It is always urged against the Britieh system of army promotion, that it is too exclu sive, and confines the commissions to the upper classes of society; and there is no doubt that promotion front the ranks is much rarer than in almost any other But, on the oilier hand, it is argued, the constituents of the force are very different. Soldiers in Britain are not conscripts, v ho necessarily comprise men of all classes and all degrees of education. but are taken, as a rule, from an extremely low and very uneducated class of society. Again, Britain has a true middle class, which is wanting in almost every continental nation. its army is not, therefore, necessarily aristocratic because it is not officered front the ranks. Lastly, the habits of the different classes of society differ s• greatly, that unless the soldier be very superior to his comrades, promotion to a commis mon is a small boon.
With regard to the actual system of promotion which obtains: in the ranks, promo tion from private up to company-sergeant takes place in the company, and is made by the regimental officers. The promotion of company-sergeants to be staff-sergeants is made throughout the regiment. All these promotions are by selection entirely. Of the commissioned officers, the quarter-masters and riding-masters arc appointed almost exclusively from the ranks; but they have no further promotion to look forward to—sergeants and sergeants-major are occasionally gazetted to ensigncies or lieutenancies. The junior combatant officers acquire their commissions either by a competitive examination open to the whole nation, or by previous service in the militia as officers, or in the ranks of the army as non-commissioned officers. The artillery and engineers are officered entirely by cadets from the royal military acad emy, whose subsequent promotion is by seniority only. In the cavalry, guards, and line, vacancies are, since the abolition of the purchase system in 1871 (see PenctrAso SYSTEM), filled by "seniority tempered by selection," the selection more strict the higher ranks arc reached. The promotion of officers, up to the rank of captain,
i. mainly regimental, and is, at the same time, by seniority; but seniority is, in this case qualified by what has been called negative selection—that is, in other words, the exclu sion of those officers who do not prove their fitness for promotion at the periodical inspections and examinations. Above the rank of captain, for substantive or regimentat rank, seniority is little regarded, and selection is more absolute; but officers may hold at the same time army or brevet rank, conferred for distinguished service, or for mere senior ity, in the general list of the whole army. This brevet rank does not affect the position in a regiment, and adds but a small sum to the officers' pay; but it is of great impor tance, inasmuch as colonels rise by seniority alone to be general officers, and colonel is almost exclusively a brevet rank (the only exceptions being in the artillery and engineers, where colonel is a regimental rank). Under these rules, it 'sometimes happens that an officer who has never held higher regimental rank than captain, may become succes sively, for good service, brevet-major, brevet-lieutenant-colonel, and brevet-colonel, until he succeeds, in his turn, to the rank of major-general. See also STAFF.
In the navy, the promotion of sailors to be petty officers is made by the captain of the ship; petty-officers are appointed to be warrant-officers by the admiral of the station, subject to admiralty confirmation. The commissioned officers are appointed.and pro moted by patronage solely. When a ship is first commissioned, the captain is allowed to nominate one cadet, the admiralty name the rest. Promotions are made by selection by the admiralty, except death vacancies which occur abroad; these are filled up by the admiral commanding on the station from the officers of his fleet. Above the rank of captain, all promotions take place by absolute seniority. There is no purchase of commissions in the navy.