The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-10
The British Army.

PURCHASING CoMdIssIoNs-THE LAW AND THE
RATES.
From the NJ Y. World.
In the days of Charles II commissions in
the English army were sold like divers other
State appointments, and from this origin it
passed into practice that where a captain,
for instance, obtained his maj ority, the lieute-
nant who came into the captaincy paid the
jor what he, the ma jor, had paid for it in
his day, the maj or in turn paying to the lieu
tenant-colonel the price of the majority. The
sums thus demanded being purely arbitrary,
and frequent disagreements as to what they
should be impairing the good of the service,
scale of prices was, after some years, laid
down by the government, and has continued
in force up to this day. By this scale a
young man on entering the British army paws
for his commission as ensign $3.50, and then
on his promotion through the grades as
follows
Lieutenancy, G25O additional or total e7OO.
Captaincy, G1100 additional or total G1S0O
Majority, f1400 additional, or total e32OO.
Lieutenant-colonelcy, G1300 additional, or
total e4500.
By the operation of this scale, if the lieu
tenant-oolonel, say, were promoted, then the
major paid him the price of the lieutenant
colonelcy, and received in return, from the
senior captain the price of the majority, and
so on down to the ensign, who paid the junior
lieutenant the price of his lieutenancy, and re-
ceived in turn from the new ensign who was
commissioned the price of the ensigncy; by
which system no officer was ever out of
pocket more than the price of his grade, aud,
if desirous of leaving the service, could make
himself whole by the sale of his commission.
| With this as the original scope of the pur-
! chase system, 1t came to pass, as money be-
came less valuable and wealthy men eagerly
sought commissions for their sons, than an
additional price, called the ''over-regulation,
was added to the governmental scale. Usage
gradually settled this also into fixed proper
! tions, Just as Government had prescribed the
regulation scale, and at this time it stands
pretty much as follows:-Ensign, f100; lieu
tenant, 5000; captain, $500; and major,
e1000.
Now, Mr. Cardwell, the English War Min
lister, or, in the curious British style, Secre-
tary of State of War, is no friendto the pur-
chase system, and would abolish it; but, this
not being in his power, lately introduced a
bill in Parliament proposing to consolidate
the grades of cornet and ensign with the
Junior lieutenancies respectively on horse
and foot On this the Gladstone ministry
have Just been beaten, the vast social influ-
ence of the English army being SO unitedly
thrown against the measure that Mr.. Card
well was forced to withdraw his bill. The
officers argued that while they would not
object to an abolition per Sc of the purchase
system, whether in whole or in part, yet it
was but fair that, as the Government has for
over two centuries allowed purchase, it
should save them from any loss consequent
upon its abrogation. This being but fair,
and the ministry, which perhaps put the
measure forth as an ad captaRdum measure
of reform, not caring to take any new load
on its shoulders, the scheme failed. The in
cident reveals curious feature in English
polity, and perhaps may indicate that the
ministry finds it safer to disestablish Irish
bishops than to cashier British grepadiers.