ARMY ABUSES.
27th May 1857.
have a great respect for your opinions on all common sense mat tees; and so had our Great-Duke, we learn from Hayden's Life, read every word of the Spectator, on Sunay evenings I think. Moreover, a very old friend of mine once a Master-General of the Ordnance, did pretty much the same thing. 'In your paper of the 16th instant you published a letter of mine on the subject of the General Officers of the British Army, and the way they are made ; and you very kindly made some observations of your own on the subject. At first sight, people may say, "Why write to a civilian—a political writer,. a literary man, one Ow may seem to be tit for anything rather than military criticism—on such a subject ? " My answer is, that common sense and not professional knowledge is required to deal with those abuses in our military system from which our disasters chiefly arise ; and I look upon you to have common sense of no ordinary quality.. The men in the Army who served the Duke of Wellington the best were men of strong common sense more than of genius, and his own common sense was of so extraordinary a kind as really to assume the character of genius. Now after this prosy exordium, for which my age and want of habit of writing may be pleaded as some excuse, I would ask you to reconsider what you say in regard to my suggestion that "the promotion of all officers who do not go on in their profession, who really don't mean to be soldiers in the real meaning of that honoured term, should stop at the rank of Colonel." An injustice, you say, would be done to those who have expended large slims of money on their promotion, and who would be injured by stopping short in their rank,—haring, as you express it, a sort of commercial interest in the profession. Now tkis is an idea quite of modern growth. Our long peace has brought more rich and idle men into all ranks of the service, and purchase has become more general ; but the old feeling about purchase was, that it was a hard thing upon poor soldiers to be purchased over, and that those whose money gave them the means of acquiring, rank risked their money for the advantage of the quick promotion. In times of war purchase is always slack ; it was so in the Peninsular war, and also in our late struggle in the Crimea. People don't like the risk : but to say that those who in time of peace give enormous prices for commissions are to be protected in their " speculations " at the expense of the best interests of the service, is a positimwhich I think on consideration you will not be disposed to maintain.
There is another absurd and mischievous practice in our service, which is unknown in any other, I believe—that of making our general officers, in their latter days principally, colonels of regiments, It is a bad an job
bing a way of doing that, for meritorious officers sometimes, oftener I fear for those who have interest at the Horse Guards, which if deserved ought to have been done for them at a much earlier period of their lives in some different and less objectionable mode. A General-Colonel to a regiment is as useless as an Admiral-Captain would be to a ship. I hope you may adopt my views, and apply them when occasion may serve. Your obedient servant, J. B.
[The remark we made respecting the commercial claim which purchase gives an officer to promotion, was only one among several remarks on the proposal that officers who had not seen. service should stop at the rank of Colonel. We object to the commercial claim ,which, however, has some foundation. Were the proposal of "J. B." unobjectionable on other grounds, no doubt, means might be devised for satisfying those who, having been permitted to purchase their steps, had thereby acquired a certain claim tosome sort of compensation. The Government, which permits purchase, is responsible for this ugly claim, not we. In a short time we hope to see the Report of the Purchase Commission, and to hear how Ministers intend to deal with the subject. —En.]
For BooKs and Music see the Monthly Supplement.
Previous page
