanced 'in life, and a majority of theM
suffering under broken constitutions, ought, ac-
cording to the nature of things, under a system
of management founded on common prudence to
have experienced a considerable yearly falling off:.
and,' after so long a period as 12 years from its
commencement, to have been reduced by at least
one-third. It is not necessary, nor would it be
candid to affirm, that the half-pay fund, more
especially of the army, could be reasoned upon
with as
.much precision as an equal amount of
annuities payable to individuals in civil life, none
of whom are liable to changes growing out of
their continued partnership with a profession in
which their active services have been only sus-
pended, but may at any period be resumed. A
sertsin interchange of members between the
whole and half-pay establishments of the British(
service must, it is evident, be allowed for to a
considerable, and what is worse, to an undefined
.extent ; but it is the business. of a wise and up-
right administration of both establishments, to
take care that the conditions which govern the
interchange -shall be framed with a view to as
strict and close frugality as may be consistent
with the effective character of the- service into
which they are thus incorporated. By some of
the practices which Owed their introduction to
the late Duke of York, and which we are ready
to confess were contemplated by his Royal High-
sess as extremely advantageous to the army, a
large proportion of young lives have been sub-
stittste,d for old ones throughout the entire half-
pay list. Old half-pay officers were permitted to
sell the;r annuity at the price of the full pay
it ;and were, in this
rank with whichtheY held
manner, enabled to realize for their families the
price of their full-pay :°filinissiym• , The pur-
chahers were invariably office."-' holding the full-
pay rank next to that of the venderl—as) f°,l*in-
stance,
put in-
stance, a full-pay Captain was the '"el
, •
where he who, sold was .a half-pay, Lieutenant-
Colonel, and so on to the Ensign downwards.
The consequence of this was, in the half-pay, a
disadvantage to the public,
.by the dropping of
an older life, and the introduCtion Of a yOunger
one—in the full-pay, the promotion of one officer
of each rank for every such sale of half-pay, and
the admission of a youth from civil life to the en-
signey so left vacant. That the above practice
may have been carried somewhat farther than the
necessities of the service, for a supply of.; young
.officemrequired,,is possible, though we are not pre-
peredto insist. upon it; but it seems _manifest that
this is altogether. a separate branch of impolicy, if
it be, one, from that which filled up vacancies with-
out purchase, by officers on whole pay down to the
rank of Lieutenant, and then the junior vacancy of
all, viz. that of Ensign, by the gratuitous gift of a
commission to a person who had never served be-
fore. It is through the latter practice, principally,
that the Half-pay Army List has retained its enor-
mous bulk, or even gone on augmenting, rather than
reducing, by the frequent retirement of officers from
full pay without exchange, the vacant Ensigncy
thence occasioned being filled up•by.strangers to the
service. On this point, we are apt to believe, the
military administration will be found more vul-
nerable tbari on any other. The yoUng men who
obtain their
.ensigncies by purchase, are, we suspect,
sufficiently numerous to keep up the youthful blood
and spirit of the army. None but the children of
old officerri ought to be presented with gratuitous
ensigncies in the time of peace. The .expence of the
Navy half-pay was discussed on* Thursday: even-
ing in the House of Commons. Sir George Cock-
burn maintained the principle of introducing young
officers to the service to no further extent than that
it should be done " occasionally ;" and as this means
nt.,thing, we shall not contend with the gallant Admi-
ral otaon a question where the quantumto la —the only
matter worth disputingis leftaltogether unex-
.plained."Out it is very clear to the whole world, that
if the proirotions in the. army have been, for
the most part, well merited and honest, those in
the navy have, ,/n:ing Lord Melville's administra-
tion, been pretty crenet:allY of an opposite and more
reprehensible character. •-• We know that there are
mid-
midshipmen—brave, experiencell distinguished mid-
,
shllmien—who have passed for lieurs:nants more than
twenty years, and whose hearts haver i/een
ccaoniosne-:
quently broken by disc ointment and morn..
these are, or rather pmTp•ehre, the
.men who Ought..to
have been promoted. , e are lieutenants, equally
meritorious in their still l.higher rank, who have been
thrown aside upon half pay, while children, who
were born after the formersedtheir examination,
have had the loaves and fishes—thecommandsas
emoluments—lavished on them,
tothe ru'urr
o f
the
and
emoluments—lavishedactive service, and to the extravagant overloading of
the Isagp gay list. But it is useless to talk in. ene-
. ral terms of these grievances. It is the amount—
the proportion in relative numbers—that constitutes
the real merit of the question. We are taught to
believe, that, if Sir George Cockburn were brought
to black and white upon the subject, he would talk
with less magisterial boldness about the nature of
the promotions which have taken place. A% fest
she introduction of the system of purchase into the
-.navy, we can see in it nothing but destruction. so
mud; more of accurate science is necessary to even
the sate discharge of naval duties, as compared with
those of au,:v military rank short of that of a Gevral.
Officer, thai- :unless a man can buy the knowledge.
of navigation wk.h his epaulettes, the mere purchas-,
lug officer in the ynarine of England stands the
hims elf and
highest chance imaginaae of disgracing s
destroying the best proteistjon of his country.—
' Thies..
It seebss fated that every thing coayascted with
the Corn question should iadergo some sin-aar
adventure. The Bill for taking the •avesageS!
came to a ludicrous end last night in the Lords.
An amendment was proposed by Lord Farnham,
that " the words ' England and. Wales' be omit,'
ecl, and the words ' (treat Britain and Ireland'
''. inserted instead of them." -Upon Which, the
' ~. 'question was put, 'first, ‘, That the words Elia-
s,
'land and Wales do stand part of the clause."
Content; 44 I Not content, 44.
. Upon which the Chairman, as bound by pi.' eee-