&c.—no promotion can be had in the English
army unless by paying for the same. And
so—according to the rules and regulations
made and provided for the guidance of her
Majesty's troops—Mr. Smith, not having the
requisite eleven hundred pounds at his banker's,
had to remain a lieutenant, while his junior,
Mr. Johnstone, having that amount at call, was
promoted over his head, and henceforward
became a captain in the service. There was,
there could be, nothing to urge against the
character of Mr. Smith, either professionally or
otherwise; but he had no money.

Nor was his old Sandhurst chum the only
officer who superseded Lieutenant Smith.
Money, the only thing which could give him
his promotion, did not drop into his pocket as
time advanced, and the consequence was, that
as, one by one, all the ten captains of the
regiment were either promoted or sold out, our
friend found himself about four years after
the regiment had landed in England, still a
lieutenant, while of those who had been his
juniors no less than ten were captains. In
India, Mr. Smith had shown himself an active
and intelligent officer, exceedingly fond of his
profession, and very proud of doing his duty.
It is hardly to be wondered at if his feelings
now underwent a change, and if, from seeing
himself superseded again and again, he became,
if not absolutely careless, at least very much less
active, and took much less of soldierly pride in
his profession than formerly. Nor did his
position or feelings become more agreeable as time
wore on. After five or six years of home duty,
the regiment was ordered abroad again; this
time to a healthy English colony, where there
would be very little chance of promotion from
the casualties of either active service or a bad
climate. Our friend found himself still a
lieutenant, though now upwards of thirty years old,
while his friend Johnstone had in the mean time
purchased the step of major, and was likely,
before long, to command the regiment as
lieutenant-colonel.

After the corps had been abroad some three
years, an augmentation of two companies to
each battalion in the service took place, and
this, without purchase, gave Lieutenant Smith
his promotion to the rank of captain; but
not until nearly nine years after his junior
companion had obtained the same step; and
even now, all those senior to him in the
same grade had at one time been his juniors.
Getting the advancement at thirty-three years
of age was a very different affair from getting it
at twenty-three. The service of which he was
once so proud, had lost all its charms for him;
he was to all intents and purposes a broken-
hearted man: only remaining in the army because
it was too late in life for him to begin in any
other profession. In short, from being a smart
and active officer, Captain Smith had become
what is called in the army a regular "hard
bargain," and was never so happy as when employed
in pointing out to newly-joined youngsters, the
miserable career that awaits an officer in the
English army who has not money enough to
purchase his promotion. When last heard of,
he was still a captain, about half way up the
list, and without the slightest chance of
promotion. The lieutenant-colonel commanding the
corps was for some time his old friend—and
formerly junior officer—Johnstone, who having
the wherewithal to purchase, soon made his way
to the top of the tree, subsequently exchanged
into a regiment serving in India, where he greatly
distinguished himself during the late mutiny,
and is now a C.B., a colonel by brevet, and will,
if he lives, be a major-general before his former
companion becomes a regimental major. It is not
suggested that Johnstone has not fully merited
his good fortune. He was, and is, an excellent
officer, and has proved himself more than once
fully deserving of the good fortune he has met
with. But Captain Smith was also a good
soldier, until one junior after another passing
over his head soured his temper, and made
him what he is. And the writer contends,
with all due deference to those who defend
the system, that to prevent one officer from
being promoted because he has not a certain
sum of money at command, and to promote
another over his head because the junior can
muster so many hundred pounds, is both a
professional and a national disgrace to us
Englishmen. He has never felt ashamed of his
country or of his cloth, except when officers
of the French, Austrian, or Sardinian armies
have questioned him about the purchase system
in our service, and have asked him whether
it is true that whatever his merits as a soldier
may be, no English officer can, in the ordinary
course of advancement, obtain promotion unless
he can pay a certain given and very large sum
of money. And further than this—a fact
so monstrous that a foreign officer is rarely
met who would believe it until confirmed by
some one in the English service—if A. is
senior of his rank, but has not money enough
to purchase, and B. his junior has the means of
doing so, B. will pass over A.'s head, and
become his senior. A civilian can hardly understand
how galling it is to a soldier to be superseded,
and commanded by those whom he once
commanded. In all foreign armies this is a
punishment only awarded to those officers who,
by long-continued misconduct, merit the severest
censures from their superiors. No officer in the
French army is ever superseded twice, for it is
deemed that if he deserve such a punishment a
second time, he must be unfit to hold a
commission; he is therefore dismissed the service.

Let nobody suppose that the case related above,
is a solitary one. Instances just as injurious to
some of the best officers in our service are
happening every day and in every regiment. It may
be said that there is no actual injustice in such
cases, as a young man must know before he enters
the army, on what terms only he can expect
advancement. But surely that can be no excuse
for maintaining such a system? Moreover, what
lad on joining the army has an old enough head
on his shoulders to calculate the pros and cons