Star.
London, England, 1818-05-01 00:00:00

' *afar other ability than he pensetsed. All he coed
issy was, that no reason had been given for such at
understanding. A letter alluded to by a NobleLted
(Cochrane) as proving it, when it came to be 1.104
proved the contrary. Having denied the promise,
what was the case? These Officers were an anomal..
' Their commissions gave them military rank, but Vie.
Inied them military command. He meant them sse.
thing but respect, and therefore to avoid all personal
comment, he would read their commissions, erbieh
shewed that their duties were confined to the et.
wand of Commissary Officers, drivers (not gunner),
farriers, and artificers, and the managemeas ofthe
artillery horses ; but they were expressly ex.:Laded
from the direction of the artillery itself, being hc:ed
to obey the junior officers of that corps in the ft,4,
Hence the youngest Lieutenant took the comrrant
of the oldest Captain, and hence the crimnn,i„z
self stated they were never to expect to rise hi4de
than the rank of a Captain Commissary, ihri.
duties they had performed to entire satisfactio; l;
the very teeth of the enemy, and as passive senate
under danger displayed perhaps more true femme,
than more active exertions, too much could n-is ke
said of their gallantry. But this would not alter ti.„
nature of their situations, which, from the teamed
the commissions he had read, could open to them
very little prospect of promotion ; and if they vete
injured by being placed only in the same condi*
with thousands of gallant Officers of the Line, k
could not be for the loss of such promotion. Maar
of them, he believed, had shewn great talents, roue
more than Captain Humphreys himself; hut all
I power to pursue a military career was crippled 10,
the citcumscribed terms of their service, of ehni,
they were perfectly aware when they accepted thth.
commissions--(hear, hear). He hoped he ofesed
no man's feelings by there observations ; it was the.
selves that spoke, in bringing forward this Can; he
(Mr. Ward} was forced into the discussion, in arta,
if he had differed from them, it was his misfortcm
—(ilear, hear). It was obvious that all Mar.ers.
General should wish for a better constitution dike
seeps. Lord Moira had done so, and, he believed,
Lord Chatham ; but they could not easily Afar a
during the war, neither could Lord Mulgrave, aJ
meantime under these Officers there had been the
positive gain of great improvement. To alter e:
establishment there was but one of two wan; either
to displace all these Officeis, while the service Iv
going on, and the troops themselves were kept p,
or to wait till a peace allowed them to dkband.the
whole, or greater part of the corps, and then, di
war broke out, to give a new organization with re
gniar Artillery Officers. In the first instance the cm
would be indeed hard, if these meritorious office,

being thus arbitrarily- deprived of their commission,
no fault of theirs, and the service going on, were a
be placed merely on-half-pay. He allowed the
would have then a right to full pay, and the Meet:.
General had-thrift-he thought so, by what he alt-
ally. did for the four troops that were actually is the
situation. ' Ire the second instance, the corps &m-
-selves being disbanded, the service done, and tit
men paid of, what could the Officers do, but what
yirereoason
nhalof-pf athey ?
distiThnicstiscvnas.betin
wfaecct.r.
all Officers did in their situation, retire with err
true and aannddonretl
tie
Officers of the eight troops, and of the The
fernier had retired because the service was over; bet
the tatter had been, as it here, forced from the 'sr-
. the service going on. They were ready and
in to perform it, but the perfectly faultless west
not al owed—(hear, hear.) Had the four troops beets
actually disbanded, their Officers would have beta
also placed on half pay, and then we should nr.,:
have heard of this motion—( Hear, hear). it was the
Master-General's strict justice, he would not call t
liberality, to these Gentlemen, that made others un
fortunately think themselves aggrieved--Rear, hetrt
u; it was obvious the commissions of the nee h.d
ersecLaravay naturally ; those of the other had begs
tom- frOm them, and given to the Officers of the
Horse Artillery ! Such was the real case. Had
therelieen any thing in argument to alter it? It
had been said Captain Humphreys was a meritorioLs
Officer; and had served 23 year's! He was the fire
to-acknowledge it. It was said, another and moth
junior Officer was among those on full pay! Vat
might be true, but was there any thing here cot (I
every day's occurrence id the Army ? To do ones
duty for twenty-three years did not then give a
riff :
to full pa: He wished it did, and that the country
could afford ist-and what was more common, rhea
for an older Ofiker, having changed into a youagct
regiment, to he overtaken by a reduction, while mr
junior Officer, who had remained in the older rep
ment, remained employed ? Either then you could
;levee reduce by corps, or every time you did yo
must createa revolution in the frame of all the char
regiments, by examining every body's commission--
(Hear, hear). Such was the confusion which the
Honourable Gentleman would introduce. Bat::
seems he only pleaded for two troops, and that bt-
cause they had served longer than the rest. Cou:si
any man that knew the Army say this was a reasca.
or that the general rule of half-pay was to be revised
according to every case of service? But they had
served till the four troops were re-formed, and went
on half-pay when the others retired on fun pay. But
as he had shewn the true distinction that one had
retired with their corps, the other had been forced
from it, the corps remaining, could this make a dile-
rence ? Had they served till eon, if the service were
over, would such an argument avail them.-(K")'
He had had the pleasure of seeing Captain Hum-
phreys, and had never met with any thing more can-
did. He must say he understood the argument arias
him infinitely better than the Honourable Gault'
man ! Such then, was the principle. What was
practice ? They had followed precedent all throogl
Major James, of this very corps, had been reduced
in 1812, and as it was because the office of Maim
itself had been suppressed, he never could mews--;
Yet he was on half, not full pay ! The artilieq as,
the German Leglon and the corps of foreign et"
lery had been suppressed, and the officers wren fc",
ever out oaf our service, whether in the line or an"'
lery—(Heor, hear.) They too retired on hays
But what would Gentlemen say when they wtretcld
that there was even now a tarps of Drivers:6oZ,
selves on tli.rizialitestablishrisent onhalfiebt
Pay !-L(hettr, hear.) Yet those, no more mgr'
cers in tittes—ticid', were held eligible to commissiso"3!
in the line. What had these done, not to be placed
ou chic same footing ? Nothing—and if the in.)tiva