Star.
London, England, 1815-06-03 00:00:00

A it: Y ESTIAIATER.

On the House resolving itself into a Committee of
Supply, • • •
Lord PALMERSTON *brought up' the Army
Estimates for the year. _la said
.he would not, de-
tain the House on them, as there was no very mate-
rial difference in them front those,of last year; up to
last Christnais they had been less than the Pieper
year, but since that an augmentation had necessarily
taken place. In the home forces a reduction. of 37,000
men had taken place, and in the foreign. forces- em-
ployed 10,000. Several cavalry regiments had also
been reduced to eight troops of 60 men each. In the
Militia a great reduction had taken place before Chi ist-
mas, and the estimate for theM to that time of course
less; but since that, the, embodying of them had ne-
cessarily raised the estimate. . In the Pay• Office there
WAS a saving of £50,006. In the In•pensioners of
Chelsea,_ there was a saving of selooo ; bin an in-
crease of £lOO,OOO had taken place in' the Out ptn-
sinners, in consequence of the number of men who
had been disbanded from the forces. There was aLo
an increase of 029,000 in the Widows' Pensions, front
the additional number of pensioners, and the increased
rate of pension. In the Volunteer Corps there was 't
saving of £149,000, in consequence of the number of
cavalry corps which had, been disbanded. In the
Local Militia there was a decrease of it 240.000. In
the Royal Military College. there was al increase of
£7OOO, and in'. the Military Asylum t,detrease. of
€3OOO. In conseqnence Qf the death of vane retired
Chaplains, a saving was made lisi of 4sooo.
In the Compassionate List, an ancrease of Jet 7,000,
including the increase. in the Royal gtoulity List. ;In
the Commissary of Ireland t] re woultf , be, filen.] Au
increase of 04,000. ‘ t ierr vies a considerable. tic-
GreOf 41 the 4440.4004 rte ; but u. sOnte

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!sad crept la In the pritring of the estißates, he Would
not bring k forward for the present. fn the Super!'
annuated List there was a saying of je1,100 14y the'
death of an old Officer! ft, he said, had been found
• necessary to Take an augmentation leteiy in the f 0...
reign forces of ii 0,009 many and ‘184,00P s and iq
the Foreign Staff an increase of 450,000. He snap
cd to state to the House, that there would tie all ill!
crease in the Miscellaneous Estimates; its coniecineool
of the jetended allowance to be -made to Officer.
snatching with their regiments on •the home service'
Oq general view of all the different diems, the •
House would perceive that there hid been a redne7
Von of 41,090 men, and a •7 saving of 42,650,00).
He then moved, that there be for the land forces for
. the presint year 199,,667 men, exclusive of those ern!.
ployed in the service of the East India Company.
general GASCQYNE wiithedito call the attention
pf the House to the state of the halt-pay to Officer;
retired. He said he had intended to submit a Motion
on this subject, for the purpose of enlarging it, but
for the present he %plaid gibe it up in consequence of
the war, as many of those half-pay Offsets would be
called into active service. He then took•notice of
the unfair proportion them wait between the pensions`
paid to the widows of Post Captains in the.tnisry end'
•01 Lieutenant colonels in theraeiny ; the ranks of.
these different Officers were equal, but the widow of
a Post,Captain was 00, and "that of a Lieutenant.
Colonel only 470; hidimight this unfair and shiisill
be reinediej. He was surprised that .the Coatraissaiy
Estimatei were not brought forward.
LOid p.ALmeits.rox said, that he would save
the iime of the House by stating to the Honourably
General 'that it was not his duty to bring
.up those
Estimates: but he was sure they would follle before
the House in proper time:
General CASCOYNE said, he would wish,tQ ask
for information. why 4.50,1100 had been given to the
Portuguese Officers? lie wishe4 to know if they
had been paid by this or. the Portuguese Govern.
ment The Hoqourable general he alluded to
Officers whom lie had heard of, who did not
receive the additional half-pay which had been
granted. Ha. should not now trouble the HOLM
upon the subject ; hut should at another period feel
it his duty tai malt. rootion upon it the substance
pf which would be, that the half-pay 9f Lieutenant.
Colonels shot;ld at least be 'made up to 4500 a.year,
and that ofColonels to 4700.
Capt.:in BENNET objected to the Military c.,14.
• lege gstablisliment. •
Mr: wu.BE:groitcE was conyioced that the
Royal MiliDiry College whiCh the Honourable Mem-
-1)4 seemed to object to, had made better Officers
dian any other institutions of a like kind in the neigh-
booring countries.
Sir JOHN HOPE wished the Honourable Mem-
ber (Captain Bennet) would oblige him, by statists,
what he thought was defective in the Institution!
Captain BENNET objected to the distinctions that
were 'kept up in the school • nay, he objected to any
militaiy establishment at all, as tending to mike the
nation more military than formerly.
air JOHN HOPE mentioned several instances
where we had been obliged .16 resort to foreign aid,
lot want of skilful men to conduct our armies 1• in-
deed, to prevent our having recourse to this expedient
again, wa:k one of the pruscipal.motives for the esta-
blishmertt of this College at all. There was great re-
gularity observed in • the College, and Indeed Many
Improvements had taken place in it of late ; acrd upon
the whole it wis such an institution as was calculated
to make the Officers more faithful to their charge, and
more complete.: not only in their profession, but as.
members of society:Their educiaion was the, hest
and most scientific that could be given them, and
when they were about to enter the army, they 'were
elearnined as to all the different 'branches of science
they had studied, oat by their teachers, but by per-
sons under whose tuition daisy bad never been placed,
Several Officers who had been distinguished for their,
gallantry m the campaigns of the late war, had been I
educated in this College. He believed.64l Officers'
from it were the whole who had joined the English
army as yet ; but probably SO, or between that nod-
her and 50, would be able to join the forced
after the 'neat general examination. The children of
Qificertk who bad died in the service were here edu-
cated, and those of living Officers for a veer trifling
gratuity, that it might be said they paid for their
education. It was Certainly the best and direst guard
to our liberties to have 'Officers of ability to defend
them.. He concluded by hoping that there could he
;so reasonable objection to such as establishment.
Lord PALMARSTON said, in -answer tp some
questions that had been put to him on the subject,
*Mild make the necessary inquiries into the
state of the Officers' Widows' Pensions. In reply
to vame other questions respecting half-pay, be said,
Ise Officers their in
chose
4 to

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