§ LORD STRATHNAIRNrose for the purpose of calling the attention of the House to the defective state of the records of services of officers of the Army, and, in doing so, said, he was acting in perfect consistency with the principle upon which the system of keeping records of military merit was framed—a principle which he had always advocated and supported from the time that his position enabled him to do so. That principle was one that was inseparably connected with the question of rewards, for it was impossible that the one system should be administered, and the other —the record of services—be neglected. When he was in India, after the Indian Mutiny, he received instructions to reorganize the Native Army in Bengal, the great majority of which—the discipline and efficiency being undermined by the transfer of their best officers to the staff and civil employments, and the anti-military privilege of caste—broke out finally in an armed and general Mutiny. He never missed an opportunity of thanking and rewarding the brave and loyal, but small minority; and he was convinced that the best guarantee for the success of the all-important mission of re-organization of the Bengal Army was the adoption of the principle of military reward for military merit—that reward being the patronage that was at his disposal as Commander-in-Chief for India, and the merit being the tested good services of the Army which had won their spurs under historic and brilliant traditions. He foresaw that this act of military self-denial, this proof of the interest which he took in the welfare of the Army, would increase his personal influence; whilst, on the other hand, the reward for past services and the assurance that future good service would receive the same just recompense, would encourage the officers, to whom was 2011 intrusted the particular duty of carrying out the re-organization; and therefore, in a General Order issued by him, he gave his large military patronage to the officers of the Native Army, the sole condition being that they should deserve it, and it was under this influence the re-organized Bengal Army acquired its efficiency and self-esteem. The success of that re-organization was acknowledged by the Supreme Government, by the Secretary of State for India, and other competent authorities, and also by the valuable evidence of the Native Press. In recording his departure from India, all its journals added that he had kept his word to the officers, and had invariably rewarded military merit. There could not be a better example of the results than was afforded the other day by the military bearing and the spirit of the Indian regiments at Malta, which had responded with such alacrity and such loyalty to the call of their Empress to come to the front at a very critical time. It had been observed that the system of rewards for merit had been accompanied in India by failures. Now, the last attribute that he wished to claim was that of infallibility. A system like that, no doubt, had its shortcomings; but those that had occurred could not be very serious, for he never heard what they were. Only two or three instances occurred before he left India, and they were not unnatural. In those instances, the officers deserved promotion, but were not equal to the responsibility of the higher position. The remedy was not very difficult; the officers were instructed that they would not be promoted until they had acquired more experience and discretion. A mere description of the present system of recording the services of officers would be, he ventured to think, a fitting prelude to a demand for an improved system. At present a record was kept in every regimental orderly-room of the birth, death, entry, exchange, and retirement of the officers of the regiment, with the date of any action, battle, or campaign in which they might have been engaged, with the name of the General-in-Chief commanding. That record, which was accessible to the officers, stated their distinguished services, if any, in the field, and the wounds they received, as well as any mention that was made in despatches, and any promotion an officer 2012 might have received for good conduct in the field. But a second record was kept which was of a confidential character— mainly the reports of the general officers inspecting the regiment to the Military Secretary at the Horse Guards of the character and qualifications of each regimental officer, both in the field and in barracks, tested by an examination into the manner in which they performed their various duties. These reports were satisfactory so far as they went, except that the first one for the orderly-room was often too meagre; and in regard to the reports, they frequently had to send them back in order that they might insert the good services that had not been mentioned. With regard to the inspection report, he ventured to repeat an opinion which he had given to Committees and Commissions—that they should only be confidential when they related to matters of scandal not fitted for the public eye, and he thought that it would be fairer and more for the good of the Service that the regimental officers should be encouraged by a more confidential report of their qualifications; while, on the other hand, it would be a useful warning to the careless and inefficient officer, if he knew that there was an unfavourable opinion entertained of him by his superiors. There was a third publication which professed to be a general record of the officers' services, and that was Hart's Army List; but its foundation and spirit were equally false, and he ventured to think that there ought to have been long since established an official and responsible record of officers' services, carefully organized and compiled. As to Hart's Army List, he had no doubt of that gentleman's good intention; but the compilation was a self-eulogistic voluntary work, with official symbols, but without any official recognition or status whatever. That was the sole public registry of the officers' services, and the consequence of that was that officers in possession of statements of very distinguished services were unwilling to send them to a registry which was absolutely non-official; and, indeed, in his view, it was opposed to the principles which governed all military rules and regulations that officers should, uncontrolled by any authority, send a statement of their own services to a non-official record. One proof of the objectionable tendency of 2013 such a publication was the absurdity of some of the articles which formerly appeared in Hart's Army List, and to some extent did now. Not long ago, a noble Friend of his, not now in the House, showed him an article, the absurdity of which was perfectly ridiculous, and which certainly caused great amusement. But there was a worse feature attending this publication than simple ridicule, because it often happened that an exaggerated account of the services of officers who had no claim whatever on the country on the ground of the performance of distinguished services appeared in The Army List authoritatively as having received rewards and promotion. He had said enough to show that he could not associate himself with Hart and his compilation; but if there had been a responsible military office with the declared object of receiving, and, after examination, publishing them with authority, he should have been happy to have complied with the intimation, and should have considered it greatly to the interest of the officers. But no such office was in existence, and he was himself a sufferer by this system; because, while he could not identify himself, or associate himself, with the records of The Army List, he was in possession of records of services in every part of the world, which were quite unknown to his superiors and to his countrymen. He therefore complained that, under the present system, there being no official record, the services of many officers altogether escaped recognition.
§ VISCOUNT BURYregretted that his noble and gallant Friend had not brought this matter forward at a time when the illustrious Duke the Commander-in-Chief was able to be present; because they would have had that assistance from him which he was at all times willing to give, and which was so valuable when any military question came under the consideration of the House.
§ LORD STRATHNAIRNsaid, that he did not know that his Royal Highness (the Duke of Cambridge) could not be present to-day.
§ VISCOUNT BURYgathered from the noble and gallant Lord that his complaint was two-fold. First of all, that the regimental record of services was insufficient; and next, that the other record of services which went to the 2014 Commander-in-Chief was confidential; and further, his noble and gallant Friend deprecated the voluntary records which were sent in to The Army List. The noble and gallant Lord said that he himself had suffered from the want of some official compilation, and he inferred from that that his services were not known in the Dominions of Her Majesty. That, however, was contrary to the fact; for everyone knew that his noble and gallant Friend was one of the most gallant soldiers of this country. At the same time, he quite sympathized with his noble and gallant Friend in his desire for an official compilation in which the services to which he had referred could be placed before the public otherwise than through the medium of Hart's Army List. His noble and gallant Friend, however, was quite mistaken in supposing that the record of his services was not perfectly well known to the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and to the authorities of the Horse Guards. Indeed, his services had always been recognized by the fact that he had been appointed to high military commands, which he had filled both with honour to himself and great advantage to the country. It might be that an official record would be of advantage. He did not know what the terms of the noble and gallant Lord's Motion would be, and, therefore, he had had no opportunity of consulting with the Horse Guards on that point; but the noble and gallant Lord might be assured that he would take an opportunity of making inquiries and communicating with the illustrious Duke, and if any means could be adopted of obtaining a better record of the services of officers of the Army, he would take care that they should be. His noble and gallant Friend had mentioned the details of the records that were already made, and he (Viscount Bury) might refer to the medals given for good services and to the regimental orders, which, however, he admitted were not generally accessible. It was a very difficult thing for a general officer to make an absolutely perfect report; and if it were known that the reports which were made were to be made public, they would not be of that advantage to the Service that they were when they were of a confidential character, because it was obvious that matters which were men- 2015 tioned in the confidential reports would certainly not be mentioned in the public reports. He did not, therefore, suppose that any alteration would be made in the nature of the confidential reports; but with regard to the other report, and to the absence of an official record in substitution of the voluntary record in Hart's Army List, he should be happy to bring the subject before the illustrious Duke.
§ LORD STRATHNAIRNexpressed himself much obliged to his noble Friend, and begged to explain that he was so little aware that the illustrious Duke would be absent upon this occasion, that he had actually addressed to him a letter at the House.
§ House adjourned at Five o'clock, till To-morrow, a quarter past One o'clock.