Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-08-11

THE PURCHASE OF COMMISSIONS. "A great
deal of nonsense has been talked about pur-
chase, on one side and the other, but l think |
can tell in few words how it worked. By pay
ment of certain sum OF money a man (if APP
proved by the military authorities) could buy a
commission, hold it just as long as he pleased,
and no longer, receiving while he held it good
interest on his money, in the shape of pay, and
being able to sell it when he retired for at least
as much as he gave for it. The cost of a COM
mission included two prices-the regulation
price paid to the government, and the over-reg-
ulation price paid to the man who went out;
and while the former price was fixed, the latter
was continually rising, in proportion as the
country grew in wealth, and as the number of
families who could afford to put out sons in this
manner increased. 1t is quite trne that in one
sense purchase was not an exclusively arlsto-
cratic institution; certainly the army is not eX-
clusively differed by aristocrats-I mean ariS-
tocratS by blood. There has been of late years
great rush of the plutocraCy into the army.
Soap boilers, cotton spinners and shoddy folk
generally made point of buying commissions
for their sons as a social investment, and in or
der that they might rub shoulders with the ariS-
tocracy, and shine with the reflection of their
splendor. Naturally, this class is more aris-
tocratic, in the worst sense of the term, than
the ariStocrats themselves, and the chiefs at the
horse guards Gas they call the military head
quarters) have taken great care to cultivate the
aristocratic spirit of the force. A large proper
ton of the officers join the army just for year
or two between leaving college and settling down
IN marriage. 1t offers them pleasant lounge,
good social station, with entree to the best So
clety where they are quartered, free and easy
kind of life, with plenty of time for sporting
and hunting, and just enough professional work
to make them fancy they have really something
to do. But there is also another class of officers
who 90 into the army as matter of business,
and who find the purchase system very advan-
tageous indeed. As the eldest sons keep going
out, the younger sons find the way of promotion
open to them, and though they have to buy their
way up, still the transaction is profitable one if
an officer remains in the army long enough to
rise into the higher ranks where there is no pur-
chase. Thus it is quite true that the system is
not exclusively for the advantage either of the
arlstocracy or plutocracy; but it is an unwhole-
some, artificial system, which tends TO confuse
and corrupt the relations between the army and
the country. An officer who can buy and sell
out when he chooses, and who in six cases out
of ten has joined his regiment only for q
year or two, and as a bit of fun, cannot
possibly be relied on for genuine work or kept
under proper control. The late war opened
our eyes to the danger OF playing at soldiers.
1t showed that fighting had become thorough
ly scientific business, and could be successfully
carried on only by highly trained experts. In
a6ollSmng purchase, the nation is driven, of
course, either 10 seniority or selection, or mix
ture OF the two, and there are obvious dangers
in each.case, but nothing can be worse than the
present system, whatever the new one may
prove. | think, therefore, there can be no doubt
that it was necessary that purchase should be
abolished, but there are two grave objections to
the manner in which this has been accom-
plished. In the first place, the abolition of pur
chase was only one Of the things necessary to be
done to put the army on proper footing. Men
are wanted-more men and better men as well
as officers, and an efficient system of reserves.
But the government, concentrating their
strength on purchase, shelved these other re-
forms, thus giving the lords a preteXt for say
ing that their proposals were incomplete, and
that they would not approve them until they
were properly matured. In the next place there
was an obvious inconsistency in first asking the
lords to consent to the bill and then setting them
completely aside and doing the thing without
them. If the crown has the right to abolish
purchase, clearly it would have a right of its
own accord to establish it if it did not exist and
what an outcry there would be then. The lib
erals do not wish to damage the government by
finding fault with them, but a good many of
them are seriously alarmed at the use of pure
ly nominal power, as if it were real and legiti-
mate authority.-Letter to N. T. Times.
DR.. Lighthill remains at the Bay State house I'M
til tomorrow, 8 P. M
Sheriff Sibey will sell horses harnesses and carts
q Swanie hntaI MT