to sweep away some of the most obvious broken through routine. The cases brought grievances, to introduce, at least, some ele- forward by Mr. Layard of hardship and inments of a better system. Accordingly, justice arising from the system, and from true to our national habits of seeing only unwarrantable departures from that system one thing at a time, and doing everything may, or may not, have been disproved. bit by bit-we fix upon some one abuse, With all this we have nothing to do. The which appears too absurd to be defended SYSTEM of Purchase, the operation of which and too monstrous to be borne, and demand we have to consider, is simply and broadly its instant removal without regard to its this:-(Minute details, exceptions, and pecontext or connexion, without pausing to culiarities, understood fully nowhere but at consider whether it may not be the key- the Horse Guards, we leave out of view, as stone of a whole fabric-whether its aboli- irrelevant to the argument, and as certain tion, which we so earnestly insist upon, may to confuse our comprehension of it.) Offinot involve a whole occan of consequences cers, generally (in time of peace) purchase which we did not foresee, which we do not their original commission:-sometimes it is desire, and which we are not prepared to given, as a matter of favour, as a reward to face. old officers, for their sons, as a recompense On this occasion, the lot has fallen upon for past services to non-commissioned offithe SYSTEM OF PURCHASE in the army. It cers. In time of war, as at present, many seems the height of folly, that the right of commissions are bestowed without purchase. leading and commanding those troops on Once in the army, the officer rises, by seniwhose skill, management, and valour, de- ority, to the head of his class. If a lieupend the safety and honour of the nation, tenancy or captaincy is vacated by death, should be sold for money, should be, as it the senior ensign or lieutenant is appointed were, the exclusive patrimony of the rich. without purchase. If vacated by retireAnd it seems about the most flagrant of all ment, the appointment is offered to the our unjust anomalies, that the long and senior ensign or lieutenant, if he can purmeritorious services of the poor officer chase it at the regulation price. If he canshould be outweighed by the heavier purse not, or will not, the vacancy is offered to the of the inexperienced and incapable, and that one below him, and so on till some one does the tried veteran should languish for a life- purchase it. The purchaser, then, is protime in subaltern grades, while the young moted over the heads of his non-purchasing upstart, who has seen no service but has in- seniors. The same plan is followed in apherited much cash, should be promoted to pointing to majorities and lieutenant-colohigh command over his head. This does nelcies. Subsequent grades are not purseem monstrous and indefensible; and as- chased. In time of peace, of course, prosuredly we are not prepared to do battle motions generally go by purchase. In time on its behalf, or to defend the equity or of war, deaths in battle, or by disease, allow wisdom of so singular a system. But we many officers to gain their promotion withdesire to lay before our readers a few facts out purchase. and considerations which have been too generally overlooked, and which will suffice to shew that the system of Purchase in the Army has more complicated bearings than at first appears; that it is neither so inexplicable nor so monstrous as a hasty glance would lead us to suppose; that it has advantages which it would not be easy to attain in any other mode; and, especially, that its abolition is neither so simple nor so isolated a proceeding as its advocates seem to imagine.

Now, the first thing that strikes us in this singular system is that the whole service is gratuitous, or nearly so. Not only are the officers of the army, some six or seven thousand in number, willing to serve her Majesty for the scantiest remuneration, far less than ordinary diligence and activity would command in any other calling, but they are actually willing to pay for the privilege of being thus allowed to serve her for this inadequate pittance. In a country where private enterprise is more lucrative than any other, where In discussing this subject, we must sepa- merchants give their clerks, and railway rate strictly the system itself from irregu- companies their inferior servants, salaries lar and arbitrary departures from that sys- varying from £100 to £300 a-year; where tem. In recent debates, these two wholly the lowest Government copying-clerk redistinct things have been too often confused ceives £90 a-year to begin with, advancing and mixed up together. It may be that the at the rate of £15 a-year; and when even Horse Guards have sometimes exercised skilled artificers, carpenters, and smiths earn their power of promotion in a way incon- their 6s., 8s., or 10s. a day; and where even sistent with the usual and understood regu- policemen and ticket-porters get their £60 lations. It may be that connexion has a-year, there is a most eager competition

can

There is much force in this representation, | yawning wretchedness, and that observation, but it is greatly overstated. No doubt, if practice, and professional studies, would reyou insisted upon thorough knowledge of the place reckless profligacy or stagnant indif duties of an officer as an indispensable pre- ference. liminary for promotion; if you required If, then, by a strict enforcement of oblisome years of active service in one grade gations, you can obtain good service gratuibefore the officer could step into the one tously, or at a cheap rate, there is clearly no above; if you made advancement a thing to reason why you should not do so, and every be earned; if, in fact, in each rank, you in- reason why you should. Not only is a vast sisted upon the occupant knowing his work sum thus annually spared to the finances of well, and doing it with efficiency and zeal, the country, but the mere existence of large you would disgust and rebut at the outset numbers of men who are willing to do their many young idlers who have little steadiness duty in a hard and hazardous profession, for and less capacity, and you would soon weed honour and distinction instead of money, out many of the indolent and worthless who scarcely fail to impart some degree of impeentered the service without knowing its re- tus and elevation to the moral spirit of the quirements; but an ample number would nation. But besides this, the gratuitous still remain to fill up and create a competi- character of military service is economy in tion for all vacancies. A great proportion a double sense. It economises men as well of those who enter the army are quite able as money. It procures you for nothing, or to become good officers, if you made it a next to nothing, services for which you condition of the service that they should be- would otherwise have to pay largely, and it come so. They are indolent and incapable turns to profitable use those who would now because you allow them to be so. Make otherwise be unproductive, idle, and even competency necessary for promotion, and worse. This last consideration is a most competency will rise up, with scarcely any important one. The system of purchase, change of personnel. Make proved fitness, and even, to a certain extent, the possible knowledge, character, qualification-test it operation of favouritism, attract into the how you please, in the best mode that pro- army precisely those young men who, if fessional experience can point out an essen- they did not do that, would do nothing, and tial pre-requisite to obtaining a company, with who are far too numerous, and too remuant or without purchase, and in a wonderfully a class to remain unemployed with impunity. short time three-fourths of your lieutenants The young nobleman, who can find no occu would be able to pass whatever ordeal you pation to fill up the years which must elapse might decide upon. Nay more, they would between leaving college and succeding to the thank you for the change. It is a mistake to family honours and estate, and whose désausuppose that a life of indolence is agreeable vré condition now (if they are not in Parlia to any, save a small minority of men. It ment) makes them objects almost of comdemands, no doubt, an effort to discard it; passion; the younger sons of the aristocracy, but when that effort is insisted upon and en- who shrink from the laborious professions, forced it brings with it its own reward. And and have means sufficient to exempt them the majority of our young military men, all from the necessity of toil; who have not who are fit for any thing, would be thankful, talent enough for the Bar, nor steadiness after a year or two, for whatever dispelled enough for the Church, nor capital enough the "killing languor," the miserable tedium, for commerce, nor taste or vocation for any the overpowering ennui, of a barrack or gar- of these careers; and the children of wealthy rison life; they would bless those who com- citizens and bankers, who have time to waste pelled them to exert themselves; they would and money to spend, and who have no great hail with joy the appearance of AN OBJECT objects to arouse them, and no res augusta sufficient to arouse them from their lethargy, domi to stimulate them to exertion,—all and to stimulate their powers. And if they these, who would otherwise be mere men knew that, unless they could prove their about town," mischievous dawdlers and competency for the duties of a captain's loungers, a burden to themselves and a rank, they would as surely be passed over plague to all around them, now eagerly as if they had not deposited their purchase- press into a profession in which wealth and money, and that the cost of their indolence connexion insure advancement. would be continuance in a subaltern's posi- But besides these, there is another class tion-we do not for a moment doubt, that at least as numerous, and whose capacities, barrack-rooms and country quarters would which would otherwise run to waste, are become scenes of diligent and sedulous pre- caught up and turned to account by the paration for the coming ordeal, in place of army, and whose "utilisation" (to use a being scenes of disreputable pastimes or Benthamite phrase) is greatly facilitated by D-20

VOL. XXIII,

the system of purchase. We refer to what strength is failing and his hair is grey; may be termed the illiterate gentry, youths while boys, to whom he taught the rudiments of good birth and connexion, averse to study, of the profession, become field-officers, have loathing a sedentary life, dull in acquisition the command of regiments, and retire as. but by no means stupid in action, into whom major-generals." It may be an unwiseit has been found impossible to instil any-system; it may operate cruelly in individthing beyond the merest rudiments of polite ual instances; but it cannot fairly be termed learning, who can acquire nothing through the unjust. On the whole, we are not sure that medium of books, who could acquire much it does not answer nearly as well for the through the medium of practice. These poor as for the rich; in time of war it cermen will often make admirable officers, tainly answers better.

though they would make very bad lawyers, There is no injustice in it, because every clergymen, doctors, or merchants. They man, on entering the army, knows its, regucan buy a commission, though it would be lations and its chances. The rich man utterly impossible for them to obtain one, enters it, knowing that he will in time be were anything like a rigid examination to able to buy his way up. The poor man meet them on the threshold. Yet they are enters it, expecting that in time he will get excellent materials for the rough work of his promotion without purchase. With him war. They have courage in overflowing it is as much a pecuniary speculation as a abundance, bodily activity and strength, a struggle for distinction. It may enable him fine spirit of adventure, presence of mind, to make money as fast and as certainly as he sagacity, and tact; hardships are fun to could have done, without capital, in any other them; danger and difficulty are temptations; profession-faster, probably, in war, unless they seem expressly made for the military profession. They feel no vocation for any other walk in life; they are conscious of no qualities which would secure them success elsewhere; they do see a prospect of rising, and distinguishing themselves in the army, and accordingly they are willing, not only to serve you for nothing, but to pay for serving you. Is it not well, both for themselves and for the country, to accept their gratuitous services, and to turn them to account?*

"But," it is alleged, "the system of purchase is a cruel injustice to the poor officer, who cannot buy his way up, and who therefore sees younger, less experienced, and less meritorious men, promoted over his head, who perhaps remains a subaltern till his

he be a man of unusual capacity and energy. As all vacancies by death, (as a rule,) whether from illness or in action, are filled up without purchase by the next in rank, poor officers thus frequently obtain promotion, as well as original commissions, at no expense. They calculate on doing so. A man who steadily devotes himself to his profession, and is moderately lucky, may expect to obtain at least one step, and in time of war two or three steps, without purchase. Promotion may come slowly, but it comes at length, and when it comes, is all clear gain. The commission, which he did not buy, he may yet sell. If he be senior lieutenant, the death of a captain is £2000 or £3000 put into his pocket. If he be major, the £6000, which he can realize at pleasure. If death of his colonel gives him £5000, or anomalies of our military system-its being recruited from the lowest classes, and officered from the high- he be unusually fortunate, and live through est, as well as the nearly gratuitous character of the a protracted war, it is quite possible that he service. In the feudal times gentlemen held their may quit the service as lieutenant-colonel, lands on the tenure of military service; they received and receive £10,000 for his commission, them in fee-simple, or on lease, on condition of serving in the army, and bringing a certain number of without having purchased a single step. The followers into the field; they received no pay at all colonelcy which the poor officer receives for their estates were pay given in advance. Their nothing, by the death of his superior, that service appeared to be gratuitous, but in fact it was superior, being a rich man, probably purnot so. It was highly paid, only it was paid in land, chased for £6000 or £7000. and not in cash. The military profession being thus Of course confined to gentlemen, and being considered the only these are only chances, but they are chances one fit for gentlemen, was sought by all who wished on which he calculates when he chooses his to become or to be thought gentlemen, and the priv- profession. A poor officer, then, on enterilege of bearing arms was one for which parvenus

* It is not difficult to trace the origin of the actual

and noureaux riches were glad to pay. Thus thereing the army, looks not merely to his pay, seems to be a rude sort of historical justice, both in but to the contingent prospect of retiring the monopoly of military rank by the upper classes, with a capital of many thousand pounds, and in the scanty remuneration they receive. The which he is to inherit by the death of richer very hereditary wealth which enables them to dis- colleagues. If he wants gratuitous promopense with good pay is in itself their pay. It was

given to their ancestors as a retaining fee, on condition, he must be content to let it come tion that they and their descendants should serve the slowly. If wants rapid promotion, he Crown gratuitously when called into the field. must be content to pay for it.

bring his family to ruin. Surely this is neither wise nor righteous.*

Nor are the cases in which first commissions and subsequent steps are obtained without purchase, by any means so rare as But mark how every portion of this syswe imagine. From a statement made in tem is linked together. If, moved by the the House of Commons by Colonel Lindsay, previous hardship just described, and the it appears that in 1853, before the war other anomalies and iniquities alleged against broke out, of 30 lieutenant-colonels, 13 were it, we abolish purchase in the army, we promoted without purchase; of 51 majors, remove precisely that feature in our mili22; of 266 captains, 120. In 1854-a remark- tary arrangement which tempts the rich, able year no doubt of 795 first commis- which attracts the noble, which utilises the sions granted, only 358 were purchased. Be- idle, which rewards the poor, which compentween 1836 and 1846, the number of non- sates for the frequent neglect of the meritori commissioned officers promoted to commis- ous. Nay, more, we should remove presions gratis was 245. And, finally, in the cisely that feature which is the chief and last 15 years, out of 357 officers who became most effectual, if not the only possible corlieutenant-colonels, only 169 purchased their rective of what every one admits to be the commissions, and of these 93 had obtained most crying evil of our military hierarchy, their majorities, and 57 their companies and the pressure of which at the present without purchase; so that only 49 out of moment we are feeling with peculiar severithe whole number, or less than one-seventh, ty,—namely, the slowness of promotion, and had purchased all their steps.

system.

There are only three conceivable modes and rules of promotion,-promotion according to desert, promotion according to senior

the consequently advanced age at which the Indeed, the real hardship-we feel tempted higher grades in the service are reached. to say the injustice of the system, falls And the efficacy of this corrective is most rather on the rich than on the poor-on closely dependent upon that especial anomaly those, that is, who by dying in harness lose which we have just pointed out as the most the (often) large sums of money they have grievous hardship in the whole case,-nameinvested in the purchase of their commissions. ly, the loss of their commissions by those Those very prizes (gratuitous commissions) who die in harness or fall in battle. Indeed, of which we have just spoken as the attrac- it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that this tion and remuneration and compensation is the keystone of all that is beneficial in the of the poor officer, are in the majority of cases gained at the expense of the less fortunate though the more wealthy. The gratis commission, which gladdens the heart of the receiver, who has waited for it perhaps for years, is taken from another who has purchased it, and who perhaps had no other property in the world. The prizes which reward one set of men are the spoils torn from the dead bodies of another. Certainly this does seem a flagrant and cruel injustice. An officer, say. has purchased his original commission; he has bought himself up step by step in the service; he may have expended all he possesses by the time he attains his regiment; and he designs to sell out in a few years, in the conviction that the £10,000 which his lieutenant-colonelcy has cost him, will be a comfortable provision for his widow. If he lives to sell out, all goes well. But if he sickens and dies, or if, being brave and forward in action, and of devoted gallantry, he falls nobly on the field, he forfeits his commission, it goes to the next in rank gratis, and the money he paid for it is lost. If he sells out in January, he secures £500 a year for ever. If he remains and is killed in February, his widow has only a pension of £70 for her life. Thus we give him every Imotive to avoid danger. He goes into action feeling that any chance shot may

*We may mention two recent instances of this anomalous hardship. In one, the scion of a noble family, who had worked or bought his way up to a high grade, married, and was about to sell out and settle the value of his commission on his wife, as he eral of high renown, was averse to his son's leaving had no other property. But his father, an old genthe army, and to gratify him the son postponed his retirement. The father died last year, and the son was about to realize; but his regiment was ordered to the Crimea, and his honor he thought required him to go with it. He is too brave an officer not to be foremost in danger, and if he dies, thoso dependent on him will be destitute.

Another gallant officer, Colonel Willoughby Moore, was ordered off with his regiment to the seat of war. He was then offered £15,000 for his commission, but refused it. The vessel in which he sailed was wrecked off the coast of Spain. He might easily have saved himself, but he refused to leave the ship till every private had been got away. The greater number were rescued, but the Colonel and a few others were too late, and perished nobly in their duty. Colonel Moore, too, was recently married, and his death left his family without provision;-and he knew it would do so as he went down. The £15,000

he might have received for his commission was sacMajesty, (who allotted her £100 a year,) his widow rificed, and but for the generous intervention of her would have had nothing but the usual miserable pension of £70.