Certain occurrences which...
The Times, 1824-03-12T00:00:00

Certain occutrences whiceh have called our attention to the siubject of the discipline of the army (a subject, by the way, with which we seldlom interfere), are of recent date, and present not merely a ease of monstrous oppression, but, if the narrative circulated by the sufferer be a correct one, tlhey involve a question of the most serious interest to the existence of the army, and to the prerogatives of the Crown of England. Corinet BATTIER signs himself H. P. of the 35tll regi- meLt, and late I 0th Royal Hussars: This gentleman ap- pears, by the niflinching publicity of his statement, to be a spirited officer, and, by its language and reasonings, to be a man of e(lucation andl talent. He was appointed by the Duke of YORK, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, to a Cornetcy in the 10th Hussars, of wvhich His MAJESTY was at onetime Colonel; but which regiment, at the perio(d of Cornet BATTrIER's appointmelt, andever since, has had the honour of being commandedl by Lord LoNDONfDEmItY, not long ago our Anbassador at Vienna. Now, it is asserted in Ml-r. BATTrRx's account, that the officers of the loth Hussars think proper to "recruitaamong themselves"-that is, to admit no stranger into the regiment, except he be of their own choosing-a display of dignity which seems to have broughlt them into one or morc broils with the Commander-in-Chief; it being a usual phrase with these great men, that '" thepeople at the Horse- "Guards sometimes bully them, and sometimes they bully " the people at the Horse-Guards." Well, says Mr. BAT- TIER, in defence of this august privilege of refusing to con- firm the KING'S commission, the lords and gentlemen oe the 10th Hussars, before they had ever seen the new Cornet, or had thc mneans of guessing whether he was to be liked or disliked, resolved one and all to cut him. When he joined (says he), they refused him the most common marks of courtesv-they put him in CoNentry-they did every thing but provoke any risk of personal collision. The stranger thus politely, and hospitably, and liberally, wel. I comed, went as far as he could in'the way of peace and frankness. Ile sought an explanation from Sir G.EORGrE QuENTr1, senior in command with the regiment, (who was once himself brought to a Court-martial bv his officers.) He anxiously begged an inquiry iuto his character as a gentleman, his family, and circumstances. He produced the recommendatorv letters of his fornmer commanding, officers ; but whlat did that. avail ?-his commissioni I from the Duke of Yoiua was all that he ought to have I produccd, and that, it seems, was beueath the notice of j tbe young Lor(ds or old Dandies who sat in judgment i on this officer. Mir. BATTIER tlhen applied to Sir C.I GRANT, the General commanding in Dublin, where all these thing; happened. Sir C. GRANT appears to have knowvn what belonged to a soldier and a gentleman. He forwarded a report to the Commander-in-Chief. His Royal Hi-hness expressed his strong, though not! public, disappro- bation of the uncivilized conduct wlhich had provoket it: the grandlees were pulled down-they began to bow and speak to the man wvhom they had before neglected; and matters were thus situated, when the injured gentleman 1 states that he asked and ebtained leave of absence for three months from the regiment ; that in the interval be- i twvcen the grant of this indulgence and the day from which it was to be dated, while be was yet in Dublin, a fine din- ner was given by the regiment, with Lord Loxn:osDERny at its head, and a number of strangers were invited; that before the company sat down to their feast, this officer-a cornet in the regimient, as much a member of the mess as any field-officer belonging to it-was aetually ordered out of1h room by the most. noble Colonel ! And for what offeiice, known or unknown to military lawv? Why, for none. For wrhat reason, intelligible to any sane and sober inind For none whatever. He was told that he had eavoe of absence, and therefore ought to go off to England. But his leave of absence had not yet regularly commenced, and he might have been reported absent without leave had he left head-quarters: and if he had been actually on leave, was such a barbarism ever heard of, as driving a brother officer out of the rcgimental mess-room,because he postponed for a day or two the enjoyment of his leave of absence? He was told, again, that he did not know his duty, not being mnster of the Cavalry-drill. Mr, BATTIER admits that lie (a Cornet) was not vet a superlative Hussar Officer; but was such a reason ever before assigned for turning a gen- tleman out of a mess-room? Such tyranny would not be en- dured-no, not by Russian slaves, not by Carinthian boors, not bv Croats, Pandours, Hulans, or anv other nameless savages; amongst tvhom certain rmilitary diplomats of this country are sent, as to a school of delicate and geotleinanly manners. Mr.BATTIrEP, too,had regularly paid an enormous sum, far beyond the rate recognized by the KI N,G'S order, as his subscription to the mess of these Hussars. On this treat- ment, however, his patience seems to have been exhausteti. He wrote directlv to the Duke of YORK, a letter detailing his grievances, and Lescribing that whole system of arbi- trary and unmanly persecution Mwhich he charges the MIar- quis of LONDONDERRY with having countenanced against him. The reply of Sir H. TAYaOB we subjoin: its language is unequivocal, anid covers the effenders with shame:- " HOAsE-Gu.anDs, Feb. 17, 1124. I I am also directed to acquaint vou, that his Royal Highness is very sensible of the difficulties under wvhich you have been placed since your exchange to the 10th Hussars, and has more than once expressed his disapprobation of the conduct whioh has been observed towards you by some officers of that corps; and which his Royal Highness has no hesitationi in authorizing me to say, has not been justified by any circumstance affectinz vour cha- racter as an officer and a gentleman, so far as your conduct has come under his Royal Hfighness's knowledge. " I have the honour to be, Sir, youtr obedient servant. (SiLnedw "1 [J. TAVLO<R. ' uornet Battier, 10th Light Dragoons." The result was, that Cornet BATTIER received liberty to purchase ahalf-pay lieutenancy in another Cavalry regi- ment, but (lid niot ayail hiinself of it: be retired upon half-pay in the usual manner. He was disappointel of his just redress in having his persecutors openly punished ; and he now becomes, by his manly and severe representation, the vindicator of his own wiongs. But who will heal the wound thus inflicted on the discipliie of the Britislh army? -who will take up the defiance thus thrown in the face of the Commander-in-Chief-nay, of the Sovereign, by those who outrage the feelings of their selectedl servants, and attempt to supersedle the KIhG'S commission intruisted to his faithful subjects ? If the loth Hussars be left at once under their present commansl, and in the actual state of subordination represented by Mvr. BATTIER, why then, indeed, it wiU be time for the friends of royalty, as well as of liberty, to look a little to the safety both of throne andi people when the next yeafs army estimates shall be sub- mitted to the eye of Parliament.