^i-^-M. 
 
 ^^.
 
 L I E. RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVERSITY 
 
 or ILLl NOIS
 
 ABOLITION 
 
 ;0P THB 
 
 BOXUS SYSTEM 
 
 IN THE 
 
 INDIAN ARMY. 
 
 COMPILED BT 
 
 LT.-COL. J. 0. PHILLIPS, 
 
 BETIRED LIST, LATE BENGAL ARMY. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 W^f H. ALLEX & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. 
 
 1869.
 
 LOIJDQN 
 
 PRINTED BY WOODPALL AND KINDER, 
 
 MILFORD LANE, STKAND, W.C.
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 The object of tliis pampUet is to show on wHat grounds the 
 officers of the late Indian Army appeal for compensation for 
 the loss of their contributions to regimental bonus funds, 
 and for the value of their commissions on retirement, conse- 
 quent upon the breaking up by Groyemment of the Hon. East 
 India Company's service, and the Amalgamation of the 
 Indian Armies with the Royal Army ; the scheme of the 
 late Secretary of State for India, the Right Hon. Lord 
 Cranbome, now Marquis of Salisbury, having failed to com- 
 pensate them. The following are copies of documents which 
 bear upon the subject. 
 
 A 2
 
 -UJU
 
 ABOLITION 
 
 OP THE 
 
 BONUS SYSTEM 
 
 IN THE 
 
 INDIAN ARMY. 
 
 Extracts from a Despatch, dated 29th November, lSS7,from 
 the Court of Directors to the Government of India, and 
 published, G.O.G.G., 2nd May, 1838. 
 
 1. " Gov ernment consider that tlie practice wliicli has for East India 
 some time obtained, although now for the first time brought minuSrip-' 
 to notice, of inducing time-expii'ed ofi&cers under the rank of tions to regi- 
 Lt.- Colonel to retire from the service, must conduce to the con- funds, 
 tentment of tlie officers and to tlie efficiency of tTie army 
 
 2. "We see no necessity for interfering with the arrange- 
 ments which the junior officers of a regiment may make in 
 individual cases for adding to the comforts of a senior officer 
 on his retirement from the service upon the pension to which 
 he may be entitled." 
 
 3. " The Regulation of 1793 requiring officers upon retire- 
 ment to make oath that they have received no pecuniary con- 
 sideration for quitting the service, has not been enforced by 
 us in any single case of retirement in England during the 
 period of nearly forty years which has since elapsed
 
 6 
 
 We shall therefore continue to suspend the operation of the 
 rule, and officers retiring from time to time will not be called 
 upon to make the declaration unless the financial necessity to 
 which we have referred, and of wliicli due notice shall he given^ 
 shall at a future period be fully realized." 
 
 Such was the authorization by the East India Company of 
 contributions to regimental bonus funds to enable senior 
 officers to retire, and this right was "guaranteed by clauses in 
 two Acts of Parliament. 
 
 Transfer of tlie 
 East India 
 Company's 
 armies to tlie 
 Grown. 
 
 Parliamentary 
 uarantees. 
 
 Protests. 
 
 On the Transfer of the Indian Government to the Crown, 
 hy Act 21 §• 22 Vict., c. 106, s. 56, August 1858, taking 
 place, the following guarantee formed part of the Act, and 
 was repeated in Act 23 § 24 Vict., c. 100, 20 August, 
 1860, and is called Henley's Clause, 
 
 " And be entitled to the hke pay, pensions, allowances, and 
 privileges, and the like advantages as regards promotion and 
 otherwise, as if they had continued in the service of the said 
 Company. 
 
 " And the advantages as to pay, pensions, privileges^ promo- 
 tion and otherwise shall be maintained in any plan 
 
 for the re- organization of the Indian army." 
 
 But the transfer to the Crown was considered by several 
 distinguished officers inexpedient and impolitic, and they 
 recorded the following protests : — 
 
 Protests of Members of Council against amalgamation. 
 
 By Mr. Willoughby : — 
 
 Claims to compensation to a large amount will probably be 
 preferred by those who have expended large sums in pur- 
 chasing out their seniors, in' full confidence that they would 
 be indemnified by their juniors on their retirement. This 
 system was as much sanctioned and recognized in India as the
 
 purchase system in England. I have kno-wn officers pay 
 £1,000, £2,000, and £3,000, in tHs way, and now that tlie 
 system is suddenly arrested by the cliange in our military 
 policy in India, tliose affected ly it appear to me to Jiave as good 
 and valid a claim to consideration as tlie officers of tlie royal army 
 tvould possess, tcere tlieir system of purcliase abruptly interfered 
 ivith ; and the validity of their claim under the contingency 
 supposed has been generally admitted." 
 
 By Colonel Duea:n'D, now Sir Henkt Dukaxd, Member of 
 the Council of India : — 
 
 The Bill in question does not sanction the obliteration of Sir Henry 
 the vested rights of officers, autlioritatively sanctioned ly 
 tlie letter of the Court of Directors No. 20, of the 14th 
 February, 1837, and which for above sixty years have had free 
 action. The hard-earned savings of many officers have been 
 invested in purchasing out senior officers, with the reasonable 
 expectation of profiting, in their turn, when they retired. To 
 many, the obliteration of such vested rights must prove 
 ruinous, and when not ruinous, it will deprive many officers 
 and their families of a provision which they would have 
 enjoyed but for the change now introduced by Government, 
 — icithout due notice promised (/ /) to the Indian armies. 
 
 By Sir J. Outeam, Bart., G.C.B., Member of the Council 
 of India : — 
 
 All in the service have been allowed authoritatively to Sir James 
 make arrangements for purchasing out their seniors, and 'i^'^^™- 
 these arrangements, and the retiring funds which have been 
 estabHshed in consequence, cannot justly be interfered with. 
 Relying on tliis understanding, they have regularly subscribed 
 to funds, the object of which is to accelerate promotion, by 
 providing bonuses out of the common purse to officers willing 
 to retire ; and they have done so in the confident hope that 
 when ill health or other considerations should lead to their 
 o^Yn retirement, they would, as a matter of course, receive 
 bonuses equal in amount to those paid to their predecessors.
 
 8 
 
 "Will the regulations and whole macliinery of the Line be 
 altered to meet the eq^idtable claims of these men? or will 
 their funds be broken up, and all the prospective advantages 
 for which they have monthly made 'pecuniary sacrifices be 
 absolutely denied them ? 
 
 Guarantee. 
 
 Bonus system 
 now destroyed. 
 
 Extract of Act of Amalgamation^ 21 and 22 Vict., c. 106, 
 s. 56, dated 2nd August , 1858. 
 
 " The military forces of the East India Company should be 
 deemed the military forces of Her Majesty, and should be 
 entitled to tJie like ]) ay, pensions, allowances, and privileges, and 
 the like advantages as regards promotion and otherwise, as if 
 they had continued in the service of the said Company." 
 
 Lord Deebt, as Prime Minister, introducing the Bill, thus 
 explained its meaning : — 
 
 " The Bill also provides, as far as it relates to individuals 
 and bodies, that they shall have reserved to them all rights, 
 privileges, and expectations which they were led to form at the 
 time of their admission into the service." 
 
 Sir C. Wood stated in the House of Commons in 1860 : — 
 
 " There will he no change in the position of the officers, and 
 to give them assurance of that, I am willing to accept the 
 amendments of the right honorable gentleman the member 
 for Oxfordshire (Mr. Henley), with respect to the rights and 
 ptrivileges of the of&cers and soldiers of the local army of India." 
 
 With reference to par. 1 of the Court of Directors' Despatch, 
 dated 29th November, 1837 {see page 1): The establishment 
 of the staff corps gave officers transferred to it promotion 
 indejoendent of regimental promotion. The bonus system 
 was destroyed by this act of the Government, in violation of 
 the Parliamentary guarantees ; and the officers under the 
 rank of Lieutenant- Colonel, who had subscribed to the regi- 
 mental retiring fund, had their contributions confiscated. 
 
 The wrong thus inflicted occasioned great agitation in the
 
 9 
 
 Indian army, and above seven hundred oificers addressed 
 petitions to Parliament for redress ; in consequence, on the 
 2nd May, 1865, the House of Commons passed the following 
 address to the Queen, by a majority of thirteen: — 
 
 " That a humble address be presented to Her Majesty, 
 praying that she will be graciously pleased to redress all 
 such grievances complained of by the officers of the Indian 
 army as were admitted by the Commission on the Memorials 
 of Indian Officers to have arisen by a departure from the 
 assurance given by Parliament, by the Acts 21 and 22 Yict., 
 c. 106 J and 23 and 24, c. 100." 
 
 In seconding the motion of Major Jervis for the above 
 address to the Queen, Colonel SykeSy M.P. [late member 
 of the Court of Directors for 19 years, and an officer in 
 the late Indian army), used the follovArig language : — 
 
 " But a privilege which to the Indian officer v/as of vital Colonel Sykes. 
 importance was that of the regimental bonus, twice officially 
 sanctioned by the Court of Directors and the Board of Control, 
 and conseqxiently by the British Government, in May, 1838. 
 
 Its abolition presses with disastrous severity 
 
 upon all officers It is the practical confisca- 
 tion of all their contributions to regimental retiring funds, 
 to assure a bonus to retiring officers, and to themselves 
 when they retire. The Royal Commission on the evidence 
 afforded to it from the India Office, concuiTed in the opinion 
 of the Secretary of State for India that all such contri- 
 butions were illegal, upon the supposed operation of Act 
 George III. against sale of offices ; but that Act applied 
 to a Government office-bearer selling his appointment to 
 another in a personal transaction. The operation of the 
 regimental retiring funds had no analogy to such a state 
 of things. An old and senior officer in a regiment, as I have 
 
 B
 
 10 
 
 Colonel Sykesi 
 
 Lord Cran- 
 borne. 
 
 already stated, witli liis health broken down, and incumbered 
 with a growing-up family, cannot retire upon the pension to 
 which he is entitled, because it is insufficient for the support 
 of himself and family in Europe, but he says to his regiment, 
 *If you choose to repay to me the sumslhave myself contributed 
 to tlie regimental fund, and the value of my present position^ 
 I will make way for the advancement of my juniors. 
 The contribution was made by the body of officers, and 
 the Major or Lieutenant- Colonel retired, and this was literally 
 in the interest of the puhlic service, for otherwise a broken- 
 down and inefficient officer would have been compelled to 
 
 drag out a miserable existence in India The 
 
 importance of the bonus to the retiring officer and his family 
 is shown by the amounts paid. In the officer's ' case ' at page 
 11, it is stated that Major-General Pears, now IMilitary 
 Secretary at the India Office, received £6,000 from his 
 
 regiment on retirement It is most ungenerous, 
 
 therefore, in the Secretary of State for India, to take advan- 
 tage of a supioosed legal impediment^ and a decision in the 
 Queen^s Bench ivhich loas inapplicahle to the bonus system of 
 the Indian armies, to confiscate all the contributions of 
 present officers, and all advantages which they had a right to 
 derive from these contributions." 
 
 Consequent upon the resolution of the House of Commons, 
 Lord Cranborne, in his speech to the House, 6tli August, 
 1866, used the following language : — 
 
 But, putting the guarantee aside, I think it is clear that if 
 your servants have been largely damnified by any sudden or 
 unexpected acts of yours, the principle that ought to be observed 
 in every branch of the public service is, tliat we ought to do 
 something to compensate them ; a.nd assuredly if there is any 
 branch to which we should desire to apply this principle, it is 
 to those who risk their lives in our defence. Viewing the 
 matter in that light, and not in the least questioning, or 
 attempting to reverse, the decision of former governments.
 
 11 
 
 we still thought it our duty to attempt in some way to meet 
 the complaints of officers on this head. Now, the House will 
 observe, that the subscription of a bonus had for its imme- 
 diate object to get a step of rank ; that step carried with it 
 increased pay ; therefore, the object of that subscription was 
 to a certain extent obtained. 
 
 The officer got his advance in rank, and of course increased 
 pay, earlier through the subscription than otherwise. 
 
 If he did not purchase out his superior officer, he would 
 remain longer in his inferior grade ; therefore, I say, the 
 Indian officer has already got to a certain extent compen- 
 sation for his subscription. We have no intention to pay 
 that over again, but our proposal is this : — We understand it is 
 stated by several officers that they have not received full 
 compensation in that way, that they paid a very much larger 
 sum than they had any immediate chance of receiving, in 
 the hope that when they came to retire, they would receive 
 compensation from the subscriptions of their junior officers. 
 Our proposal is, that in each presidency a committee shall 
 be appointed, which, as soon as an officer retires, shall enquire 
 into his case, in order to ascertain liow much money he is 
 really out of pocTcet in payments to officers loho have retired^ 
 and the loss, loliatever it may he, the Government propose to 
 mahe good to him. 
 
 An Honorable Member. — With interest ? 
 
 Lord Cranborne. — No, not with interest ; considering the 
 enormous stimulus to promotion that has taken place, the 
 many advantages that officers have received, and that you in 
 practice never give compensation to public servants for the 
 whole of their loss, we think that interest on neither side 
 should he allowed, either for or against the officer. The House, 
 and especially those members who take an interest in Indian 
 matters, may wish to know what this operation is likely to 
 cost. We have had it calculated by General Hannyngton, a 
 very competent authority on such a subject, and his view
 
 12 
 
 of the matter is, that it will cost about £8,000 for twenty 
 years. 
 
 Lord Cranborne then issued the following despatch : — 
 
 Military, No. 100. India Office, London, August 8, 1806. 
 
 To H. E. tlie Biglit Hon. the Governor- General of India in 
 
 Council. 
 
 Lord Cran- ^^^j — Vm^d,. 1. By my despatch, No. 159, of this day's 
 
 borne's des- date, your Excellency was informed that it was my intention 
 to address you in a separate despatch, on the subject of re- 
 presentations made by many ofi&cers of the Indian army 
 respecting their claim to compensation for the loss of money 
 contributed by them, prior to the reorganization of that 
 army, towards their regimental retiring funds. 
 
 2. I find that since the year 1837, when the Court of 
 Directors suspended the operation of an order prohibiting 
 such proceedings, many officers of the Indian army have 
 been in the habit of contributing from time to time sums of 
 money towards the purchase of the retirements of their 
 reo-imental seniors, for which sums they hoped to receive an 
 equivalent, either in the shape of actual promotion, immediate 
 or prospective, or by the receipt of a similar contribution in 
 the event of their own retirement from the service. 
 
 3. This practice, though not in every branch of the service 
 wholly discontinued, has, it is alleged, been virtually put a 
 stop to by the measures connected with the formation of the 
 several Staff Corps, and the reorganization of the Indian 
 army. 
 
 4. In a petition addressed to the House of Commons by 
 Brevet Major Sweet, of the Madras Native Infantry, and 
 ordered to be printed, it is stated as follows, alluding to a 
 general order by the Government of India, dated the 2nd 
 May, 1838 :— 
 
 " On the faith of this general order, your petitioner has 
 invested large sums of money at different times, borrowed
 
 13 
 
 often at a very high rate of interest, in assisting his seniors 
 to retire, in the sure and certain hope that in his turn to 
 retire from the service he would receive it back again." 
 
 And in the same petition, in alhision to the appointment of 
 certain of his brother officers to the Staff Corps : — 
 
 " The consequence of which is tliat your petitioner is not 
 only deprived of that promotion to which he is entitled in 
 accordance with the rules regulating promotions in the 
 Indian army, and guaranteed to him by Act 21 and 22 Vict., 
 cap. 106, and 23 and 24 Vict., cap. 100, but he also loses all 
 the money that he has expended at different times in assisting 
 his seniors through his regimental bonus fund." 
 
 5. It appears from the report of the proceedings of Parlia- 
 ment that numerous petitions from officers of the Indian 
 army, similar in substance to that from Major Sweet, have 
 been presented to the House during the present session, 
 
 6. That the late Court of Directors should have withdrawn 
 a prohibition which formerly existed to the practice of pur- 
 chasing the retirement of officers cannot, in the opinion of 
 Her Majesty's Government, be admitted to establish a claim 
 to compensation under the Parliamentary guarantee, on the 
 plea that changes in the organization of the army have 
 operated to interfere with the continuance of a practice of 
 this purely private and permissive character. 
 
 7. Upon this point the decision of Lord Cranworth's 
 Commission, formed after very careful consideration of the 
 subject, must be considered as conclusive. 
 
 8. That commission reported upon the subject in the 
 following terms: — 
 
 " But it is impossible to understand the Parliamentary 
 guarantee to extend to this case. The privileges and advan- 
 tages which Parliament undertook should be preserved to the 
 army under the Crown as they had existed under the East 
 India Company, were privileges and advantages existing 
 between the Company on the one hand and the army on
 
 14 
 
 Lord Cran^ the other. The Company was no otherwise a party to this 
 borne s des- system of giving a bonus on retirement than as they may be 
 considered to have given an express assurance that they 
 would not interfere to prevent it, unless under circumstances 
 of financial pressure, and with due notice. All that could be 
 asked of the Crown is to assume the same passive state 
 which had existed on the part of the Company. But the 
 system being illegal, it is impossible to understand Parlia- 
 ment as having meant to guarantee the continuance of a 
 practice which is contrary to law." 
 
 10. It was stated, however, in my despatch of this date, 
 No. 159, that " Her Majesty's Government are unwilling to 
 leave the officers generally any ground of complaint which 
 they can consistently with their duty remove." They have, 
 therefore, resolved upon authorizing your Government to 
 investigate the claims of officers on the above account. 
 
 11. With this view, the following course will be adopted : — 
 A committee will be formed at each presidency, for the 
 
 purpose of investigating and reporting upon claims of this 
 nature on the part of officers borne on the strength of the 
 Indian army on rebruary 18th, 1861. 
 
 12. An officer proposing to retire from the service, or 
 having retired since February 18th, 1861, and being below 
 the rank noted below* at the time of retirement, will submit 
 his claims to compensation for the loss of sums subscribed 
 for the purpose of assisting his seniors to retire, through the 
 usual channel, to the Government of this presidency, by 
 whom they will be referred to the above committee. He will 
 submit, at the same time, a declaration, upon honour, as to 
 the sum of money, if any, that he has received, or expects to 
 receive, from the officers of his cadre on retirement. 
 
 13. It will be the duty of the committee to ascertain, with 
 all possible accuracy, the following circumstances : — 
 
 * If in the artillery or engineers, below tlie rank of colonel commandant. 
 If iu the cavalry or infantry, below the rank of regimental lieutenant-colonel.
 
 15 
 
 1st. The number of retirements among his brother Lord Cran- 
 officers to the purchase of which the officer had ^^^'tch ' "^^^ 
 contributed up to February 18th, 1861. This will, 
 of course, not include arrangements which may- 
 have been made with officers transferred to the 
 invalid establishment. 
 
 2nd. The amount ascertained to have been actually paid 
 in each case by the officer in question to the retiring 
 officer. 
 
 14. These facts may be gathered from the statement of the 
 officer himself, supported by such proof as the committee 
 may consider sufficient ; but it will be competent for your 
 Government, in communication with those of Madras and 
 Bombay, to lay down any general rules that you may think 
 fit for the guidance of these committees. 
 
 15. The above sums will be placed to the credit of the 
 officer in each case. 
 
 16. On the other hand, the committee will estimate the 
 value in money of the advance in rank or position which 
 accrued to the officer from the above arrangements, and will 
 debit him therewith. 
 
 17. The balance, reduced by the sum, if any, which he 
 may receive from the officers of his cadre on his retirement, 
 and, in the cases of officers who have already retired, by the 
 value of any special annuity that may have been gi^anted to 
 them in addition to the regulated pension, will be paid to the 
 officer on his resignation of the service appearing in orders, 
 provided, in the case of the cavalry, infantry, and Staff 
 Corps, such retirement or resignation takes place before he 
 attains the rank of regimental lieutenant-colonel, and, if in 
 the artillery or engineers, before he attains the rank of 
 colonel commandant. 
 
 18. Special periodical reports of the sums so paid will be 
 made to Her Majesty's Government. — I have, &c., 
 
 (Signed) Cbanbokne.
 
 16 
 
 Extract from G.O.G.G., Fort William, 25th I<ehruary, 
 1867, consequent on Lord Crajiborne's Despatch, 
 
 Proof of pay. It will rest with officers claiming compensation to afford 
 
 officers. reasonable proof, supported by a declaration on honour, of the 
 
 amount thus paid, which will be credited to them in full, 
 subject to a deduction equal to the amount a retired or re- 
 tiring officer may have received, or may bona fide expect to 
 receive, from the juniors of his regiment or cadre, or from 
 his regimental retiring fund, and also the estimated money 
 value of any special annuity a retiring officer may have received 
 in addition to his regulated pension. 
 
 Despatch of the Government of India, subsequent to Lord 
 
 Cranborne^s Despatch, 
 
 Compensation for Losses. Retiring Fund. 
 
 Rules for fixing June 7, 1867. — No. 607. — In general order Ko. 212, dated 
 compeusa ion. j^e]3j.^a,py 25, rules were laid down for the grant of compen- 
 sation for loss of sums subscribed by officers of the late Indian 
 army for the purpose of assisting their seniors to retire. 
 
 2. These rules were issued under the authority of Lord 
 Cranborne's despatch, No. 160, of August 8, 1866, pub- 
 lished in general order No. 808, of September 26, last ; but, 
 inasmuch as it appeared to the Government of India that a 
 literal adherence to the terms of paragraphs 12 to 17 of that 
 despatch would be contrary to the spirit of the despatch, and 
 in fact lead, save in very rare cases, to no payments at all, a 
 departure from the precise letter of the instructions was de- 
 cided on, and without going into minute and often almost 
 impracticable investigations as to all the payments made by 
 officers in each rank a.nd grade, and as to the benefit received 
 in consequence of those payments, the Government settled to 
 pay in full whatever sum an officer had disbursed towards tlie
 
 17 
 
 purcliase of steps in the ranTc lie held en Fchniary 13, 18G1, Rules for 
 subject only to the deductions ordered in paragraphs 13 and ^^^° compen- 
 17 of Lord Cranborne's despatch No. 160, of August 8, 1866. 
 
 3. The Government of India was advised that " It was 
 more to the interests of the officers concerned to give them 
 the full benefit of any sums they may have paid in the grade 
 they held at the date of reorganization, than to investigate the 
 claim of each from the date of his entering into the service, 
 and accord him the balance in his favour on the general 
 account; and that 'a very few could submit the requisite 
 details or substantiate their claims ; ' and, farther, that ' it is 
 believed that of those few a very small percentage would be 
 able to show any balance in their favour.' " 
 
 4. The Government of India acted on this view in the 
 general order of February 25 last, in the sixth paragraph 
 of which the terms on which payment was to be made were 
 laid down ; but it was also notified, in the same paragraph, 
 that " very exceptional cases (in which, in fact, a claim might 
 not be met by the rule then laid down) would be specially 
 considered." 
 
 5. Copy of a despatch from the Secretary of State for 
 India, iSTo. 124 of May 2, 1867, is published for general 
 information, from which it will be seen that Her Majesty's 
 Government, while not objecting to the rule laid down in 
 paragraph 6 of the general order, by which an actual pay- 
 ment can, under certain circumstances, be received by an 
 officer without reference to advantages gained, still desire that 
 the payments in previous grades may be also calculated, as 
 well as the advantages gained by such payments. 
 
 6. In pursuance of these orders, the payments due under 
 paragraph 6 of the general order icill still le made in full, 
 iiTcspective of any account of the sums paid in ranks below 
 that which an officer held on the 18th February, 1861. 
 
 7. At the same time each officer's claim on account of pay- 
 ments made while in a lower rank will be investi orated, and if
 
 18 
 
 Rules for a balance appears in his favonr after the deductions made in 
 
 satbn.^^^^^ " paragraphs 13 and 17 of the despatch of August 8, No. 160, 
 it will he credited to him ; but in no case will any debit that 
 may appear against him in consequence of such investigation 
 be deducted from a payment due under the preceding para- 
 graph. 
 
 8. The burden of proof of payment must, in each case, 
 rest with the officer preferring a claim ; and it will remain 
 with the committee already appointed in each presidency to 
 decide on the sufficiency of the evidence brought forward by 
 officers as to the different payments they may have made for 
 the purpose of assisting their seniors to retire ; and, to carry 
 out the provisions of paragraph 7 of this order, the money 
 gained by each step so purchased will be debited against the 
 sums proved to have been paid in ranks lower than that held 
 on February 18, 1861. 
 
 For instance, a lieutenant who purchased one step, and by 
 this became a captain ten months earlier than he otherwise 
 would have attained the rank, will be debited with a sum 
 equal to ten months' difference of pay between lieutenant 
 and captain ; while an officer who had aided in purchasing 
 three steps while in the rank of lieutenant, and thereby 
 became a captain three years earlier, would have to be 
 debited with three years' difference of pay between lieutenant 
 and captain. 
 
 9. In making these calculations the committee will not talce 
 into account any deatTis of officers stihsequent to retirement as 
 affording a claim to a credit, on the ground that the purchase of 
 the step had oiot produced the full lenejit anticipated, but will 
 simply estimate the money value of each step purchased, 
 according to the earlier promotion to the next higher rank 
 thus gained. 
 
 10. No sums paid to officers transferred to the invalid 
 establishment can, under the orders of the Secretary of State, 
 be credited to an officer under any circumstances ; and in all
 
 19 
 
 cases deductions from sums duo under paragTaplis G or 
 7 of this order, must be made to the extent of any 
 amount the retired or retii'ing officer may have received, or 
 may receive, fi-om the juniors of his regiment or cadre, or 
 from his regimental retiring fund, and also on account of the 
 value of any special annuity a retired officer may have 
 received in addition to his regulated pension 
 
 Extracts from Report of the Royal Commission^ 1863, on 
 the grievances of Indian officers, shoiving the reason why 
 the extra pension was given. 
 
 Par. 54. — As regards the "complaint" as to the course Keasonwhy 
 pursued by Government to encourage retirement from among ^^rT offered, 
 the senior officers of the cavalry and infantry, in consequence 
 of the very large reductions in the number of the native 
 regiments, there were a number of Lt. -Colonels and Majors 
 for ichom it teas impossihle to find employment. These officers 
 would in ordinary course reach to the rank of full Colonel, 
 and so become entitled to Colonels' allowances. It was 
 considered that by offering them an addition to the pension 
 on which by theii' length of service they were entitled to 
 retire, they might be induced to retire, and so that a con- 
 siderable boon would be conferred on the officers who should 
 remain. A scale was therefore fi'amed, fixing the sum to be 
 offered to field officers below the rank of Colonel, as an 
 inducement to them to retire. The amount varied according 
 to the standing of those to whom it was to be offered, and to 
 officers ivho wei^e of a standing which made it lively that hj 
 remaining in the service they ivould soon lecome full Colonels^ an 
 additional pension teas offered, amounting to £550 per annum ; 
 to those further removed the sum was less, descending as low 
 as £200 per annum ; and if as many as 300 officers should 
 not accept these tenns, they were to be offered to Captains of 
 twenty-five years' standing and upwards."
 
 20 
 
 And speaking again of the reductions of the Indian army, 
 
 — *' The extra pensions, then, may be taken as one of the 
 
 means devised for the purpose of alleviating the pressure of 
 
 these reductions." 
 
 Extra pensions The bonus system being declared at this time illegal by 
 
 lieu of bonus ^^^ ^' Wood, contrary to fact, did not come within the 
 
 but to diminish enquiry of the Commission ; therefore, the extra pensions 
 
 the number of ... 
 
 field officers. could not have been given in lieu of the bonus, because such 
 
 extra pensions were given also to those officers who were not 
 
 entitled to a regimental bonus. 
 
 India Office, 12 August, 1861. 
 Unemployed In G.O.G.Gr. para. 63, dated 10th of April last, it was 
 
 stated : — " That the position and claims of £eld officers of 
 the Indian armies, 7iow unemployed or for ivliom it may he 
 difficult to find suitable employment under the new system, 
 were under consideration." 
 
 Practical denial The result of these despatches, orders, and instructions, has 
 justice. been to deprive all officers who are now in the service, or 
 
 who have retired, whether ly^'^A or tvitJwut an extra pension, 
 of their rights, as contributors to their retiring bonus fund, 
 and they have not only lost all their contrihutions, hU tJie 
 ultimate lenefit tliey paid them to secure; the decision of 
 the Committees having been, by the numerous unjustifiable 
 deductions they have made from the actual contributions of 
 officers, a practical denial of justice. 
 
 Even the well-intentioned scheme of the Right Honorable 
 Lord Cranborne, whilst it recognized the claims of the 
 aggrieved officers to compensation, failed to meet the justice 
 of the case, as it only reckoned the loss of sums joaid, and 
 did not take into consideration the real loss ; namely, the 
 value of an officer's commission, or step on retirement, which 
 these payments were made to secure, and to which he looked 
 as confidently as to his retiring pension. It is submitted that
 
 21 
 
 to give only part of the sums paid, wliicli sums had often 
 been borrowed at a high rate of interest, and had lain dor- 
 mant so many years (sometimes for as long a period as thirty 
 years), is as if an insurance office were to give back sub- 
 scriptions only, instead of the sum insured for, ivlien that sum 
 hecame due. 
 
 Still, had Lord Cranbome's declaration been adhered to, in 
 allowing interest " neither /or nor against the officer " — had 
 actual payments been refunded without deductions — they 
 would have been thankfully received by officers, as a settle- 
 ment of their claims. Instead of this, it will be shown that 
 every advantage has been taken against the officer, thus : — Every advau- 
 
 Istly. In para. 11 of Lord Cranborne's despatch of the aglinlt claims 
 8th of August, above quoted : — By restricting compensation ^^ officers. 
 to those officers who were on the strength of the Indian 
 army on 18th February, 1861. 
 
 This told unfairly against officers who retired between 
 1857 and 1861, a time of general uncertainty and stag-nation 
 throughout the service ; promotion and purcbase being equally 
 at a standstill, for the work of amalgamating the two armies 
 was still far from completion even in 1861, and no one knew 
 clearly what changes were in store for any part of the old 
 service. Few officers were bought out dming that period, 
 though some were forced, through ill health, or other circum- 
 stances, to retire, without receiving a penny from their juniors. 
 
 2ndly. In Clause, of par. 13 of the same despatch : — 
 By ignoring sums paid to officers who had chosen to remain 
 in India on the invalid establishment, instead of re- 
 turning to England on their pensions, although it icas as 
 alloicahJe and customary to purchase out officers iinder these, as 
 any other circumstances : therefore, denial of this claim falls 
 heavily and unjustly on many Indian officers, 
 
 3rdly. In para. 16 of the same despatch : — By reducing 
 the amount of actual payments, by the advantages of 
 rank and position which accrued to the officer from his out-
 
 compensation. 
 
 22 
 
 lay, in direct opposition to the assurance of Lord Cranborne, 
 that interest should neither le allowed for nor against the officer. 
 Moreover sucli advantages could scarcely be calculated, as in 
 the case of ofi&cers (Example 1) on staff employ and con- 
 solidated allowances, who often purchased steps at the risk of 
 losing valuable appointments on promotion to a higher grade. 
 Another difficulty ivould have arisen where officers had died 
 immediately, or soon after being purchased out by their 
 juniors, had it not teen swept away regardless of the added 
 loss or injury to tlie Indian officer ly the order issued hy the 
 Indian Government to the Committees, in para. 9 of G.O.G.Gr., 
 dated June 7, 1867, *' That in making such calculation, 
 the Committee will not tahe into account any death of officers 
 subsequent to retirement as affording a claim to credit, &c." 
 Mockery of The operation of this and the preceding rule has resulted 
 
 in no officer receiving his subscriptions intact ; whilst in the 
 majority of cases, either nothing has heen refunded, or the 
 awards have heen so small as to prove a perfect mocTcery of com- 
 pensation^ as exemplified in cases quoted below ; neither have 
 the Committee shown why certain portions were allowed or 
 disallowed, while in some cases it has actually heen attempted 
 to he shown that officers are in deht to Government. 
 
 4thly. In para. 17 of Lord Cranborne's despatch: — By 
 reducing the amount of actual payments by the value 
 of the special annuity given, as shown in extract from Royal 
 Commission and G-.O.G.G., para. 63, 10 April, 1861, to induce 
 the retirement of senior officers, for whom it ivas difficult 
 to find employment; but this annuity was utterly irrespective 
 of regimental bonus as shown in cases stated below. So 
 sweeping has been this deduction, that in no single case has 
 one iota heen refunded to an officer receiving an extra pension, 
 hoicever heavy his payments, or however small his extra pension. 
 The stereotyped reply of the Committee was : — " You have 
 no claim, as the amount of your sj)ecial annuity so far 
 exceeds the payments made by you, if converted into an
 
 23 
 
 annuity," some abstruse and mystenous calculation therefore 
 has been made, and no exjjlanafioii has in any case heen 
 vouchsafed as to how the conclusion has heen arrived at. 
 
 It is also improbable that an officer with a family depen- 
 dent on him would have sunk his money in an annuity of which 
 his death might deprive them at any moment. The hardship 
 of the above mode of treating the extra pension is shown 
 in Case 7. 
 
 No. 1. Expended in purchase £9S0, entitled to regimental bonns £2,000. Proofs of 
 
 Award, Nil. injustice. 
 
 Reply of the Bonus Committee: — "The Committee are not authorised to 
 take into consideration the amount of staff pay the officer promoted may 
 have been receiving prior to promotion," — althourjh that staff pay exceeded 
 the ina'eased pay obtained hy proynotion, and was lost solely hy promotion. 
 
 2. Expended in purchase from £400 to £500, entitled to regimental bonus, 
 £1,500. 
 
 Award of Committee, Nil. 
 
 2. Expended in purchase £280, entitled to a regimental bonus, £2,500. 
 Award of Committee, Nil. 
 
 3. Expended in purchase £84, entitled to a regimental bonus, £1,200. 
 Award of Committee, £12 14s. M. 
 
 3. Expended in purchase £940, entitled to a regimental bonus, £2,000. 
 Award of Committee, £22. 
 
 4. Expended in purchase £754, entitled to a regimental bonus, £1,500; 
 by Committee accounted in debt to Government, £564. 
 
 "With regard to extra pensions. 
 
 5. A Lt.Col. No. 2 on roll for full Colonelcy, receives £550 extra pension, 
 was not entitled to a regimental bonus. 
 
 5. A Lt.Coh No. 16 on roll for full Colonelcy, receives £450 extra pension, 
 was not entitled, to a regimental bonus. 
 
 6. A Major No. 74 on general gi-adation list for Lt. Colonelcy, receives £150 
 extra pension, entitled to a regimental bonus of more than £3,000 on retire- 
 ment, and had expended in purchase £1,300. Award of Committee, Nil. 
 
 6. A Captain No. 2 on regimental roll, receives £50 extra pension, was 
 entitled to a regimental bonus of £1,500 on retirement, and had expended in 
 purchase £830. Award of Committee, Nil. 
 
 7. An officer entitled to a regimental bonus of £3,000, received an extra 
 pension of £160, died two years and nine months after retiring, leaving a 
 wife and family, to whom all benefit of the extra pension was entirely lost. 
 
 8. An officer entitled to a regimental bonus of £1,800, was denied all com- 
 pensation from want of proof of his actual payments, which he could not 
 supply, ha^•ing lost all documents through his house being burnt down during 
 the mutiny, and from being shipwrecked in his homeward voyage.
 
 24i 
 
 Appeal to Par- No redress is to be obtained from the autliorities at tlie 
 India Office, both tlie present and last Secretary of State 
 for India having been applied to in vain, although two 
 instances are hnown of officers having received a considerable 
 addition to the award of the Bonus Committee in India from 
 this source. The aggrieved officers have therefore no option 
 but to appeal again to their country tb rough Parliament. 
 All they ask is a full, impartial, and unbiassed inquiry into 
 their several cases. If this be granted, they feel they may 
 safely trust the fortunes of themselves and those v^lio are 
 dependent on them in the hands of those who are elected by 
 the voice of their country to see justice done to Her Majesty's 
 meanest subject. 
 
 Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Milford Lane, Strand, London, W.C.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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