§ SIR J. GRAHAMobserved, that in consequence of the peace considerable reductions would, no doubt, be made in the number of officers of minor grade in the army. Now, he wished to ask his hon. Friend the Under Secretary for War whether, considering that many commissions had been granted to students at Sandhurst as rewards for their early proficiency in the military art, their case would receive consideration at the hands of the Government in making the proposed reduction?
MR. PEELapprehended that the only correct principle upon which such a reduction could be made was to reduce those who were the juniors in each grade. Of those juniors, some no doubt had obtained their commissions without purchase, as rewards for the proficiency they had displayed at Sandhurst; others, again, had 735 obtained them in consequence of their militia regiments having contributed a certain quota to the regular army; while a third class had secured them by purchase.