ARMY ESTIMATES. (Hansard, 28 March 1822)

§ Mr. Hume
objected to a grant to that amount. The mere salaries of officers at this College exceeded 6,000l. a year. This was for the superintendence of 290 students. He could not see what necessity there was for a governor at 1,500l. a year, a lieutenant-governor at 1,095l., a major, at 351l., four, captains 1,095l., and various other expensive appointments. He moved to reduce the vote 3,422l., which would leave it at 10,240l.

Mr. F. Palmer
treated the College as an excrescence, which, if it would not yield to mild applications, must be attacked in the way of radical cure. It was impossible for the country, distressed as it was, to support the charge of such an establishment.

§ Sir H. Hardinge
observed, that the hon. member had made a most erroneous statement with respect to the cadets educated at the Military College. He had stated the whole number in the college, since the peace, to be 1,764. Now, in this the hon. member made a mistake of not less than from 1,200 to 1,300. The hon. member's peculiar and felicitous mode of calculation was this—he took the number of cadets in the college, for each year of the five or six years, and he added them up, giving the sum total as the number of cadets in the college for that time. Nothing could be more erroneous, and the hon. member should have known, before he made this statement, that more than one year was necessary for completing the education of a cadet; that it took four years, and therefore, in adding together the numbers in every year, the hon. 1380 member was counting the same cadets over and over again. [Hear.] Instead of the 1,764 cadets, in the time alluded to, the whole number did not much exceed 450. Thus, the hon. member proceeded in the same way, as if he were to calculate the number of members in the House of Commons, upon the novel and ingenious principle, that because there are now 658 members, at the end of five years there must be 3,290. Now such statements, whatever little impression they might make in that House, where the error could be detected, were yet not harmless, as they went forth to the public, and created an improper feeling as to the manner in which the army was regulated. Another statement of the hon. member was this—that cadets, the orphans of deceased officers, were frequently set aside, to make room for others who had more interest. Now he could assert positively, that this statement was unfounded in fact; and he would again say that such assertions were calculated to do harm, as it conveyed an impression of undue preference at the office of the commander-in-chief. He could state to the House, that it was impossible a cadet should be set aside when he had passed his examination. He (sir H. Hardinge) was present at one of those examinations, and one cadet passed a very excellent examination. A young nobleman (lord Falkland) was third or fourth on that occasion. Now, so little was interest consulted, that the cadet who had answered so remarkably well was taken, and put at the head of the list that he might have his commission as soon as possible. This young gentleman was the son of a captain Adams, of the veteran battalion, who was not known to the commander-in-chief, and who had no interest whatever. He stated this circumstance to show the impartiality which was observed at the college.

§ Mr. Hume
said, he would restate his facts, and maintain their correctness, viz. that in the five years, 1816 to 1820 inclusive, there had been each year from 412 to 290 cadets educated at the public expense—at an expense of 115,280l.; and in the same time only 160 of these cadets had received commissions, and been admitted into the army, making the expense 720l. for the education of every one of those 160 cadets. As there have been 44 cadets admitted from the college into the army in 1821, the expense of the col- 1381 lege in that year was 18,730l., making the expense of each of those 44, a sum of 425l. to the country. Again he asked, ought the country inns present distressed state, to be put to this expense, for the education of 290 youths, when commissions could be given only to a part? The reduction which he proposed would leave sufficient to defray the expense of military officers, to keep order in the establishment.

List of the Minority.
Barrett, S. M.	Newport, sir J.
Blake, sir F.	Price, Robt.
Crespigny, sir W.	Rice, S.
Davies, col.	Smith, W.
Hobhouse, J. C.	Western, C.
Leonard, T. B.	Whitbread, S.
Lushington, Dr.	TELLERS.
Martin, J.	Hume, J.
Maxwell, J.	Palmer, C. F.