The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-27
THE BRITISH ARMY.

The Movement Towards AbolishinG the Pur-
chase eSystem-ExDOsltiOn of the Old Abuse.
Mr.. Treyelyan, member of Parliament, has
lately occupied prominent place among the
amateur reformers of the British military SER
vice. and is also foremost among those who
speak fright out" The first ingredient in the
panacea he proposes for the relief of British
prestige is the removal of the Duke of Cam
bridge, commander-in-chief. The necessity of
that step appears to be generally felt in Eng
land. Mr.. Trevelyan in a recent speech at
tackled him for his defense of the purchase sys-
tenn, and gave the following vigorous exposition
of the working of that system:-
'In the Prussan army of 100000 men the officers
were $4,000; but in the Eng lsh army, the number
bly, they were sick Of 1t, there were only 2600
officers less The cause OF this was the gross neni-
cheney OF the purchase officers. After referring to
the excessive number of officers in the Engsh
army as compared with those in foreign armies,
Mr.. Treveyan said that the great cause OF expense
was not the sums paid to officers serving, but the
sums that had to be paid to officers to compensate
them for the losses they underwent by the purchase
SsSeH were unable to Se sell OUT i'eas and "oG oP
those who died and whose widows were conse-
quently thrown upon the world, was so great that
for the two hundred years the system had lasted,
great system Of compensation for losses by purchase
had started up under the name of half-pay, widows
PENSIONS payments to generals and honorary colo
nels aud payments for distinguished services No
less than e33s, 600 year paid in halfpa and
the principal use of that was to enable men to be
promoted who could not afford the purchase and to
facilitate the system OF purchase and compensate
for it,
'In the Indian army there was no purchase, and
out OF 7000 officers only 4O4 were on hafpay out out
of our coo officers there were in one year 2S61
half pay. That was to say, those were the men
who were ruined through the purchase system and
had to be provided for. We paid e73 900 to generals
whether they were employed or not, and we were
obliged TO have great number-no less than 234,
nGsga only ~ were n ace We paid
money was said to be for pensions, but 1T was really
jobs. few got money who ought TO have pensions,
"The truth Was, that sfnecare post was not the
wy to pay man. What they ought to do was to
fix the number OF officers at the number that was
wanted, to pay them fully for their services and
when tEey had served certain time to pay them
pension IN proportion to the time served, and to
their income. TO widows el55, 600 year was paid.
and in many cases it was very proper thing; but
in other cases, the ladies' were the widows OF men
well off. For distinguished services e2T 900 year
was paid but it was not all paid, as IL should be,
to old and meritorlgus officers, but to men having
paid to army agents-tLe bankers OF the army-for
whom there was no neceEsty. They were in gFea
favor at the Horse Guards and up to quite recently
it was thought as much as the position OF cabinet
minister was worth TO say any thing against those
agents. They were men who, wlen called to give
evidence before commissioners appointed to ex-
anime into army matters, had-as II they were
it stipulated that what they said would not be used
against them. OF the e40,000 ESQ 900 went to one
firm. The system was dirty one, and II w.,s 90
been ten years under the guidance o.
Liberal Government without having done
away with it. After remarking that the
people should see that the militia was properly
oficered by responsible military officers, aud that
the troops provided should be real troops ofcered
by real officers, Mr.. Treveyan said two principal
points to be insisted on were abolition OF the pur-
chase sy stem and OF the Horse Guards Referring
to the recent statement made at Manchester by
Lord Derby, TO the effect that the Royal family had
only two or three military poses open to them, and
that 1t very doubtful whether those posts would
long remain open to them, Mr.. Trevelyan said he
wondered his ordships remarks had not been taken
petce Of in high quarters"