in the Crimea. Of these only nine had
obtained certificates at Sandhurst. Not a
single assistant quartermaster-general, nor
brigade-major, nor aide-de-camp, had ever
graduated at that college; whilst of eleven
assistant adjutant-generals, one only had
passed through that ordeal,—and amongst
twenty-nine deputies of the two staff departments
(of the adjutant and quartermaster-
general), but five had ever obtained
certificates of qualification at the senior department
of the military college.
† The Use and Application of Cavalry in War. By
Colonel Beamish, late Royal Irish Dragoon Guards.
London, T. and W. Boone, 1855. Page 437.

But what is this Senior Department of the
Military College? The establishment of the
Military College at Sandhurst is divided into
two departments; the junior, intended for the
education of lads, from thirteen to sixteen years
of age, as preparatory to entering the army.
What the military college of St. Cyr is to the
French service, the junior department at
Sandhurst is to the English, with this slight
exception, that whereas the former institution
sends forth annually at least a hundred
young men fully qualified for commissions
in the line, our British establishment turns
out about a dozen or fifteen in the same
period. At the last half-yearly Sandhurst
examinations—in October or November of
the year just ended—the number of cadets
who passed for commissions was less than
half-a-dozen. The reason for this vast
difference is, that in France there are but two
doors whereby a candidate can enter the
commissioned ranks of the army. The one is by
enlisting as a private soldier, and rising
through all the various subordinate grades to
the distinction of wearing the epaulette; the
other by commencing and going through the
regular course of studies at the military
college of St. Cyr. In order to qualify in the
latter method, it is necessary to enter that
establishment between the ages of twelve
and fourteen, and to remain three years
learning the duties of the profession, before
the candidate can be admitted to the
examination.

But I have gone astray from my intention,
which was to point out in what consists the
senior department of the Military College at
Sandhurst. The pupils of this division are
all commissioned officers, and by the rules
they must, before entering the establishment,
have served with their regiment three years
abroad, or four years at home. The number
is limited to fifteen,—which considering there
are in times of peace upwards of ninety
officers employed on the staff of the army,
and during the present war there are no less
than two hundred and fifty—is rather a small
proportion; but even so very short a list is
seldom full, and but few officers avail
themselves of the privilege. Nor can we wonder
at it. The English military man is like his
fellow-countrymen who follow other pursuits
and employment. If he saw that study or
application would advance him in his profession,
he would work like a horse. If staff
appointments were given to those who
had qualified themselves in the senior department
of Sandhurst, and if a certificate from
that establishment were a sure and certain
means of obtaining professional distinction
and subsequent promotion, we should in
England have in a very few years the best
educated staff in the world. When he has
an object in view, there is nothing that the
Anglo-Saxon will not attempt, and few things
he cannot accomplish. Let us not then blame
such men as my friend Benson, but rather
try all we can to reform a system which is
at once a curse to the army and a disgrace to
the nation. And here let me relate an
anecdote.

Some years ago, the regiment in which I
then held a commission, formed part of a
very large force, assembled on the North-
West frontier of India. For several months
this army was together, saw much service,
and went through several general actions.
Besides a great number of the East India
Company's regiments, there were with us
two dragoon corps, and eight or ten battalions
of the Queen's army. There was also a very
numerous staff, belonging to which were a
dozen or fourteen officers of her Majesty's
service. Of these latter gentlemen, not one
had ever been at the senior department of
Sandhurst, whilst there were no less than ten
officers doing regimental duty with their
respective corps in this very force, who had
gone through the regular course of study at
that establishment, and of these three had
taken first-class certificates. Again, I say,
let us not blame officers who don't avail
themselves of the senior department at
Sandhurst to study, but let us insist upon a
reformation of the present system.

We all know how elderly officers cry up,
and Young England cries down, the heroes,
habits, manners, and customs of our army
during the Peninsula war. But in the matter
of staff officers and their qualifications, the
force under Wellesley in Spain was certainly
in advance of that commanded by Codrington
in the Crimea. According to a military
authority I have already quoted,* there was
during the Peninsula war "only one officer
employed on the quartermaster-general's
staff who was not a graduate of the senior
department of the Royal Military College."
And the same gentleman, writing about a
year before the war with Russia broke out,
says, "It is by many doubted whether, in
the event of a new war, the're exists in the
British army the necessary materials for the
construction of an efficient état-major, or
corps of staff officers, such as accompanied
the troops under Sir John Abercrombie
to Egypt and Sir Arthur Wellesley to
Portugal."
* Notes on Military Education, by Captain Spearman,
page 35, note.

Still stronger evidence against the existing