the embryo hero shall sell his commission, pay his debts, and avail himself of the kind offer of his uncle, a bank director, to place him at a desk in the Bank of England; and so ends the short-lived military career of our friend Charles.

A mere pittance as an ensign's pay is, we know that many do somehow contrive to live upon it; but we also know that the highly praiseworthy men who maintain their credit on such small means, must not only exercise a self-denial perfectly heroic, but, whatever face they may assume, they must undoubtedly experience mortifications very hard to endure. We ourselves have known and respected men of this class, but we fear the instances are very rare that either their brother officers or colonels can appreciate their honourable conduct, in the actual condition of the army as regards the possession of money and its too frequent concomitant-extravagance.

Everybody will agree with us in thinking the selection of men to command regiments a matter of the utmost importance; but we fearnay, indeed, know very well-that many considerations to which we attach vast consequence have little weight, if even thought of, at the Horse Guards when a vacancy is to be filled. The man of money or interest, and occasionally the mere disciplinarian, is invested with an office requiring, properly to fill it, a profound sense of duty and a knowledge that duty consists not only in attention to details, by which a good example is given to his subordinates, but also in watching his officers with a paternal eye, in repressing presumption, encouraging the diffident, checking extravagance, and, by promoting good feeling and harmony among them, producing habits of graceful subordination, making himself beloved as well as understood and respected.

It is now more than half a century since any addition was made to the officers' pay, and when we reflect on the increased style of living which pervades all classes at the present day, and in which the military profession too evidently participates, we think the time has arrived when the condition of, at least, its junior members ought to be improved. The necessary expenses of an ensign are the same as those of his captain, while he has not half the income of the latter. Any large increase to the pay of ensigns and lieutenants, unless the higher ranks were also considered, would be manifestly unjust, as well as involving a great increase in the army estimates; but when we think of the sad condition of many subalterns who, as the orphan sons of officers that have fallen in the field, have no private means at their disposal, or of such as have been promoted from the ranks for signal valour and good conduct-men, in a word, to whom the service is really a profession, and who, barred by poverty from purchasing promotion, are doomed to vegetate in its junior grades-we are bound to advocate their cause, and to bring it to the notice of those who have power to apply the remedy. Trifling as the addition may seem, there can be no doubt that if the pay of a lieutenant of infantry were raised to 7s. a day, and that of ensign to 6s., such addition would be a valuable boon to many deserving officers.

But we have another suggestion to make, and one which we earnestly recommend to the notice of the Commander-in-Chief, well knowing that an appeal to commanders of regiments would be useless it is simply

to reform the regimental mess expenses, which are now generally on an extravagant scale. In our opinion, about two-thirds of the actual rate of messing would afford a dinner sufficiently good for any body of officers, and we must maintain that, when it is imperative upon all unmarried officers to dine regularly at mess, such mess ought unquestionably to be regulated on a scale suited to the pocket of the poorest officer. As regards wine, we fear that much must be left to the option of individuals, but a firm and judicious colonel may materially curb excess in it; still, as the poor officer need not be put to heavy cost for wine, his own sense of what is due to his circumstances ought to afford him adequate protection.

Having at hand a graphic account of a regimental dinner which appeared some years since in our worthy contemporary Blackwood, we feel disposed (possessing a somewhat wider military circulation than that magazine) to make use of it in illustration of the "military road to ruin :"

"At a given signal the covers were removed, and some dozen of iron-heeled soldiers, dressed in various liveries, commenced scattering the soup and fish about, with the same reckless indifference to consequences with which they would have stormed a breach. While Mwas gradually coughing himself into a recovery from the effects of some fiercely peppered mulligatawny, he was asked by the stiff colonel to take some wine, when the fat captain and all the others, at brief intervals, followed the example. For some time there was steady attention to eating and drinking, and but few words spoken beyond a muttered if you please-thank you rather underdone-glass of sherry-with pleasure your health-I'll trouble you for a wing, &c., &c. But as the dinner progressed, and the fiery wine began to tell, horses and dogs, wine and women, guards and grievances, promotion and patronage began to exert their influences on the discourse; and by the time the cloth was removed, every one seemed to talk louder than his neighbour, and the din was almost insupportable. Then through the roar of the many voices was heard an ominous shuffle behind the screen, now extended all across the room; an alarming scream of the clarionet and grunt of the bassoon faintly foretold the coming storm, which in a few seconds burst upon the ears, in the most furious form of the overture to Zampa by the regimental band; this continued with variations, but scarcely a lull, for a couple of hours.

"Meanwhile the bottles pass freely round, and the roar of voices continues louder and thicker than ever; some of the younger ensigns, mere boys, have yielded to their potent draughts and sought their rooms; others, maddened with the wine and din, shout snatches of songs, argue vociferously, and loudly offer absurd bets, which are noted down by some cautious persons. The band retires, whist tables are laid, brandy-and-water and cigars make their appearance, and the mess room is soon in a cloud. After a couple of rubbers of whist the colonel and most of the older officers and guests retire. As the door closes behind them, a flushed youth, with swimming eyes and uncertain gait, rushes to the table and shouts, Now we'll make a night of it-the bones! the bones! Dice are soon brought, and the work of mischief begins."

THE MEANS OF APPLYING THE PRINCIPLE OF STIMULATING THE VOLUNTARY EXERTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SYSTEM OF MILITARY TRAINING AND TO THE INCREASE OF THE EFFICIENCY OF THE ARMY.

BY CAPTAIN ALExander CunninGHAM ROBERTSON, H.M. 8TH REGT.

[SECOND ARTICLE.]

A POPULAR clamour for an extension of the practice of promotion from the ranks occasionally makes itself heard, but unless the principle which at present guides the selection of non-commissioned officers for promotion be changed, such an extension would in time of peace inevitably prove injurious to the efficiency of the army. Who are the non-commissioned officers, according to the present system, usually selected for promotion? Are they not sergeant-majors and quartermaster-sergeants, men of at least ten or twelve years' service? Even if these men were in all other respects qualified to hold commissions (which very few of them are), surely the want of the qualification of youth is a very serious objection to promoting such men. Obviously it is not desirable that our ensigns should be veterans.

Youth is so valuable a quality in a military leader, that to devise some system for enabling young men to obtain the command of regiments, and middle-aged men to obtain the command of brigades, divisions, and armies, is one of the most important as well as of the most difficult of military problems. It would be wiser and more beneficial to the public service to take our field-officers direct from the schools than to officer our regiments with men who, before attaining the grade of subaltern, had passed ten or twelve years in the ranks.

I shall not enter upon the discussion of what would be the effect of an attempt to regulate the promotion of officers according to their capacity and merit. The relative capabilities of officers for the fulfilment of executive and administrative functions might indeed be measured with tolerable exactness; but how is their aptitude for the exercise of the higher and more important function of command to be tested? Even granting the practicability of devising some test of merit adequate to measure the relative fitness of different individuals to fulfil all the functions of an officer, there still remains the question whether the advantages to be derived from a change in the system of promotion of officers would be worth the very large sum which it would be necessary to expend in order to effect that change; nor would it suffice to show that these advantages would be a sufficient compensation for the expenditure requisite to secure them; it would be necessary also to show that in no other way could the same advantages be obtained at a less cost. In balancing the advantages and disadvantages of substituting a system of promotion by merit for that of promotion by purchase, it must also be borne in mind, that, if the substitution were sudden and immediate, great individual hardship would be inflicted and great discontent would be produced; if, on the other hand, it were effected by a gradual process, the benefits resulting from it, however great they might

be eventually, would not be immediately realized. Without encountering the difficulties of making this substitution, the object of those who advocate it might, I think, to a great extent be attained by the adoption of two measures, recommended by these great advantages, that they would be immediate in their operation, and that they would not involve a large expenditure of money. The object desired is to increase the efficiency of the army by raising the average standard of the qualifications of its officers. This object would be attained if a considerable proportion of the body of officers could be induced voluntarily to devote their time and to apply their energies to the acquisition of professional knowledge and skill.

To induce a large number of officers to do this, I think the following measures would prove sufficient:-First, to reward all officers who reach a certain standard of attainment by an increase of pay. Of this extra pay there might be three rates respectively of one, two, and three shillings per diem, and it might be provided that on an officer attaining the rank of major any extra he might be receiving should cease. Second, to fill all vacancies in the adjutant-general's and quartermastergeneral's departments by means of a competition open to every officer in the army; the vacant appointment being conferred on the candidate who should exhibit the greatest amount of attainment in certain prescribed subjects of examination. The appointments of aide-de-camp and military secretary might as at present be left to be filled up by general officers, unfettered by any restriction in the exercise of the right of selection.

The subjects of examination might be thus arranged :—

First Class of Subjects.-Study compulsory on every candidate for special rewards-no marks allowed for proficiency: 1st, regulations of military service; 2nd, special tactics of the arm to which the candidate belongs; 3rd, military law.

Second Class of Subjects.-Study compulsory-proficiency in each subject entitling the candidate to a certain number of marks: 1st, elements of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry; 2nd, elements of plane trigonometry and mensuration; 3rd, elements of the science of artillery; 4th, elements of the science of fortification; 5th, elements of military engineering, including surveying and plan drawing; 6th, the minor operations of war called by the French La petite guerre.

Third Class of Subjects.-Study optional-proficiency in any subject entitling a candidate to a certain number of marks: 1st, the higher mathematics pure and mixed; 2nd, the science of artillery; 3rd, the science of fortification and military engineering; 4th, the art of war, including strategy and tactics, special and general; 5th, military history and geography; 6th, any living European or oriental language; 7th, geology and the natural and experimental sciences; 8th, drawing.

In order to prevent knowledge once acquired from being forgotten, and to promote progressive attainments, the examinations should be annual, and the marks gained at one examination should only be allowed to reckon until the next, unless in the event of an officer being employed in some service which deprived him of leisure to study. Impartiality and uniformity might be secured by conducting the examinations in the same way as those established in the Bengal Presidency for testing

the proficiency of officers in the native languages. The papers for these examinations are prepared by an officer specially charged with that duty, and are transmitted in sealed packets to the principal military stations. Periodically and simultaneously, on certain appointed days, local committees are ordered to assemble at each of these stations. Before these local committees the candidates for examination appear; the sealed papers are opened, and each candidate prepares the prescribed exercises in the presence of the committee, whose duty it is to see that he receives no assistance either from books or from the other candidates. Each set of exercises is when completed marked with a distinguishing number and transmitted to the central examining officer. A list of the candidates examined and of the numbers affixed to their exercises is at the same time transmitted by each local committee to the adjutantgeneral of the army. The central examining officer adjudicates on the merits of all the exercises forwarded to him by the different local committees, and transmits to the adjutant-general of the army a list of his decisions, each decision being designated in the list by the number affixed to the set of exercises to which it refers. The adjutant-general, by comparing this list of numbered decisions with the nominal lists received from the local committees, ascertains the names of the successful candidates, which are published in orders. In these language examinations the local committees are always composed of officers who have already passed, and in addition to registering and forwarding the written exercises of the candidates, they are charged with the duty of conducting an oral examination and reporting on it.

But in an examination embracing a wide range of subjects, it is not to be expected that the members of a local committee would be competent to be invested with the function of judges. The sole duty of the local committees would therefore be to exercise surveillance and to forward the written exercises of the candidates, properly arranged and numbered, to the central board of examiners, together with a nominal list to the adjutant-general.

As soon after each examination as possible, lists should be made up with the names of the officers examined, arranged according to the number of marks adjudged to each. Every officer who had gained a certain number of marks would then be entitled to an addition of one shilling per diem to his daily pay; every officer who had gained twice that number to an addition of two shillings, and every officer who had gained three times that number to an addition of three shillings. All the names included in these three classes should be published in the Gazette, and in the army list; a letter or figure designating the class should be affixed to each name.

An establishment of staff-supernumeraries of a certain regulated strength, proportioned to the annual average of vacancies in the adjutant's and quartermaster-general's departments, should be formed and kept up by the selection of those officers who stood at the top of the annual examination lists. The officers thus selected should be sent to attend the practical classes at Woolwich and Chatham. They should then be made to do duty for a certain period with a troop or battery of artillery; and finally, until nominated to vacant appointments, those belonging to the infantry arm should be attached to a cavalry, and