had the misfortune to be placed on half-pay the very great privilege of selling their commissions for the same price as if actually employed. We have only extended our calculations, relative to the unattachedrank, over the two years wherein most of that promotion took place: had we continued it to the present period, the results would have been even more favourable, as the difference between half and full pay is now invariably lodged by the purchasers. We have much pleasure in referring such of our readers as may feel disposed for a more minute investigation on this subject, to the evidence of Mr. Collin, before the Committee on Military Appointments in 1833, where they will find a very able exposition of the principles on which the sale of unattachedrank was first authorized, and a calculation of the cost to the public by this measure since its commencement. Had that gentleman taken into account the the saving effected by getting rid of the additional shilling a day to such of the lieutenants promoted as were of seven years' standing, it would probably have more than counterbalanced the sum he has estimated to be the cost of the measure.

Besides the regimental promotion, we have been treating of another mode of advancement that has existed in our service since 1761, viz., promotion by brevet. This is occasionally conferred for distinguished services in the field, but more generally it is obtained by seniority, and is the principal means by which our Army is kept effective in general officers. In order to share in this promotion, it is only necessary that the captains should be on full pay; but the field and general officers are entitled to the benefit of it, whether on half-pay or full, except such as may have retired receiving the difference, been appointed to Veteran battalions, or have merely local rank. A certain number of the seniors of each grade, according to their standing in the Army List, are gazetted without any reference to the nature and extent of the service in which each individual has been employed, and whether he has been passing his time in the peaceable retirement of half-pay, or braving the dangers and exile of colonial service at the head of his regiment. This is, of itself, sufficient to mark out this system of promotion as one of the most extraordinary ever devised, seeing that the most certain way for an officer to attain to all the grades beyond that of lieutenant-colonel is, by retiring on half-pay, avoiding all risk of foreign service, and carefully cherishing his constitution. Thus, not only will "his days be long in the land," but he will, in all probability, gain the highest rank in the service, as a reward for preferring his own ease and comfort to the ill-requited labours of garrison or regimental duty. The mortality in the East Indies and Jamaica, on an average of all ranks of officers, we have already shown to be from 4 to 4 per cent.; while in Britain it is little more than one: consequently, a lieutenant-colonel on half-pay at home has four times a better chance of living to attain the rank of colonel by brevet, than he who is serving in command of a regiment in either of those pestilential climates.

Our system of promotion is, in this respect, directly the reverse of what obtains in the French, and most other continental armies, where officers rise by seniority through the junior grades; but so soon as they attain the rank of colonel, it is distinguished merit, or the favour of the sovereign alone, which elevates to the rank of general,-a system certainly better suited to the interests of the profession, seeing that every

officer is thus pretty certain of attaining the rank of colonel by a long course of service, without expending his private fortune in purchasing; and it is by no means necessary that every officer who gains that rank should have the absolute certainty of being promoted in his old age to the highest grades of his profession, by no other merit than mere seniority alone,-seniority too, most probably attained by avoiding the risks of active service.

During the war, when the number of our general and field-officers on half-pay were few, and when those, thus unemployed, were probably incapacitated from active service by wounds or infirmities, it might, perhaps, have been of little consequence to keep from them a share of the rewards conceded to their more fortunate comrades in the field; but in those days of peace, when scarce a tenth of our general officers, and only about a third of our field-officers, are actually employed, it does certainly appear rather preposterous that those on half-pay should be put upon a par, in regard to brevet-promotion, with men who are encountering the privations and risks of colonial service, in every clime betwixt Indus and the Pole, or toiling at the labour of official duties or garrison details at home, without the hope of further advancement in their profession, till all those on half-pay above them are also provided for.

The hardship of all this is the more severely felt at present, because, owing to the recommendation of the Committee on Army and Navy Appointments, which took place in 1833, it is understood that brevets will in future take place very seldom, to avoid the expense thus entailed on the public. That this expense should be complained of is no wonder, when we consider that for every general officer promoted who has been actually serving, at least ten must follow in his train who have been unemployed for a long series of years; and for every field-officer, three at least who have been for a like period on half-pay: and the country thus has to pay, not only for the promotion of those who work, but of those who do not work, and who, whatever their merits may have been when actually employed, have certainly no other claims for further promotion, than having managed to spin out their existence in the retirement of half-pay long enough to gain the nominal extent of service requisite to entitle them to the brevet.

That some change must speedily take place in this system of promotion, in order to keep our general officers effective, there can be no doubt. By the evidence of Lord Fitzroy Somerset, before the Committee just referred to, it appears that the average service of the senior 85 lieutenant-colonels then on the list was 33 years; there has been no brevet since, consequently they are still unpromoted, and their service must now be 35 years: let it be supposed they have entered the Army at 18, their average age cannot be under 53. Suppose them to be promoted even this year, and to remain only 10 years colonels, a supposition much more favourable than is likely to be realized, they will be, on the average, 63 years of age before they are major-generals; and how few of them can then be reckoned upon as efficient for the duties of the field or foreign service. Take the case of the majors, that is still worse:-the average service of the first 84 on the list was, at the period Lord F. Somerset gave his evidence, 32 years-it is now 34. Even if promoted this year, the period they must serve as lieutenant-colonels,

unless more fortunate than their predecessors, will be 20 years; then 10 years more, as colonels, will make their total period of service 64 years, and probable age 82, before they can attain the rank of major-general. All this is supposing brevets to go on at the same rate they have done since the war; but this is a measure objected to by our economists, without, at the same time, suggesting any other way by which the higher ranks of the British Army are to be kept effective.

It is pretty clear, then, that the only remedy which exists must soon be applied, and brevets be restricted to such as have been actually employed during the whole, or the greater part of the period, over which such brevet extends. Officers who remained on full pay might thus run through the grades between major and general, on an average, of from seven to ten years' service in each, and still the burden on the country for the pay of general and field-officers undergo a very considerable diminution. As they advanced in rank, they would thus be encouraged to remain on full pay, even though subject to the exile and privations incident to foreign service, when they knew that their wellearned promotion would not be withheld from them in consequence of the expense of promoting, along with them, a hundred others who had no further claim than merely holding a commission of the same date.

A system of promotion, without purchase, to unattached half-pay, has recently been introduced into the service, which, if upon a more liberal scale, would have bid fair to counteract the disadvantages attending the extreme slowness of promotion among the ranks of field-officers. By the warrant of November last, one-third of the vacancies occurring among the ranks of colonel and lieutenant-colonel on half-pay, are to be filled up by the promotion of majors on full pay to the unattachedrank of lieutenant-colonel; in like manner, one-third of the vacancies among the majors on half-pay are to be filled up by the promotion of captains on full pay to the unattached-rank of major; and, in like manner, one-third of the vacancies among the captains on half-pay are to be filled up by the promotion of lieutenants on full pay to the unattached rank of captain. The promotions in succession to these vacancies are, however, in every instance, to be filled up from half-pay.

This system of promotion has been borrowed from the Navy, into which it was introduced, not as a boon, but as a restriction to the unlimited system of promotion which formerly prevailed in that service; and nothing shows better the difficulty which our Army has to contend with, in every thing regarding promotion, than the fact that what was deemed a harsh and illiberal restriction in the promotion of the Navy, was with difficulty conceded as a great boon to the Army. And yet, though the principle of promotion seems thus nominally the same in both services, in reality it is still much in favour of the former, for the number of officers on half-pay, in comparison with those on full, being at least thrice as great in the Navy as the Army, the chances of benefiting by this regulation is consequently increased in the same proportion. As we have been at considerable pains to ascertain the mortality among different classes of officers, we are enabled to state, with some degree of accuracy, what the average extent of this promotion will amount to annually. It will be seen from our calculations of the mortality among the general and field-officers of the Army, in the last number of this Journal, that there have died annually, on half-pay, on U. S. JOURN. No. 82, SEPT. 1835.

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the average of the last nine years, about ten majors, thirteen lieut.-cols., and five colonels; so that it is probable about four captains on full pay will thus attain unattached majorities; and six majors, unattached lieutenant-colonelcies, without purchase, every year. We find, also, on a rough calculation, that from 45 to 50 captains on half-pay have died annually, on the average of the last nine years, consequently from 15 to 16 unattached companies will be the annual extent of promotion resulting to the old subalterns from this warrant.

When we consider the trifling amount of promotion which this will create, compared with the number of claimants of long standing, among whom it has to be divided, and that the number of these claimants must be yearly augmenting in an infinitely greater ratio than they can possibly be provided for, it is obvious that there is a period fast approaching, when a greater degree of liberality must be exercised in providing for old officers, or some means adopted for facilitating the course of promotion, in order to maintain that degree of efficiency among the higher ranks, which is absolutely essential in every army. We have some suggestions on this subject, which we shall endeavour to lay before our readers in a future number.

NOTICES ON THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.

BY CAPTAIN BASIL HALL, ROYAL NAVY. IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

MR. EDITOR, The following notices respecting the huge army of this country, though very incomplete, may yet appear sufficiently interesting to obtain a place in your invaluable Journal; for I have taken some pains to collect authentic information, and I have reason to believe that the facts may be depended on. It is more than probable, indeed, that most of the circumstances adverted to in this letter are well known to officers who have attended to the composition of the continental armies. But it strikes me as possible that many of your readers may still desire further information on a subject of very considerable importance, both in a moral and in a political point of view; to say nothing of its intrinsic interest considered professionally. For it must always be borne in mind, in considering the Austrian Army, that it is the great machine of Government, or that power which takes the place of our public opinion. The strong arm of power, in the shape of more than a quarter of a million of highly-disciplined soldiers, devoted to the service of the Government, and a vast multitude of civil servants, equally well-disciplined, even more numerous, far better paid, and fully as devoted, constitute the frame-work of the administration in this country.

It is not my present purpose, however, to enter on any political discussion; but simply to give you a sketch of the Austrian Army, so far as a naval man may be supposed capable of understanding such a subject. And here I may observe, that I hesitated for a moment whether or not I should put my name to this letter, from an apprehension that whatever impression the statements may seem calculated to produce might be weakened in the opinion of military men, by knowing that they were not given by one of their own cloth, or one trained to

such inquiries. But this very consideration has induced me, upon re flection, to allow you to give your authority for the following remarks: for I can have no wish that they should be received for more than they are fairly worth; and I must trust to the consideration of your military readers to excuse those inevitable errors in technicalities, which every man is liable to fall into when he presumes to enter into the details of a profession to which he has not been bred.

The present state of the Austrian Army, which is on the war establishment, (April, 1835,) is as follows: the total numbers, as you will see by reference to the accompanying Tables, being upwards of four hundred and thirty thousand!

(A) INFANTRY of the line.

(a) 58 Regiments of three regular or field battalions, and one Landwehr or militia battalion. In some of these regiments, each battalion consists of six companies; in others, the third battalion consists of four companies, as will be specified more particularly afterwards.

In time of war, a second militia battalion is raised, but which never marches out of the country, and is composed entirely of Veterans, who have obtained furlough from their regiments, and these have no pay or privileges of any kind.

Of the 58 infantry regiments of the Line, 15 are Hungarian; 12 Polish (Gallician); 8 Italian; 8 Bohemian; 6 from Austria Proper; 4 Moravian; 3 Illyrian; 1 Silesian; and 1 Styrian.

Each regiment has also a separate division, consisting of two companies of grenadiers, who wear the same uniform as that of their regiment, except that they carry bear-skin caps. These 58 divisions are formed into

(b) 20 Battalions of grenadiers; 18 of which consist of three divisions of six companies each; and 2 battalions of two divisions, or four companies each. These grenadier battalions are always detached from their regiments; and, generally speaking, distributed over the principal cities of the empire.

(c) 1 Regiment of Tyrolese "Chasseurs à pied," or riflemen, called Jägers, of four battalions of six companies each.

(d) 12 Battalions of Jägers or riflemen, each of six companies, viz. :
Three from Bohemia.
Two from Italy.
One from Styria.

Three from Austria Proper.

Two from Moravia.

One from Gallicia.

In time of war, these regiments have each a separate depôt company; and thus the whole rifle corps amounts to more than twenty-one thousand men.

(e) 17 Regiments of the frontier, viz.:

Eight in Croatia.

Five in Sclavonia.

Four in Transylvania.

These frontier forces, called "Gränz Regimenter," form a very important section of the Austrian Army; and as they differ from anything which exists in other countries, so far as I know, a few words respecting them may be found interesting.

They form a stationary cordon along the Turkish frontier, and they appear to be absolutely necessary to preserve the peace and security of that side of the Austrian empire from the lawless incursions of the bar