THE GUARDS' MEMORIAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 373, 31 May 1856, Page 6

THE GUARDS' MEMORIAL.

This document has at length been allowed to make its appearance in public. Its contents may be thus briefly stated :—

The memorialists ascribe their grievance to the operation of the i Royal Warrant of the 6th October, 1854, establi: hin^ a new system of promotion to the higher ranks of the army. Before this' time they acknowledge that the Guards enjoyed advantages over the Line in the way of promotion, but this was justified by the character of the corps—the body guard of the Sovereign. They contend that their position is now reversed, and that the Guards will he placed, as regards promotion, in an inferior position to the Line. Inquiring whether the officers of the Guards will reach the position of command (the rank of General) as quickly as the officers of the Line, or the reverse, under the system inaugurated by the Hoy a 1 Warrant ot the 6ih of October, 1854, they proceed to show the constitution of a regiment of the Guards and one of the line as follows :—

A regiment of tlie infanty of die line is officered by one lieutenant-colonel, two majors, as many captains as companies, and lieutenants and ensigns in proportion. And a cavalry retriment is similarly organised, with the sole difference that there is only one major. The brigade of Guards is composed of three regimen is—the first, Grenadier Guards, con-

sisting of three battalions —the Coldstream and Scots Fusilier Guards, of two battalions each— in all, seven battalions ; each battalion being virtually, in itself, a regiment. Each of the three regiments of Guards—tne Grenadiers, the Coldstream, and the Scots Fusiliers—is commanded by an officer who is styled (in the Guards) a regimental lieutenantcolonel ; who is a colonel in the army, and is, as it were, a brigadier commanding the three (or two) battalions ; and who arrives at that position on an average in 36 years' service.

Each battalion of a regiment of Guards is commanded by an officer denominated (in the Guards) a regimental major, but who is ex ofjtcio, a full colonel in the army, and who obtains his battalion ]n about 29 or 30 years' service. Each company, again, in a battalion of Guards, is commanded by an officer, who is styled captain and lieutenant colonel, and has the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel in the'army. The two senior of these captains and lieutenant-colonels, in each battalion, per. form the duty of commanding the battalion in the absence of their commanding officers, and are termed acting majors, or mounted officers. that the principle thus adopted (of making regimental service as lieutenant-colonel the base of future advancement) is wise and sound, they take exception to the position assigned to the officers of the Guards, as unjust in its operation, both to those now serving i>nd to the brigade in general. The memorialists proceed to show that the Royal Commissioners, in recommending the starting point for the rank of colonel to be fixed at the position of lieutenant colonel in the line and of acting major (or mounted office-) in the Guards, have not acted fairly to the Guards, and have not carefully protected existing interests. And, in support of that opinion, they undertake to demonstrate the two following propositions :— That the fixing of a starting-point for the rank of colonel at the position of acting major in the Guards will be most detrimental to the interests of the officers of the Guards in all future times ; inasmuch as the greater part of the army will henceforward necessarily arrive at that rank with less service, and as younger men, than the officers of the Guards. That the system of promotion recommended by the Royal Commissioners, and now adopted, with respect to the captains and lieutenant-colonels of the Guards existing as such at the period when the report was issued, must press at once, and has already pressed in individual instances, witli peculiar, unjust, avd cruel severity, on those officers ; and that it amounts to a breach of faith on the part of tiie authorities, and it is directly opposed to, and at variance with, the principle of respect for vested interest which the report recognises and affirms, and on which it professes, fundamentally, to proceed. Tlipv seek to sustain these propositions by a number-of statistics, the principal facts adduced being a comparison of the length of service of those in the Line and those in the Guards previously to their reaching the "starting point" on the 20th of June, 1854, before, the army was placed on a war footing. They say— On the 20th of June, 1854, the period selected for the purpose of this comparison, there were serving 154' iieut-colonels of the Line, and 13 acting majors of the Guards. The average service of the 154- Heut.-colonels of the Line on obtaining their lieutenant-colonelcies was 22 years and 10 months; while the average service of the acting majors—the average number of years it had taken them to become mounted—was 24 years and 11 months. Comparing the cases of those who have obtained their promotion by purchase, the Guards, they say, are, upon the average, three years and four months longer in reaching their starling #J point for the rank of Colonel than the officers of the Line. After going into elaborate investigations calculated to demonstrate these propositions, they conclude by asking her Majesty— 1. That the captains and lieutenant-colonels o the Guards, existing as such on the 20th of June, 1854, should receive their rank of colonel on completion of three years' service as captains and lieutenant-colonels j and 2. That the period of service after which it would be equitable to grant the rank of colonel to the captains and lieutenant-colonels who have attained that rank subsequently to the 20th June, 1554, should be reconsidered, with the view of giving them an equal chance in the race of promotion with the LineIn conclusion, the memorialists venture to express a hope that her Majesty will lend a

favourable ear to tins respectful remonstrance and appeal, and will be graciously pleased to direct an inquiry to be made into tbe statements which they have submitted for her Majesty's consideration. The document is signed by Albeit, F.M..Colonel of the Grenadier Guards: Strafford, General, Colonel of theColdstream Guards; George, Lieutenant General, Colonel of the Scots Fusilier Guards ; Thomas Wood, Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel, commanding- Grenadier Guards; G. F. Upton, Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel, Commanding Coldstream Guards ; G. Moncriefe, Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel, Commanding Scots Fusilier Guards. August 17, 1855. — Home News.