Star.
London, England, 1828-03-13 00:00:00

;maned in the diffeeent Cotintits 'in passing Itish
Vagrants."
34,403 was d ta. aad ukote=ttee appointedit. 4:4
01 011Ati It
W. HA VEY.llsoesd Ji W Return of the
Causes fertid to tfte minotive Massers of
of.Ch ry daring 4sWit sir years, to the
... March, Ib2B, istingurshilfg the number now le-
:staining ondisposed of-in each office.
After a few words front a Mentber on the Ministerial side, the
Motion was withdrawn, With a ifew to its Amendment.

fr. I
fiber

HAL/ PAT.

Mr. HUME said, he rote flir the ptirpose of bringing
forward his motion for Retires respecting the Sale of
Full and Half Pay in the Army. The House must be
aware, that up to May, 1825, Officers were not allowed
to sell out their half pay, and by this regulaikn the
country was benefi tied in proportion as old half pay
Officers died, inasmuch as this halt pay was saved to
the country. But on the 2d of May, 1825, a new re•
gulation was introduced, by which unattached Officers
were allowed to sell out their pay, by which a serious
loss was incurred to the country. There was an addi-
tional order from the Commander in Chief on the sth
of April, 1826. permitting regimental Officers to sell
out under certain ci•cumstances. The Hon. Membet
here entered into a variety of calculations, with a view
to show the loss sustained to the country by the sale of
commissions of old Offi:ers to young men. By this
course of proceeding, annuities, amounting in the aggro=
gate to near ten millions were outstanding. By the
first Return, it appeared that a sum of 658,7831. was
lost in consequence of one year's promotion. He should
cite the cases of Lieut. Colonel Cumming, John Earl of
Lisburn, Major Weelan, and a variety of other Officers,
who, after having served a few years, had been placed
on half pay, after which they had been some twenty,
some thirty, and some even forty years on half pay, and
then they sold out to young men who had been but a
short time on' halt pay. There were other cases, where
Lieutenants and Ensigns sold out to young men who had
vex teen a single day's service. He had made a
similar statement to that on a former occasion, but
then the Hoist appeared satisfied "with the answers
given by the Noble Lord over the way. They would,
however, now perceive how far they had a right to be
satisfied with those answers. He next came to the second
Return, from which it appeared, that an increase of
expenditure had taken place to the amount of 1,513,0001.
in this way. It was no wonder that large establishments
should be kept up in the office of the Commander in
Chief and the office of the Secretary at War, when
such an extensive correspondence was carried on with
both those Departments. The House would bear in
mind, that from the two R-turns to which he had al-
luded, 765 Officers had been allowed to sell out : and
looking to the calculation he had made, it would be
found that a sum not less than 72,6561. had gone into
the hands of the Bank of England. He thought that
when the King could not raise one hundred or one thou-
sand pounds without ceasing to that House, it was too
much that private individuals should have it in their
power to tax the country in this way, and add, at
least, one million and a half to its expenditure. If
this system were to go on—if every Officer was
thus to do as he pleased, he thought the Noble
Lord opposite would have much to answer for.
It was very possible, however, that the Noble Lord
would satisfy the House by making a counter
statement, a sort of set off, as he had done
before. But the House should bear in mind,
that those who sold out were on the old pay, while
those who came in, came in upon the new pay. He
thought it advisable that the House should appoint a
Special Commission to inquire into these abuses, for
abuses he must term them. It would be in vain to`
refer the inquiry to a Finance Committee ; it was
matter of such importance that it called for a separate
and more immediate investigation. He possessed no
means of going more into details. He gave the case
to the House as he found it; and he must say, that it
would be impossible to expect any reduction of this
portion of our bustheos, if young men were to take
the place of old ones in this way. He would ven-
ture to say, that if an inquiry was to be made into the
French half-pay, it would be found that the numbers
were fast diminishing, and dirt the whole amount of
money paid in that way would be found to be a mere
pittance, compared to what was paid in England. The
French half-pay list had been diminishing year after
year since the peace, while we had been obviously add-
ing to ours during the same period. It was not his
intention to go back. The Honourable Member here
entered into a rani. ty of calculatiors in illustration of
his argument. He maintained that it was useless to go
on thus pushing young men into the army over the
heads of men who had grown grey in the service. This
was an injury, of which the service as well as the
country had a right to complain. He stated that his
object was not to starve the effective service, but to
save the unnecessary exyenses which the present system
created. He concluded by moving for several Returns
relating to the sale and exchange of half pay Officers.
Sir JAMLS GRAHAM, in seconding the motion,
said he thought inquiry essentially necessary on this
important subject. He wished to know from the Noble
Lord, if it was true that a Gentleman who was fifteen
years in the civil service, and his half-pay consequently
suspended, had been recently allowed to sell his com-
mission or not? A similar case took place lately in
Ireland, and he wished to know if the Noble Lord could
contradict these statements? He should be happy if it
was in the power of the Noble Lord to do so.
Lord PA LMERSTON begged first to state, that he
could have no objection to the production of those
papers for which the Hon. Member for Aberdeen had
moved ; but he felt some surprise at the Hon. Member's
desiring now to enter into details, and to call for returns
which would very naturally and properly become sub-
jects of inquiry by that Committee of which the Hon.
Gentleman was i Member. He (Lord Palmerston)
would leave to other Members of the Finance Cons-
mince to state to their brother Member, the reas,ins why
they could not eater into the inquiry for which the
Hen. Member called. But if the Hon. Member desired
exaggetated statements, and mistakes of facts, to excite
prejudiced feelings in the minds of that Committee,
under whose observation this matter would speedily
come, he bad certainly taken the most effective course
so to do. No statement could be possibly calculated to
lead to greater trier than that which the Hon: Member
had made. The House should bear in mind the fact,
that at the end of the war, a large number of officers were
placed upon half pay, and the reductions that were then
made continued for a considerable time. The natural re-
sult was a stoppage of promotion to a very great extent,
and consequently many Officers who had been placed on
half pay became, in a measure, too old for service.
This stagnant state of the army rendered it necessary
to give a spur to promotion in seine way or other, and
certain officers, tinder certain regulations, were them.
fore per mittedsodispose of their commissions to officers,
of infetior tank, on the half pay establishment. The
effect of this arrangement was, to remove from the
army many officers upon full pay, and. to introduee,