CONTENTS. PAGE I. Rules and Regulations respecting Appointment, Promotion, and Retirement in the Army 285 298 IV. Return of the Services of the Combatant Officers of the Army on Full Pay, distinguishing the total Service and the Period of Full Pay Service V. Return of the Ages of the Combatant Officers of the Army on Full Pay, classified by Intervals of Five Years. VI. Return of the Amount of the Expense per Annum of each of the last Three Brevet Promotions in the Army on 22d July 1830, 10th January 1837, and 28th June 1838; also showing the Minor Promotions involved in those Brevet Promotions, and the Amount of increased Charge caused by the same 299 302 303 VII. Return in Classes of the Number of Years' Service as Commissioned Officers rendered by each Colonel promoted to be a Major-General in the last Three Brevets . 304 VIII. Return showing the Number of Colonels promoted to be General Officers on each of the last Three Brevets, who were on Full Pay, or in active Military Employment: also showing the Numbers promoted who were on Half-pay; with a Statement of the Period that intervened between the Employment and the Promotion of the latter . 304 IX. Return showing the Number of Colonels promoted to be Major-Generals on the Three last Brevets who have purchased all or any of their Commissions, classified according to the Sums paid for Promotion, with the Period of Service upon Full Pay rendered by each, and the Amount of Pay each received, or is now receiving, for the Rank of General Officer . 305 X. Return of the Names and Rank of the Officers of the Army who have obtained Rewards for good Service; showing the Amount of Pension so granted to each, and the Cause of Cessation of each Pension that may have been vacated . 307 I. RULES AND REGULATIONS RESPECTING APPOINTMENT, PROMOTION, AND RETIREMENT IN THE ARMY. 1st. Printed copies of these rules and regulations, the same as have from time to time been laid before the House of Commons, are hereunto annexed. (A.) 2d. The manner in which the whole of the military system is carried into effect, in so far as can be shown in writing, will be best explained in the following detail. The establishment of the army being determined on by the Crown, and voted by Parliament, it is not in the power of the Commander-in-Chief to increase or to diminish the number of the officers, or to alter the proportion of each rank. The regimental promotion, therefore, can in no case exceed the number of officers voted in the army estimates. Regimental promotion may be obtained in two modes; viz., by purchase, and without purchase, according as vacancies occur: and army promotion may be granted in a third modeby brevet, a commission which carries with it military rank and command, but does not necessarily remove the officer thus promoted from his regimental position, unless when it advances an officer to the rank of major-general. Promotion by Purchase. It is believed that, from the earliest period of which any military records are preserved, the practice has existed in the British army of allowing an inferior officer to purchase of a superior, upon the latter retiring from duty and relinquishing the military service. It is certain that such a system has been recognized in regulations which date as far back as the reign of Charles II. (of which proof can be adduced to the Commission, if required), and has been maintained down to the present time, as shown by authorized reports from boards of general officers, specially summoned at intervals, under royal command, to revise the regulations on this subject. The last of these regulations, dated in August 1821, is subjoined for the information of the Commission. It fixes the price which is considered by the board to be a sufficient compensation to the seller on relinquishing his appointment and retiring from the service. This compensation, in accordance with long established practice, is paid by the officers who are promoted to his commission or in his succession. For more than 100 years it has been held that an officer who desired to retire by sale should be allowed to receive the value of those commissions he purchased, however short might be the period of his service; and by a regulation, dating from the time of Queen Anne, the claim of an officer to retire by sale, who had purchased none of his commissions, is also recognized on the condition only that he had rendered a certain period of service in the army. According to the last regulations on this subject, the periods of service required to give a title to this privilege are-20 years for a field officer or captain, 15 years for a lieutenant, 12 years for an ensign; one-half of which must have been passed upon full pay, or in the performance of military duties. Modifications of this scale of service have occasionally been permitted by the Commanderin-Chief, but they have been made from considerations of peculiar circumstances in an officer's case, or with a view to facilitate public arrangements, such as the reduction of the half-pay list, and must be taken as exceptions to the rule establishing the quantum of service required. To enable the Commander-in-Chief to decide with justice upon the relative claims of regimental officers to purchase promotion, returns are received periodically from every regiment, showing the names of the officers of each rank who are desirous of purchasing advancement, and the reference they give for the necessary funds to effect their object. These returns are certified by the commanding officer, who moreover states whether the officers so desirous of purchasing promotion are fit and qualified for the advancement they seek. From the large number of purchasing officers in the army, a retirement by sale is generally allowed in the regiment to which the officer belongs; and the senior of the next rank prepared to purchase is promoted to succeed him who retires. To ensure a sufficient knowledge of his duty in the officer to be promoted, His Royal Highness the late Duke of York prescribed certain periods of service as the minimum for each rank. These periods are-six years to become a field officer, two years to become a captain. It is not, however, to be understood that an officer, having completed the required period of service, will, as a matter of course, obtain the promotion on an opportunity offering. Upon this the Commander-in-Chief always exercises his own discretion and judgment on a comparison of the merits and services of the respective claimants. It must be distinctly understood that the purchase of a commission does not confer upon the officer the power or the right to sell it but with the sanction of the Crown, which can only be obtained on the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief. The commission is not therefore a personal property, to be disposed of at the pleasure of the holder, but it is a military N.M.C. 2 P (A.) (B.) Memorandum, 29th May 1811. (C.) appointment, held, like all other military offices, at the pleasure of the Crown, and under the direct authority of the royal prerogative. Promotion without Purchase. The promotions without purchase can only arise as before stated from the casualties of the service, or by an authorized augmentation of the establishment, and are made on the reconmendation of the Commander-in-Chief to the Crown, not by right in the same regiment in which the vacancies occur, although, from the merits and services of the senior officers of each rank, they are generally given regimentally. In 1834 the services and urgent claims of the officers of the army so far exceeded the ordinary means of promotion, that the Crown was advised to confer upon the effective officers a portion of the vacant commissions which occurred upon the non-effective list, and the Royal warrant, which was issued to this effect, bearing date 27th October 1834, copy of which is annexed, empowered the Commander-in-Chief to make one promotion to an unattached or half-pay commission for every three casualties that occurred on the retired full-pay and half-pay lists. In selecting the officers for this promotion from the effective force the Commander-in-Chief has been governed principally by the length of service actually performed by the officer during the period of his employment on full-pay. Promotion by Brevet. Brevet promotion is regulated by seniority, and no officer who has sold out of the army, but has been permitted to retain his rank as an honorary distinction, is eligible to promotion. The ranks to which officers may be promoted by brevet are Major, Lieutenant-colonel, Colonel, The qualification for the first rank is, that the captain selected for it must be upon full-pay regimentally, or if upon half-pay, in a staff or garrison appointment. The major to be lieutenant-colonel would be promoted if upon full-pay, or even upon halfpay if he had done duty in that rank, or if he had made an offer of his services since his last appointment, provided he had not received the difference when he retired upon half-pay. The promotion of a lieutenant-colonel to be colonel, and of a colonel to be major-general, is regulated in the same manner. The major-general to be lieutenant-general, and the lieutenant-general to be general, are the seniors of their respective ranks, without reference to service or offers of service. The promotion to the rank of field marshal is a matter of special arrangement and favour. A step of brevet rank is also conferred by the Crown on the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief for a special service, and on appointment to particular staff situations. Retirement upon Full Pay. The arrangement under which an officer may be allowed to retire upon full-pay will be best explained on reference to the Royal warrant of 1830, from which it will be seen that the officers upon active service have not yet derived any advantage from the warrant, nor are likely to do so for some years to come. Retirement upon Half-pay. Retirement upon half-pay is effected by exchange with officers already upon the half-pay list, at the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief. The retirement to half-pay, unless the service has been long, or ill-health contracted on duty be the cause, is temporary only, a pledge being exacted from the officer retiring that he will be forthcoming for service at the expiration of the limited period. In 1783 a regulation was established on the report of a Board of General Officers of retiring upon half-pay receiving what is called the difference, that difference being a part of the purchase-money of the commission. No period of service has been defined as sufficient to give a claim to this indulgence, but it has been held by the military authorities that the title should be acquired by service. This sum is paid by the officer selected from the half-pay list for the situation on full-pay, and is graduated for each rank according to a scale laid down in the regulations of 1821. The receipt of the difference entails upon the officer a positive disqualification for military employment of any description whatever. In carrying into effect the system of military promotion as above described, it should be stated that the two governing principles which regulate every part of those details are, first, that no officer, however deserving, shall be promoted, without purchase, over the head of his senior regimental officer in the same regiment; secondly, that no officer shall be promoted, by purchase, over the head of his senior regimental officer, provided that such senior officer has stated his claim conformably with the regulation to that purpose. Nor can any such supersession of a senior be permitted to take place indirectly, through the medium of another regiment. From the foregoing statement of facts it wil be seen that the principle which governs the promotion of the British army throughout every rank, and under all circumstances, is briefly this: ! Selection by the Crown, under the regulations above described, from the first promotion to lieutenant to that of lieutenant-colonel, and from the rank of lieutenant-colonel upwards, the promotion is by seniority, and known to the army under the denomination of brevet. (A.) Horse Guards, 18th June 1838. GENERAL ORDER. FITZROY SOMERSET. Horse Guards, Sth April 1824. The circular letter of the 7th June 1823, addressed to colonels and commanding officers of regi- HENRY TORRENS, Appointment of Persons to Commissions in the Army; the Prices of Commissions; the Purchase and No person is considered eligible to hold a commission in the army until he has attained the age of All recommendations for commissions shall certify the eligibility of the person recommended in respect to education, character, connexions, and bodily health, and that he is prepared immediately to join any regiment to which he may be appointed. His Christian name and place of address must also be particularly stated. All applications regarding regimental appointments, promotions, exchanges, or removals, or for permission to retire from the army, are to be transmitted to the Commander-in-Chief's military secretary through the colonel, or the officer commanding the regiment, if the regiment is at home; or, if the regiment is abroad, through the general officer commanding at the station. It is the duty of regimental agents to make regular communications to the commanding officers of regiments of all appointments, promotions, removals and exchanges of officers, specifying the dates of the same taking place. The London Gazettes published by authority, in which all military appointments, promotions, exchanges and removals, are inserted, and which are transmitted by the Secretary at War to the general officers commanding on foreign stations, are to be considered as official notifications of the appointments, &c., so published. In particular instances, commissions in the army are allowed to be disposed of by sale, and the following Table shows their established rates of value. ESTABLISHED PRICES OF COMMISSIONS. General Order. 8th April 1824. General Order. 8th April 1824. When an officer is desirous of retiring from the service, and of obtaining leave to sell his commission, he is to send his resignation through the commanding officer of his regiment (if his regiment is in Great Britain) to his colonel, who will transmit the same to the Commander-in-Chief through his military secretary. Officers belonging to regiments stationed in Ireland must make their applications in a similar course to the commander of the forces in that part of the United Kingdom; and on foreign stations to the general officer commanding, their applications being previously sanctioned by their respective commanding officers. When an officer is desirous of retiring to half-pay, receiving the regulated difference, the same rules are to be observed in regard to transmitting his application. Officers retiring upon the half-pay and receiving the difference, forfeit all claim to further rank or employment, to the pension for their widows, and to compassionate allowance for their children, unless they repay the difference upon being allowed to come in again upon the same rank in which they retired, but they forfeit their progressive rank during the period of their retirement. Officers upon the half-pay who are desirous of paying the regulated difference for exchange to full pay, are to report their wish to the Commander-in-Chief's military secretary, and to state by whom their money will be paid when required. Quarterly returns of all officers prepared to purchase promotion are to be regularly transmitted from each regiment and corps in the service on the 25th March, 25th June, 25th September, and 25th December, in each year, to the Commander-in-Chief's military secretary, Horse Guards, London. These returns must be prepared according to the following form :— and to be accompanied by written certificates signed by the commanding officer, viz.- 2d."That of the individuals so returned as purchasers, A. B. C, &c. are in all respects deserving of promotion, and those whom he would not hesitate to recommend, whenever the vacancy shall offer, as fit for the duties of the higher and more responsible commission."* When the regiment and commanding officer are abroad, the commanding officer is to state the security to which reference is made, and the military secretary will ascertain, through the agents, whether that security be good and sufficient; it being understood that, if the answer be not at once satisfactory, the individual will be struck out of the list of purchasers. The quarterly return so certified is to be the only communication made on the subject of promotion by purchase; and when a resignation is sent in, it will be considered unconditional and irrevocable, and no successor is to be pointed out or recommended. In all cases the individual selected for the purchase, or his sureties, will be called upon to lodge the purchase money with the agents. If the senior who may have been returned as a purchaser, and whose money shall have been certified to be forthcoming, should decline the purchase when selected for it, or his sureties should decline it for him, he or they will be called upon to state the reason for so declining to the military secretary, for the Commander-in-Chief's information; and if the explanation should not be considered satisfactory, his name will be struck out of all future lists of purchasers. The candidates who may be selected from reference to the quarterly returns for the purchase of promotion out of their own corps, will be directed to lodge the purchase money, without being acquainted in what regiment they are to obtain the promotion, nor will any application for the purchase of promotion which points out the expected vacancy be admitted. Similar returns must be forwarded to the regimental agents, for the information of their respective colonels; and, unless officers' names are inserted in these returns, or they shall notify their intentions direct to head-quarters at intermediate periods, stating the reason for previous omission, which reason must be certified by the colonel or commanding officer, they can have no claim to succession by purchase. In all cases of exchanges between officers on full pay, whether of cavalry or infantry, or from cavalry to infantry, the recommendations must be signed by the colonels or commanding officers of the respective regiments, and must be accompanied by a declaration signed by the individuals, and certified by the colonels or commanding officers of the regiments to which they respectively belong, stating that the exchange recommended does not originate in any regimental proceeding of any kind, or in any cause affecting the honour and characters of the officers, and that there are no grounds of personal objection which have, in the smallest degree, induced an application for such exchange, and by the following additional certificate: "The general officer who makes the half-yearly confidential reports, is hereby directed to state in such reports his opinion of the correctness of this certificate, |