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(Circular.)

CIRCULAR ON MILITARY PUNISHMENTS.

Horse Guards, 24th Aug. 1833.

His Majesty's Government having signified to the General Commanding in Chief the King's command, that until further orders corporal punishment may be applied to the following offences only, I have the honour to express Lord Hill's desire that you guide yourself accordingly, taking care that except in the instances herein specified the said punishment shall on no account be inflicted:-1. For mutiny, insubordi nation, and violence, or using or offering violence to superior officers.-2. Drunkenness on duty.-3. Sale of, or making away with arms, ammunition, accoutrements, or necessaries, stealing from comrades, or other disgraceful conduct. It will doubtless occur to you that the object of these instructions is not to render the infliction of corporal punishment for the future more frequent or more certain than it is at present, even in the cases to which it is now to be restricted; but, on the contrary, that the intention is to restrain it as much as may be possible to do so with safety to the discipline of the army. By Command, J. MACDONALD, Adjutant-General.

(Signed)

Supposed Circular to the Half-Pay.

THE Customary letter having been addressed in two or three instances to Half-pay Officers liable to be called upon to commute their half-pay, found its way into the papers under the exaggerated designation of a "Circular" to all officers on the Half pay of the Army-a measure never contemplated by the authorities concerned.

ABSTRACT OF PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS CONNECTED WITH THE ARMY AND NAVY.

REPORT from the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Army and Navy Appointments-Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 12th Aug. 1833. The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the Establishment of the Garrisons; into every branch of pay and emolument of all General and Staff Officers in the Army, both at home and abroad, and into the emoluments of naval officers holding the appointments of Vice and Rear-Admirals of the United Kingdom, and of Generals and Colonels of Marines; and to report their opinion whether any or what reduction or alteration can be made in them, without detriment to the efficiency of the public service, or to the just reward of professional merit, and to whom the Return of the names of the several persons holding the offices of Governors and Deputy, and Lieutenant-Governors was referred; and who were empowered to report the minutes of evidence taken before them :-Have considered the matters referred to them, and have agreed upon the following Report.

Your Committee, in the discharge of the duties prescribed to them, have divided the subjects of their inquiry under the following heads:

1. The Garrison Establishments at Home and Abroad.

II. The Pay and Allowances of General Officers holding the situations of Colonels of Regiments.

III. The Pay and Emoluments of other General and Staff Officers.

IV. The Appointments of the Vice-Admiral and Rear-Admiral of England, and of the Generals and Colonels of Marines.

I.

Of the precise origin of the Home Garrisons the Committee have no accurate account; but the first record of the regular establishment of those in England is dated in 1683-4, and of those in Scotland in 1708, immediately after the Union, at which periods, and for some time after, the several officers borne upon the establishment appear to have been resident in their respective garrisons, and to have had the command of certain unregimental companies, chiefly of invalids employed" to do duty there." How soon the governorships, or any other of these garrison appointments, became non-efficient, or at what time permanent non-residence was permitted, is not known, but it seems clear that they have long been held on their present footing, that their emoluments have been in general rather diminished than increased since their original formation, and that their whole number is smaller than it was in 1792.

Of the Irish Garrisons there is no detailed record previous to the Union with Ireland, from which period they have continued with little or no change, except the reduction or abolition from time to time of some of the non-effective appointments connected with them.

*

App. vi., p. 320, 21,

† App. vi., p. 329, 30.

Of the Governments of Foreign Garrisons, there are only four where permanent non-residence is permitted, St. John's and Placentia in Newfoundland, and Quebec and Annapolis in Nova Scotia; but the last of these is always held by the Governor of Nova Scotia, and the emoluments form a regular part of the salary of that officer*. After fully considering the question of the Non-effective Garrison Appointments, with the opinions expressed in favour of their continuance by some of the most distinguished military authorities, and particularly by the Duke of Wellingtonf, who, in a Memorandum upon the military governments, which is appended to this report, brings briefly but powerfully into view the whole constitution of the British army, and the circumstances of its officers, the Committee are still of opinion that upon the principle repeatedly laid down by Parliament, that all sinecure offices ought to be abolished, no garrison appointments should in future be made where no efficient military duty is performed; but as the officers now holding such appointments appear for the most part justly entitled to the rewards of their profession by their long military services, or their distinguished merits during a period of unparalleled exertion on the part of the army, and of unexampled glory acquired to the country by the achievements of that army, the Committee do not recommend the withdrawal of the salaries to the prejudice of the existing interests of any of those officers.

It has already been stated that the number of Garrison Appointments was greater in 1792 than at present, and that the pay and emoluments attached to them have been rather diminished than augmented since 1718. The Committee, therefore, taking into consideration the great increase of the army since that time, and the claims of so many of its members on the gratitude of the country, cannot propose the abolition of these appointments, which for more than a century have been at the disposal of the Crown, without suggesting some other plan of military rewards in their stead. With this view they recommend that the King should be empowered to grant "rewards for distinguished services in the army," in a manner similar to that recognised by Parliament in the vote for “Good Services" in the Ordnance estimates, subject to the following conditions:

1st. That the grant to be made to his Majesty for this purpose shall not exceed 15,000l. a year, and that all rents or feu duties, or any other revenues at present attached to any of the garrisons, shall be added to the above 15,0007., making altogether a sum of about 18,0007. a year, and being a reduction of about 12,0007. a year on the present amount of the Home Garrison Appointments.

2d. That as these become vacant, the King shall name an officer or officers to a reward or rewards for distinguished services, not exceeding the amount of three-fifths of the emoluments of the vacant appointment, until the whole of such grants and pensions shall have been brought within the amount of 18,000. a year.

3d. That the name and services of every officer appointed to receive these rewards shall be inserted in the first army estimates after his appointment, and that the distribution of them shall, during peace, be confined to officers on unattached or half-pay, with the exception of those whose pre-eminently distinguished services may with propriety exempt them from all rules.

From a return laid before the Committee, it appears that several Garrison Appointments are held by persons altogether unconnected with either the military or naval service, and, in some instances, enjoying lucrative emoluments from civil employments. The Committee consider this a violation of the object for which such appointments were established, and a misapplication of the public money, and they therefore recommend that wherever garrison appointments are held by such persons, whether resident or not, the sums voted for their salaries should be omitted in all future estimates, unless any special grounds can be stated for their continuance, on the score of the duties performed, or of the particular circumstances of the individuals holding them. The emoluments from "Tithes of Corn" in Guernsey, and those from "The King's Revenue" in Jersey, now appropriated to the non-resident governors of those islands, ought, in the opinion of the Committee, on future vacancies to be applied to pay the salaries of the general officers resident and commanding there, and to defray the whole cost of their garrison establishments; and they beg to recommend to his Majesty's government, that his Majesty may be advised to use his gracious pleasure for carrying such an arrangement into effect.

They likewise feel bound to notice, as a fit object for similar regulation hereafter, the very large income now received by the Governor of Gibraltar from the revenues of that place.

Sir J. Kempt, 2828, 35, 6, 9,

App. i., p. 273 to 78. V. Evidence, p. 2 to 41.

II.

n addition to the Garrisons, the chief branches of permanent emoluments to General Officers are the colonelcies of 106 regiments of infantry and twenty-three of cavalry, besides three of Foot Guards and three of Horse Guards, the whole of which are detailed in the following statement, to which is also attached an estimate of the saving to be effected if the suggestions of the Committee should be adopted :

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On the Clothing of the Army, the Committee have gone into a long and minute examination, with the view of ascertaining whether it can be placed on any better and more economical footing.

U.S. JOURN. No. 59. Oct. 1833.

T

It is shown by documents* and evidence before them that the present system has existed ever since the formation of a regular army in this country; that it has been the subject of frequent inquiries by Committees of this house and parliamentary commissions, and that the colonels of the regiments have regularly drawn from it, for the last century, nearly the same proportion of their emoluments as at present. In the report of a Committee of this house, which sat in the year 1746, the amount of off reckonings for a regiment of infantry, on an average of ten years to 1740, is stated to be 2,1737.; in the present year the amount is 2,1867.; the colonel's profit at both periods, on an average, between 5007. and 600%.

It further appears that the wholesome cautions and checks by which the supply of clothing by the colonels has been accompanied have invariably secured the comfort and satisfaction of the soldier, and the complete efficiency of this branch of the public servicet.

The Committee are not, therefore, prepared to suggest any change in this long-established system, which although it may at first appear anomalous, and to involve the objectionable principle of giving profit to the colonels out of monies ostensibly voted for another purpose, secures the responsibility of those officers for the just and punctual distribution of clothing to the different regiments, dispersed as they are throughout various and distant colonies, and which at the same time protects the public from the losses to which they would be exposed by the accumulation of stores of this description, supplied under the management of Public Boards, from extensive establishments, superannuation allowances to those who conduct them, and from that multiplicity of accounts which a transfer of the charge of this supply from those in whom it is now vested into any other hands must inevitably produce.

As, however, it seems that an additional cost is imposed on the colonels of regiments in their contracts with their clothiers, owing to the money not being paid to colonels for clothing till after it is delivered to the soldiers on distant stations, the Committee recommend to the consideration of Government some arrangement by which the offreckonings might be issued at an earlier period, so as to reduce the rate of interest now charged by the clothier, and thereby effect a corresponding reduction in the amount of the allowance made by the public to the colonel.

The Committee are of opinion that all profits under the head of non-effective allowances for warrant men ought henceforth to cease; but as the effect of abolishing these allowances in the infantry would be to reduce the annual profits of the colonels by about 2007, a year, they recommend that the regimental pay (which is no greater now than it was in the reign of Queen Anne) should be raised to 6007. a year to all existing colonels (which, added to the profits from off-reckonings on the effective force, would leave their whole emoluments at nearly their present amount); but that the pay should be reduced to 5007. to those who shall hereafter succeed them, making the whole pay and allowances of a regiment of infantry of the line not less than 10007. a year.

The pay and off-reckoning for warrant men and hautboys, which were abolished in the line by act of 1783, and the warrant of 1828, having been retained in the Foot Guards and in the cavalry, the application of the same rule to those corps will effect a much greater reduction in the emoluments of their colonels, viz., in the 1st Foot Guards about 1600., in the Coldstream and Third about 10607., in the 1st Dragoon Guards about 6507., and in all other regiments of cavalry about 4701. The Committee, therefore, recommend that the pay of the several colonels should be increased as follows:

In the 1st regiment of Guards to 1200. In the Coldstream and 3d Guards to 10007. In the 1st Dragoon Guards to 11007. for the present colonel, and to 10007. for those who may succeed him; and in all other cavalry regiments to 10007. for the present, and to 9001. for future colonels; making the whole pay and emoluments of the colonel of the Ist Guards not less than 30007. a year; of those of the Coldstream and 3d Guards not less than 20007.; of the 1st Dragoon Guards about 15604, and of other regiments of cavalry about 13507. each; and effecting a saving to the public of about 10907. on the 1st, and of about 7307. on each of the other regiments of Guards; and in the cavalry an immediate saving of about 1507. on the 1st Dragoon Guards, and of about 907. on all other regiments, with a further prospective saving of 1007. a year on each.

Sir A. Hope's Letter to Lord Hill, App. iii.

+ Evidence of Sir R. Donkin, 400 to 412; Letters of General Officers, App. ii. iii. Evidence of Mr. Pearse, 515 to 521, and 549 to 561; of Mr. Hebbert, 638; (Letter and List of Prices) of Mr. Stephens, 901, 902; Mr. Dolau, 1011 to 1017.

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