26 SEPTEMBER 1829, Page 8

MILITARY PENSIONS.—Several notices appeared in the Scotch papers about three

months ago, respecting certain regulations which had been the consequence of investigations into the army pension list, Grievous complaints were made, by parties whose pensions had been reduced ; and these complaints were echoed not very considerately by the editors. It appeared that in the course of their labours, the Board appointed for that purpose had discovered, that in numerous instances men had claimed and received, under Mr. Wilvonam's Act, pensions for services never performed. Where there was distinct evidence of fraudulent misrepresentation on the part of the pensioner, he was struck off the list altogether ; where there was strong suspicion of fraud, his pension was reduced to the legal standard, and the previous over-payment was directed to be refunded (without interest) by small instalments ; where there was no suspicion of fraud, and the higher pension had been claimed through the ignorance of the party or assigned by the negligence of the inspecting officers, the pension was reduced, but no repayment was insisted on. Nothing fairer than this arrange- ment can be imagined. The expedients to which men have recourse in order to get rid of the service, and to enjoy the pension, are not few ; the Chronicle has given a curious list of them. Supposititious ulcers of the most virulent seeming are very common. The :irritant generally used is arsenic. Mutilation of the thumb Jr of the entire hand is not unusual. It does not appear by any means difficult to in- sure detection in either case. Where discharge on17 is aimed at, no mutilation, however great, ought to procure it : the guilty individuals ought to be made the hewers of wood and drawers if water to the regi- ment. We have known instances in which the plan has been followed with perfect success. The state of the Pension List is one of the inexplicabilities of Go- vernment finance. We are now in the fifteenth year of peace, and it has been increasing nearly all the time. There are now eighty-six thousand men who receive pensions, and the annual cost is a million and a. half. It is obvious that there is some error in the system, but where seated or how curable, it is not easy to state. With respect to privates and non-commissioned officers, we look on the whole sys- tem of pensions as radically wrong. They ought to be paid adequately for their services while employed, and, as other servants, they ought to cease to receive pay when they cease to render labour. We heed not the twaddle about bleeding for their country," and so forth, which is drummed into our ears by small wits and poetasters. Men enter the army on precisely the same principles that they enter any other calling. Why should they be differently treated? Were they paid as they ought to be. while labouring, the expense of a large army would be an effectual, mit to its existence. At present, a reduction in the military is a gain on the side of principle only; the expense is hardly diminished. Officers who pay for their commissions have, we admit, a right to a return for the payment, but not such a return as they at present receive. He who invests four hundred -pounds in a regimental commission, is not entitled to an annuity of eighty. On the sound principle that war cannot be too expensive, we would make the pay of every man whose services war requires, sufficient to remunerate him, and also to form. &Mild for what mischances wars necessarily suppose. Wars would then be cautiously entered on and soon concluded.