§ Order for Committee of Supply read.
§ Motion made and question proposed, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair."
§ MR. RICHsaid, he had intended to move for a Committee to inquire into the military education of our officers, both staff and regimental, but he found that he should not be able to bring on a motion to that effect before Easter, and therefore he was reluctantly compelled to forego his intention. The subject was, however, so important that he could not omit altogether calling the attention of the House to it. It was a lamentable fact that this nation, foremost in all peaceful arts, was not so in military matters. That, without doubt, chiefly arose from our imperfect organisation, and also from the fact that for the army officers were not specially educated. It was impossible without that education that officers could be fitted for their duties, and still less keep pace with the scientific improvements which surrounded them. With the exception of the Duke of Wellington's campaigns, and a few brilliant but isolated exploits, the history of our army from the time of Marlborough was one of blunder and failure, and not unfrequently of disaster, whereas that of the navy was one of great achievements and an almost unbroken series of successes. Why, he would ask, was there that difference? Was it not that in the navy every officer entered it as a profession, and was duly and professionally educated and subjected to severe tests before he was advanced? It was essentially treated as a profession, and its officers sustained and encouraged to undergo its severe labours by the hope of gaining its rewards. The navy were always ready whenever they were required, at the beginning, at the close, or during the progress of a war; but not so the army. We were told that there was no practi- 99 cal school for the army to learn its business in; there was undoubtedly some truth in that, but only half a truth. We neglected, two years ago, an opportunity of extending that school. India was the principal quarter where the military profession might be learned practically within the British dominions; and there we had 30,000 troops. Two years ago, we agreed with the East India Company to increase the number of European troops by 10,000. But how did we effect this? Did we add that number to the Queen's troops, which would not have cost the Government one farthing, as they would have been all paid and supported by the East India Company? No, we gave authority to the East India Company to add that number to its own army, thereby creating 10,000 less good Colonial troops, instead of augmenting by 10,000 the number of, and the field of instruction for, our own troops. He earnestly hoped that this error would be rectified, or that the whole of the army in India, at least that the European portion of it, would be brought under the Crown. We might thus extend the practical skill of our officers, and we ought also to inspire them with more enterprise and energy, by a juster system of promotion and distinction. At present such inducements were not held out. Officers were placed upon the staff without any question as to military qualifications. Once upon the staff they continued upon it, and to the staff promotion mainly fell. It was impossible to overrate the unfairness of the promotion of our staff officers. There was an instance when the Queen visited Ireland. She was received at Cork by two officers, one of whom was of thirty-two years', and the other of twenty-eight years' standing; neither of them were promoted. But at Dublin, for a similar ceremony, no less than three aides-de-camp of the Lord Lieutenant's staff received the brevet rank of major, though the united services of the three would not amount to either of that of the Cork officers. That was an instance of what staff promotions were. One of those Cork officers subsequently went to Canada with his regiment, and died at his post; and the other went to Inkerman, where he fell at the head of his regiment. Of the three aides-de-camp staff officers who received promotion in Dublin, one was struck by a natural visitation, and sold out, the second was still employed on the Lord Lieutenant's staff, and the third had preferred a civil appointment to service in 100 the Crimea. He (Mr. Rich) might go on multiplying these instances, if it were necessary. The efficiency of our staff officers, and the education which fitted them for their duties, were totally disregarded, yet, in time, these staff officers became the leaders of our armies; and could we, with such a contempt for fitness and preparation, wonder at the almost constant failure of our military expeditions. There was no royal road to the art of war. It must be studied, deeply, perseveringly, hopefully, and embraced as a profession. When men were found who possessed the rare qualities which were essential for a soldier, they ought to be rapidly promoted. That was the practice in foreign countries, and it was the theory in our own. The Ordnance corps and engineers were, indeed, a credit to the service; but in these a complete system of education was pursued, and no man could enter the Artillery as an officer who had not passed a satisfactory examination at the military academy at Woolwich. Those gentlemen who went into the engineers were also subjected to a severe examination, and subsequently completed their education at the arsenal and at Chatham, but when, in that manner, a highly educated body of men was obtained, no use was made of them. The general routine duty of an officer of engineers, however brilliant his talents, was such as might be performed by the most ordinary officer; he was employed to look after old buildings and barracks, and other unimportant concerns. Some of the engineer officers, thus disgusted, were what was termed "seconded," and sought occupation in matters quite irrelevant to their professions. He believed that the number of pupils at the Military College at Sandhurst was on the decrease, and that the institution had been allowed to dwindle down, although not from any want of funds; for it appeared that during the last three years no less than 2,700l. had been paid into the Treasury as a surplus from it. In fact the college was not only self-supporting, but was, to some extent, a public charity, for some fifty of the cadets were maintained at half their cost, by charging the remainder nearly double their cost; thus excluding the sons of the middle gentry from the institution by the exorbitance of its charges. In the Military College, the junior department was intended for the education of regimental officers, and the senior department for the education of staff officers, for it was supposed 101 that those gentlemen in the senior department who obtained a certificate of having passed a satisfactory examination would obtain staff appointments; but, in point of fact, that certificate was a mere mockery, and with very few exceptions had never met its reward. Why was not the 900l. a year surplus which that college paid for the last three years into the public purse employed in educating more young men for commissions? Simply because, if that course were adopted, the patronage of the Horse Guards would be diminished. Now, with respect to the distribution of the commissions that were granted, he found that the number given between the years 1830 and 1847 was nearly 2,200; and of these, during those seventeen years, 446 were given to men who had shown distinguished merit in the ranks or as noncommissioned officers; of the remainder, 476 were given to the cadets who had passed through the studies and examinations of the Military College with honour, and had been recommended to the Commander in Chief. But what became of the rest? There were 1,269 commissions which had been granted, as it was stated, "to gentlemen"—that is to say, they had been given away by favour, or they had been sold. Several of those who procured them might have been also at the Military College, but merely as a place of resort, without being constrained to follow any department of study, or pass even any examinations. But half of them, at least, were young gentlemen who had not undergone even this preliminary, but had entered the army with no notion of following it as a profession, but who, being the heirs to large estates, had been placed in the army after having completed their school education, as a means of a very questionable discipline or prevention for keeping them out of the gaieties of London and Paris. These two classes furnished almost exclusively for the staff; the 446 who got commissions after having served in the ranks were, from their age and from their previous habits, not qualified for the staff, and the 476 who got commissions by their industry, their talents, and good behaviour at the college, being poor men, without interest, could not under the present system presume to obtain any staff appointment. So it happened that the staff appointments of the British army fell to the lot of the 600 or 700 gentlemen who without preparation and without previous merit got their commissions during 102 those seventeen years by the sole advantage of their fortune or social position; now what security, therefore, was there for their knowing anything of that which it was necessary for a soldier to know? There was no security; and until 1847 there were no precautions taken that these men should be even acquainted with the ordinary education of a gentleman much less with the duties of their profession; since then an examination was instituted by the noble Lord who was then Secretary at War, of which he (Mr. Rich) did not say that it was a good one, but which he believed was likely to prove a much more successful examination than that which had been prescribed by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for South Wiltshire (Mr. S. Herbert). It required a knowledge of the first elements of arithmetic and geometry, history and geography—a little smattering of Latin—or, failing that, of French or German, and some little knowledge of fortification; but, little as it was, it caused numbers of young men, who before that were intending to obtain commissions, to shrink from undergoing that examination, and so to abandon the idea of entering the army; and many others, who came up with all the assistance which "crammers" could render them, were "plucked" two or three times before they could pass. The poor orphan boys in the military school at Chelsea, or in the Royal Hibernian School, the sons of private soldiers, would have passed that ex-animation, he believed, much more readily. Could we be surprised, then, at the inefficient character of our staff? and did not that throw light on our failures? It was said that the French army had a practical school of war in Algiers, but he doubted whether it was so good as ours in India. The French, however, did not rely upon Algiers only for the training of their officers. The French had six or eight different military academies to prepare officers and men for the staff for every branch of the service. And what was their preparation for the highest branch? A young man was selected who had passed through the inferior colleges with distinction, and was then, for the next two years, put through a course of military administration, history, geography, and topography; statistics, mathematics, and the sciences; mechanics, gunnery, fortification, and modern languages. For sixteen months of the two years the teaching was theoretical, for six months practical, and the other two months were filled up by a very severe examina- 103 tion. After that he was attached for two years to some regiment of the line, then for another two years to a regiment of cavalry, and subsequently for two years more to the artillery; and, at the end of those eight years, and not till then, was he considered fit to serve on the staff with honour to himself and advantage to his country. But what was our course? The lucky son or nephew of some good-natured general, or of a good-natured general's lucky friend, was accepted without hesitation as an aide-de-camp. The fortunate youth was then initiated in the mysteries of dancing and carving, writing invitations, and singing a good song, laughing at his general's jokes and entertaining his guests. In due and quick time these accomplishments brought him promotion; he speedily became a major of brigade, or had a post in the departments of quartermaster general or of the adjutant general; thus he rose high in the army, but acquired no military knowledge, when suddenly a war broke out, and then the officer had to learn his duties—but how, and at whose expense? He learned them in the field, at haphazard, by error and mistakes, and at the cost of national disaster, and the noble blood of the English soldier, or, sadder still, of the miseries and privation which, by the ignorance of those in command, those soldiers were made to suffer. The honour of England and the lives of our army were too precious to be subjected any longer to such direful deficiences. Let the Government, therefore, take this matter into their most serious consideration. Let them take care that all the officers of our army, whether for regimental or staff service, should be well and thoroughly educated, and that, afterwards, those who best fitted themselves for duty should be encouraged by the juster dispensation of the professional honours.
§ CAPTAIN SCOBELLseconded the Motion.
§ Amendment proposed, to leave out from the word "That," to the end of the Quesion, in order to add the words, "it is expedient that measures be taken for promoting the efficiency of our Military Academies and other established provisions for preparing Officers for Regimental and for Staff Appointments,"—instead thereof.
§ Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
§ MR. FREDERICK PEELsaid, the hon. 104 Member for Richmond who had brought this subject forward had expressed his regret that he was unable to move for the appointment of a Committee. Now he (Mr. Peel) would admit that such a Committee might have led to the collection of a valuable body of evidence, but he was not sorry that it had not been proposed, for he believed that, so far from causing this question to make any progress, it would have had an opposite tendency, inasmuch as the Government were now giving their attention to this important subject, and if a Committee were appointed, the Government would be bound to suspend their action until the Committee had made their report upon it. He considered it inconvenient, both to himself and to the department with which he was connected, that, seeing the little time which the Government had yet had to mature their views upon the many important questions that were pending, he should be called upon to express an opinion upon matters of great moment vitally affecting the organisation of the army and following each other in rather close succession. Only two or three nights ago the House was treated to a discussion which involved the question of admitting privates and non-commissioned officers of the army —men advanced in age, and however well acquainted with the duties of a soldier, not possessing an education superior to that given in common elementary schools—into the class of commissioned officers; and now the hon. Member (Mr. Rich) has brought forward a question founded upon an opposite assumption, for it was recommended that a higher education should be given to the officers, and that superior qualifications should be exacted of them. Now, with regard to the general value of education for our officers, there could be no difference of opinion whatever. As his right hon. Friend the late Secretary for the Colonies said the other evening, every officer ought to understand the practical part of his duty, but no officer was the less capable of doing his duty because he understood the theory and science of the military profession. He (Mr. Peel) believed that the more our officers had their minds disciplined and their intelligence cultivated, the more would their resources be multiplied, enabling them to adapt themselves with the more facility to the varying exigencies of the military service. He did not speak merely of a professional education, but of general litera- 105 ture. A Bill which passed that House the other day, for raising a foreign legion, might illustrate the importance of general studies to an officer. Under that Act, we should have an assemblage of diverse nationalities, to place which under the command of an English officer would require that he should be acquainted with the different languages of Europe—German, French, and others; and so an officer familiar with foreign languages would enjoy multiplied opportunities of getting employment and of advancing himself. But although he (Mr. Peel) was favourable to education, he would not have it of too high a character. He believed that if too high an educational standard were established for the army, we should lose the services of many competent and valuable men. It was a common remark, that men, who at school and college were beaten by their competitors, would afterwards, in the real business of life, leave those competitors behind, not because in all cases they possessed greater social advantages of wealth or station, but from their having an instinctive knowledge of the way in which to turn what they did know to account for the public benefit. This should be strongly kept in view in the education of our army. The hon. Gentleman referred, amongst other matters, to the present means which this country had of furnishing education to our officers. It did not require more than a cursory glance at those means to feel satisfied that they were extremely scanty, and that the institutions which were established in this country did not, and were not intended to, supply the want which was referred to by the hon. Gentleman. Excepting the institution at Woolwich, there was nothing but the Military College at Sandhurst, and that the hon. Gentleman said had been reduced because the Commander in Chief was unwilling to lose his patronage. But there he thought the hon. Gentleman was mistaken, because it was not the Government, but that House, which had restricted the extent of its accommodation. It was a self-supporting institution at the present time, but not exactly in the way stated by the hon. Member. The hon. Member said there were ten inmates who paid nothing at all, and forty who paid a moderate sum. But the fact was, that there were twenty-five orphan children and other sons of officers who paid a sum of 40l. a year, and the College was able to take theta at 106 that low rate in consequence of the high charge which was levied on a third class containing some 110 pupils; and the advantages of the education of the officers were so great, that there was no difficulty on the part of the college to procure boys who paid a sum which was not only sufficient for their education, but also to support those who were received at a lower rate. The hon. Member suggested that the basis of the college should be enlarged, and that every officer intended for the army should pass through that institution. He was not disposed to agree in the policy of that recommendation, as be believed no great results would be found to attend a system which educated in a military manner persons of very youthful age. By devoting themselves to one particular study, narrow notions of their professions would be formed by those for whom the education was designed. The best class of public officers would, he conceived, be found among those who had passed through the public schools and universities, and who possessed a knowledge of general literature. The hon. Gentleman had also referred to the examinations as at present required by the rules of the service. He (Mr. Peel) was not aware of what was required by the examiners, but at least the examination secured that the officers were not illiterate. He thought that the plan recommended by his right hon. Friend secured that which the hon. Gentleman proposed, that when an officer required a commission, he should be prepared to pass a preliminary examination, and that he should receive, not merely a military education, but a general one. The plan of his right hon. Friend went on to provide, and he thought properly, that when an officer had received a first commission he should be required to pass subsequent examinations before he obtained a further grade, or before he obtained his company; and the only reason why the scheme had not been brought to maturity was the difficulty of appointing instructors in consequence of the persons who would lave been selected being required for the more pressing service of the army in the East. He thought, however, the circumstance of there being a war was no reason why they should not proceed in carrying out the plan. Whether the war was or was not to be continued, it was for the Government to see that measures were Alien to provide officers with the means 107 of acquiring a full knowledge both of the theory and of the practice of their profession, and the plan of his right hon. Friend, that there should be appointed at every head-quarters in this country and the Colonies certain instructors before whom the officers of the regiments serving in that command should be required to attend a course of lectures, and to pass an examination with success, before they received a further promotion, would, he thought, be attended with very advantageous results. With regard to the staff appointments, considering that those who were on the staff had very considerable advantages over the regimental officers, he certainly thought that those staff appointments should be considered as the prizes of the profession. Under the present system it not unfrequently happened that officers were appointed general officers, who, not from any fault of their own, but from the fault of the system, were familiar only with one branch of their duty. It would be possible to select officers who had most distinguished themselves at the district examinations proposed to be held, and to send them to some central station or to one of the large encampments to be formed when they would have an opportunity of learning the duties of all the difficult branches of the service, and from men thus trained and qualified, the Government might select those who were to hold staff appointments. With regard to the étatmajor of the French army, as he understood, that was a staff corps distinct from the other divisions of the army. Whether it was desirable or not for us to adopt that system was, of course, a matter for serious consideration. He trusted that the hon. Gentleman would be satisfied with this cursory review of his observations, and that he would not press his Motion.
COLONEL DUNNEsaid, that there was one very easy means of improving the education of the army without costing the country anything, and that was simply by ensuring employment to those officers who knew their duty. The great reason why we had no good staff officers was, that, whatever might be their attainments, their study, or their knowledge, they found them no recommendations for employment. Another great reason for the deficiency of our staff officers was the fact that there did not exist in the English language a single really useful work devoted to a description 108 of the duties of staff officers, and there was scarcely an officer to be found who could define with accuracy the duties of either the adjutant or quartermaster general. During the visit of the French officers to the camp at Chobham, they expressed their opinion that our regimental system was perfect, but that our staff arrangements were sadly deficient. It was perfectly absurd, in his opinion, to suppose that any academies of the country would produce staff officers. Every staff officer must educate himself. He should go to France, make himself master of the French language, and make himself acquainted with the system adopted in that country. He considered, at the same time, that it was impossible, from the peculiar constitution of the British army, to introduce the French school of the état major into it. He would again repeat, that the staff appointments ought only to be given to those who were, upon examination, found perfectly qualified to discharge the duties of the appointment.
MR. OWEN STANLEYsaid, he hoped the hon. Member for Richmond did not intend to press his Motion to a division, but notwithstanding he thought the Government had adopted a proceeding which would prove injurious to the army by promoting sergeants to the rank of officers. Composed as the English army was, it required great caution as to the system of promotion which should be adopted. If there should be an indiscriminate promotion of non-commissioned officers, it would inevitably do injury both to the army and to the individuals themselves. He was glad to find that the Government was taking the whole system of the army into their consideration. That was much better than having isolated Motions brought forward by independent Members, which only had the effect of preventing the Government taking immediate and decisive measures on the subject.
§ MR. OTWAYsaid, he could not avoid expressing his surprise that the hon. Gentleman the Under Secretary of War, when speaking of the circumstances attending the expedition to the Crimea and the education of the officers, should have treated the subject as merely a question of money. With regard to the Motion before the House, he would observe that in France there were many colleges where persons were educated by the State; but in England no such thing could be said to exist. 109 By a return which had been made of the number of orphans of the officers of the army who were gratuitously educated at public institutions, it appeared that there were eight educated at one establishment, and only two at another. He was pleased to learn from the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Peel) that the plan of the late Secretary for War was to be carried out—namely, that periodical examinations should be made of every officer before he should obtain any increased rank in the service. With regard to the appointments on the staff, he did not concur in what had fallen from the hon. and gallant Gentleman opposite (Colonel Dunne) as to the facility with which officers of the staff might be educated. A most disastrous affair had recently occurred, which illustrated how necessary it was that a staff officer should possess higher qualifications than merely those of a regimental officer. He alluded, of course, to the cavalry charge at Balaklava. An order was conveyed from the commander in chief to a general officer in command, and a misunderstanding arose between that officer and the aide-de-camp who was the bearer of the order, as to the interpretation to be put upon it. Now, if the general officer was possessed of the power, not only of carrying out the order of the commander in chief, but also of interpreting it, then it would be immaterial whether the aide-de-camp possessed the qualification of interpreting or not. But when power was given to that staff officer to put a construction upon the order, then it was not enough that he should be a good rider, but that he should also be an officer capable of interpreting the orders of the commander in chief to whose staff he belonged.
§ MR. BELLEWsaid, he thought, as reference had been made to the charge at Balaklava, the House ought not to forget that the order in that case was a written one, and had the officer who carried it to the general of division simply delivered it the charge in question might not have been made.
§ MR. J. G. PHILLIMOREsaid, he hoped the House would not rush into the opposite extreme, under the idea that education would make a good general. The Duke of Marlborough, it was well known, was one of the most illiterate men of his day, and Marshal Saxe could not sign his own name. With the exception of Bernadotte, there were few of the French marshals—and he might certainly say neither 110 Soult nor Massena—who had received any education. There was great danger that, having heard too much on one side, they might now rush into the opposite extreme.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, there is no doubt much truth in what the hon. and learned Member (Mr. Phillimore) has said, but the case comes to this—when you apply a test of qualification for a particular employment, you must take care not to employ a test applicable to another totally different employment. It is quite true that the attainments which qualify a man to be a good officer are not the same which would qualify a man to be a learned professor; and if you require your officers to pass an examination which will qualify them for a professorial chair, you will certainly commit a great error. Upon the other hand, great advantages would arise from taking care that upon each step of promotion an officer should keep himself up to proper progress in the attainments belonging to the profession of which he is a member. The qualities which constitute a good general are qualities which must be inborn in the man. The combination of qualities which make a great general is one of the rarest which occurs in the moral constitution of man. My belief is, that you will find a great many more men fitted to be successful statesmen than men suited to take command, and who have all the foresight necessary for the performance of the duties attaching to that station. At the same time, it is highly important that your officers should keep well up and make progress in their profession; and those examinations which have been alluded to are examinations which I think ought to be tests of military knowledge. It would be desirable that that test should not only be applied upon the first entrance into office, but that the officers should also understand that unless they occupy their minds and perfect themselves in those matters which are essential to a proper performance of military duties, they will not gain such promotion as they are desirous to obtain.
COLONEL KNOXsaid, he thought it would be of great advantage to their service if the system adopted in foreign armies was carried out. There, when a young officer was perfect in his military duties, he was for a short time attached to the artillery, then to the engineers and the cavalry; and he thereby learned the routine of all the branches of the service. There was no means in their service by 111 which a general officer could obtain that knowledge which would enable him to make effective use of the different arms. He was quite certain that more would be learned in that way than by any system of examination.
§ MR. RICHsaid, that after the satisfactory statement the Government had made, he would not press his Motion.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Main Question put, and agreed to.