ARMY PROMOTIONS. (Hansard, 3 July 1855)

§ MR. RICH

said, he rose to move— That the authorised system of purchase and sale of commissions, promotions, and exchanges in the army has failed in its principal object, is unjust in its working, is openly transgressed in its pecuniary regulations, and is in direct violation of the principles and practice of the Government in all other departments of the State; and that, therefore, it should be continued no longer than is necessary for the just and gradual satisfaction of the claims of individuals and of the State. He must express his regret that he had been compelled to postpone the Motion until so late a period, for the question was one which, important at all times, became doubly so now that the Ordnance had just been brought under the control of the Horse Guards, and when it was proposed to assimilate the army of India as much as possible with the Queen's army. It was evidently of importance to consider the question of the purchase and sale of commissions before any steps were taken to extend that system to an extensive branch of our own service and to the army of the East India Company. The question became of even still more vital consequence, when it was remembered that in a discussion which had recently taken place in that House, principles had been avowed which would materially change the system of purchase and sale of commissions as now carried on, and would open the door to a very heavy and considerably increasing charge upon the country. In the remarks which he was about to offer he had no intention of citing individual cases, preferring to deal with the whole question in the aggregate rather than in detail. The House, probably, was not aware of the extent to which the system of sale and purchase prevailed in the British army. He found, from the Report of the Commission which sat upon the subject in 1840, that during the four years between April, 1834, and April, 1838, no fewer than thirty-nine colonels had purchased their promotion, while twenty-eight had obtained it without purchase. In the same period 108 majors obtained their promotion by purchase, and forty-one without; 485 captains obtained their promotion by 430 purchase, and 131 without; 784 lieutenants obtained their promotion by purchase, and 247 without; while 1,114 gentlemen obtained their appointments as cornets or ensigns by purchase, and 260 without. Of those 260, 160 were cadets, and thirty-three had been raised from the ranks. The efficiency of the army must depend upon the preparation of the officers, their fitness for the profession, their addiction to it, and their physical qualifications. With regard, first, to the requisite preparation, he found in the case of the 1,114 who had obtained their commissions by purchase no trace whatever of such preparation on the part of any of them except that sixty-three had been at the military college, although he could not find that they had gone through the examination which entitled them to receive a certificate.