Part 2

An intelligent writer observes, that the French campaigns of 1792, 93 and 94 astonished military Europe. At first the French armies had neither discipline, nor order, and but little instruction. The regiments were without organization. National intelligence put in motion by exalted feeling, for the moment did every thing. The conscription had brought more knowledge into a single French regiment, than there was to be found in a whole enemy's division. This was certainly the case, but I am very far from wishing to establish a conscription in Great Britain like what exists in France; but the times, we may depend upon it, will compel us, and that too before long, to think of getting, with greater facility, another description of men into our armies; if it were only to enable us to meet our enemies in the field on fair terms; and I would, therefore, at once beg to propose to overturn entirely the present system of enlistment for regiments of Dragoons, Artillery, the Line, and the Marines; and in its stead, a plan could be introduced for calling forth those warlike energies of the people of Great Britain and Ireland, which they so eminently possess; but for safety to our liberties, which we ought ever carefully to cherish, I would still keep the powerful means I have in view, under the control of Parliament both as to men and money.

Suppose a law were enacted, extending and improving our militia system, and permanently establishing amongst our millions of people, two descriptions of soldiers; in place of our present inefficient mode of calling out that force for service in Great Britain and Ireland only; and exempting clergymen, all seamen serving, or who may have served in our navy, or such as have been duly apprenticed to our merchant service; and certain individuals employed in the Civil departments of the state, every man, no matter how high or low his rank in life may be, should be made liable to be called upon to serve his country as a soldier, but by Act of Parliament only; and for this purpose, all those at a certain time of life should be required to have, under a heavy penalty, and according to their means, or at the risk of imprisonment, or treatment as vagrants, known places of abode, or belong to a parish or district where they could be found or heard of; for my object is, that the wealthy, who for their own gratifications might think fit to reside abroad, may not be able to evade the law.

From the effective part of our male population, between the ages of seventeen and thirty-five, I would propose to call out once each year, (or oftener when necessary) by lot or ballot, and according to registers to be publicly and fairly kept, so that every individual coming under the act, could be aware that he might expect to be drawn for, a certain number of healthy men, about a fixed height--say 5 feet 5-1/2 inches--to constitute or keep up the first, or regular army of Great Britain and Ireland, liable to serve in any part of the world, for _ten years only_, when, having so served, they must be discharged, whether at home or abroad, unless their characters are so good, as to render it desireable that they should be kept longer in the service, and should it be also their own wish to remain in it. If they are kept, it ought to be for five years more. At the end of that second period, they must, if they desire it, be discharged; but they should then, if their conduct has continued good, be entitled to receive a pension for life of nine-pence a day, and also to a medal of _superior merit_, and they ought now to get both, whether they are to be again kept in the service or not. If it is still desirable that they should remain in it, and that they are also willing to do so, it must be for another or third period of five years; at the end of which--that is to say 20 years--if they have maintained the respectability of their characters, they should receive, on now retiring from the service, an additional three-pence per diem, making in all the full pension of one shilling a day for life, together with what should be termed the _grand medal_. If non-commissioned officers, they of course should get a superior description of medals and higher rates of pensions, whether corporals, serjeants, or staff-serjeants. But all discharges--and I consider this of vast importance--ought to set forth distinctly their characters as soldiers, whether good, indifferent, or bad, and should invariably be delivered to them publicly, in presence of, at least, one magistrate and a clergyman of the city, town, or parish to which they formerly belonged, when they could not again be called upon to serve as soldiers.

If the character of the men who have served for ten years only, show that they have been brave, honest and regular during that period, they should also receive _publicly_ a _medal_ of _merit_, and thus become entitled, along with those who have served longer, and have received pensions, to the privileges of _freemen_ in the cities, towns, and parishes, to which they originally belonged. They should also, together with other advantages, have a right to vote at all elections of Members to serve in Parliament, and likewise at the appointment of persons to the corporate bodies, and should be themselves eligible to fill situations in or under such bodies, in the cities, towns, or parishes, to which they belonged. If their conduct as soldiers had been bad or disreputable, all these advantages should be withheld from them. Some of them, according to character, ought to be sent off without remark upon their conduct, but others, if they deserved it, should have the words "Disgraced Soldier," stamped in large letters, by their commanding officer's orders, upon their discharges; and thus soldiers would be deterred from disgracing, not only their regiments, but also their families, to whom they would know, that when they were to be discharged, they would always, and under all circumstances, be sent back.

It being most desirable towards attaining the object I have in view, that no soldier should be permitted to remain in the army, whose habits would bring disgrace upon the corps to which he might be attached; when it was therefore found, that a soldier had committed a serious crime, or that his conduct had become bad or disgraceful, he should either be handed over to the civil power, or brought to trial before a Court-martial, which should have the power, besides transporting him as a felon, or making him serve as a soldier for life in any part of the world, to sentence him to be turned out of the regiment, with every mark of infamy, and to be sent back, under escort, to the place from whence he came, to be there discharged, in the manner already pointed out, and also imprisoned, if thought necessary for the sake of example, in the common jail, for any period not exceeding two years. If this system is ever established, merit will be distinguished and rewarded, and bad conduct publicly stigmatized or punished.

As the regular army should at all times be complete in numbers, and efficient in every respect; when vacancies occurred in corps, they should be supplied yearly, from the city, town, or rather district, from which the several regiments would be kept up. Great Britain and Ireland would, therefore, if this plan is carried into effect, have to be divided into districts; but for this purpose, counties and cities would nearly answer, and each district being required to furnish men for a particular regiment of cavalry (and this should be an agricultural one), or of artillery, infantry of the line, or of marines; the cavalry or infantry regiments should take the name of that district, as well as retain its own particular number, together with such designations, badges, or honorary distinctions, to which it may be at present entitled.

The second army, to be officered as our present militia, and to be embodied upon the same system, and managed and disciplined as the first, and styled either Militia, or the Army of Reserve, could be called out to serve in Great Britain or Ireland only, when the country, either from being at war, or in case of commotions, might require its services; or should it be deemed necessary, that this force be embodied for a fixed time.

The men for the Reserve might be taken at a lower height, and from the age of sixteen to forty-five; but serving in the Reserve should not exempt individuals from taking their turn if drawn in the mean time for the First or Regular Army. When the Reserve, or a part of it is embodied, a few officers and non-commissioned officers (receiving additional pay when so employed), should be taken for a short time from the Regular Regiments, to assist in the formation and drilling of the corps; but any permanent staff for this purpose must be found not only useless, but expensive. A Quarter-master alone could be required to take charge of stores of any kind belonging to the battalion when embodied.

Any man, who by ballot, becomes liable to serve in the First or Regular Army, must do so, or find within a given time, and at his own expense, a proper substitute of good character, or else pay down the sum of, say fifty pounds, for exemption: and finding a substitute or paying the stipulated sum, ought to exempt the person for the future from serving; but any individual who may have joined the corps for which he has been drawn, ought not afterwards to be discharged, but by the authority of the Commander-in-Chief.

Finding a proper substitute of good character, or paying down say--twenty pounds, under the same rules as those established for the regular army, should entitle individuals to exemption from serving in the army of reserve. And it might fully be expected, that the reserve regiments, under officers so patriotic and zealous as those of our militia always were, would soon become like battalions of the line, and so highly disciplined as quite to equal them, as was the case with many of our militia corps last war. I am, therefore, decidedly of opinion, that it would never again be necessary to add second battalions to regiments of the regular army, nor to raise at great expense fencible corps. The plan of second battalions was in general found to be even as objectionable as our present inefficient depot system, for it too often afforded only very inferior supplies to first battalions, of half disciplined soldiers.

To commence this system of the ballot for the regular army (which, by allowing the finding of substitutes, or the paying a sum of money for exemption from serving, completely removes the idea of arbitrary conscription,) I beg further to suggest, that commanding officers, under the superintendence of generals selected for the purpose, should have the power of rejecting, and recommending to be discharged from their corps, all men whom, from character, health, or other causes, they may consider objectionable; and the remainder should be allowed to come under the new regulations, as to the period of ten years service, dating from the time of their enlistment; and this being carefully and judiciously arranged, upon the responsibility of commanding officers and regimental surgeons, the numbers required for corps of cavalry, infantry, artillery, or marines, to complete them to their respective establishments, should be called out at once by ballot, and thus the immense expense of bounties might be saved, and a sum for a complete equipment for each soldier of the regular army would only hereafter be required from the country.

This new and more constitutional mode of recruiting the army, would bring into its ranks, and in a manner so little objectionable, such a different description of men, and would so vastly increase the respectability of the service, and give such a high tone of national, and also local interest and feeling to our regiments (for they ought ever after to be kept up by men from the same districts), that the idea of subjecting such soldiers, who could no longer be considered as mere mercenaries, to the corporal punishment of flogging, should, I trust, be abandoned. It may, however, be said, that corporal punishment was found to be necessary to keep up discipline formerly in our militia; and it might be asked, were not the men then called out, and as I now propose, of much the same description as those who composed the militia regiments? I answer--that men who could conduct themselves so as to deserve flogging--which was too much the fashion in those days, ought to have been turned out of the regiments, or got rid of as I have already pointed out.

It may be supposed, that some of the soldiers after having conducted themselves well for ten years, might not think fit to take advantage of the opportunity which would be offered them, of remaining in the service, so as to obtain pensions at future periods; but having accepted of their discharges, had returned to their homes, where, finding out that military habits had become more powerful with them than they supposed, they might again wish to return to the service. Now, although these men would have got beyond the age at which substitutes might be taken, yet they should be allowed to become such, provided they offered themselves within one year from the date of their discharges, and having served reputably for ten years more, I would propose so far to give them credit for their former ten years service, as to allow them, on being discharged, pensions of nine-pence a day, but no more, for not having availed themselves of the opportunity of remaining in the army, when they might have done so, other men had to be called out and equipped at the expense of the country, to replace them in their regiments; and it would also be presumed, that they had been paid for becoming substitutes. It might be expected that such men, after ten years service only, would make excellent policemen, or non-commissioned officers for the Reserve when called out.

If it were necessary to advocate in the strongest possible manner, the advantages of corps possessing national, or rather local feelings, I would have nothing to do but to instance some of the Scotch regiments, which were raised and kept up from particular parts of that country, whose conduct in all situations, and under all circumstances, was so praise-worthy. These corps, whilst they were proverbial for their gallantry in the field, were known to have been for long periods without a single instance of corporal punishment.

An army composed, as that I have in view, ought not to be officered by men who can get forward, as at present, by purchasing over the heads, too often, of much better soldiers than themselves, in point of gallantry, military science, and experience. And how strangely also, and inconsistently, are honours conferred upon officers in our army--not for alone distinguishing themselves in action, but because they happened to hold a rank sufficiently high to entitle them to a certain command, or to be the head of a department, and to which the greater part of them had attained, perhaps, by money, well backed by interest; for an officer may have been in every action of importance, from the beginning of the present century up to Waterloo; may have frequently distinguished himself, and may have been even promoted to the rank of Major, and Lieutenant-Colonel, for services in the field, and yet not be entitled to either a clasp or medal, because he did not happen to hold that which would bring him within a fixed regulation on this head. I do not, however, pretend to say, that many of those who commanded corps or detached bodies, and who had arrived at that honour by means of money, were not excellent and gallant officers, but others, over whose heads they, perhaps, had got, could have been pointed out, whom, from not possessing that mainspring, money, or from want of opportunity of applying it, had been obliged to submit to the, perhaps, annoying questions of a genteel, though not rich, and consequently uninfluential family--such as--pray, Colonel, how comes it, that you have neither a clasp nor a medal, nor any thing else to show, although we know that you were present in so many battles, and at so many sieges; when there was at the Mayor's feast the other day (and yet we never heard much of him) General Sir Richard Sam, the son of old Dickey Sam, who, years ago, did his best to bring in ---- for ----, who was quite covered with clasps, medals, and ribbons, and he is also a Knight Commander of the Bath into the bargain. Well might it have puzzled the Emperor Napoleon to conceive how a British army could have been kept efficient, and in the state it was, in which high minded gentlemen were subjected to so galling and absurd a system of obtaining rank and honours; especially when it was also seen, that through the effects of our strange brevet system, a Captain of a Company, from being, perhaps, a senior Lieut.-Colonel in the Army, could in garrison, or when acting with a mixed body of troops in the field, take the command of the whole, and likewise of the Lieut.-Colonel of his own regiment,--and I have known instances of this kind--but probably the very next day, when the corps came to act separately, or when a senior officer took the command of the troops, the Lieut.-Colonel of the corps, or its major, or any of its captains, who happened to have seniority in the regiment to the Brevet Lieut.-Colonel, could drill him in the ranks to their heart's content, and thus teach the teacher of the previous day respect for his--very likely--superior in wealth. All this is, however, very ridiculous, and shews our brevet system to be bad, and that it should, as well as the present mode of purchasing promotion, be abandoned.

The matter could be easily settled, and the mischief obviated for the future, by the country refunding to those who purchased promotion, if they think fit to retire from the army, the regulated sums they are supposed to have paid; and, under other heads, I hope to be able to show, should any avail themselves of this offer, how savings can be effected to meet this or any other outlay I may venture to propose; for it is too well known to be denied, that many an officer, who bought promotion in former times in this undeniably injurious manner to the service, pledged his word of honour, that he would not give more than the regulated price, whereas he had, perhaps, at the moment agreed privately to pay double for the step; and what must be thought of a system, when even those in power had not probably the necessary information to enable them to check such evasion, and almost open defiance of orders.

The Sovereign alone, at the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief, should have the power of rewarding and honouring conspicuous gallantry, and high merit, by marks of distinction, or by promotion out of the regular routine of seniority; but this prerogative, I think it will be allowed, ought, especially as regards promotion, to be very rarely exercised; and putting an end to such a disheartening and disgusting a practice, as that of officers being able to get forward by money or interest alone, would wonderfully improve our regiments of the line, and infinitely more those of our cavalry.

I have just had my attention called to some of the points which appear to have been brought under the consideration of the Naval and Military Commission, from whom so much was looked for. I confess that I am greatly disappointed; for they seem to me to have only tried how they could best repair an old defective system, in place of proposing, as might have been expected from so many experienced officers, something new, and more suitable to the times, and the wants of the country; but this, I conclude, has been occasioned by the manner in which the several points were submitted for their consideration; and I am not, therefore, deterred from proceeding in the task I have assigned myself, and must remark, in continuing my subject, that if what I propose is adopted, we might probably hear of promotion being expected to be too slow; but what I have still to beg attention to, may greatly obviate any such objections; yet, when officers saw that justice was done impartially, it would make them patient and contented, even if promotion were slow; but let me ask, where were such officers to be met with in any army, as our highly educated and enlightened officers of Engineers and Artillery, though for many years situated with respect to promotion, as I wish all our officers nearly to be in future.

Granting the brevet rank of field officer to regimental captains is of little advantage to them individually, and has often been found injurious to the service; and would be still more so under the proposed system; and it ought in consequence, to be (as I have before suggested) abandoned, or at all events as seldom conferred as possible. In order that regimental field rank may be sooner attained, I would venture to recommend, that no lieut.-colonel should be obliged to remain in the almost always unpleasant and most responsible command of a regiment, longer than a fixed number of years; when having so served, he should, as a matter of course, become a major-general on the _effective list_--that is, he ought to receive a fixed pay, though not employed. Or perhaps it might be preferable, when a lieut.-colonel had commanded for the required number of years, if he thought proper to retire altogether from active service, with the rank however of major-general, to allow him a superior retirement from the country to what may be the pay of major-generals on the effective list; and this being added to what he would receive from a military fund, which I intend yet to propose, would induce many to avail themselves of the opportunity, especially if they had little hope of being actively employed, or no chance of getting a regiment. This would remove any apprehension from being entertained of our generals on the effective list becoming too numerous.