neral, Physician-General, and Surgeon-General, have now become obsolete under the present regulation, dated 29th of July 1830; yet in said tabular form our compiler includes Assistant Inspectors and Assistant Staff Surgeons as persons at present on full pay. Now, a word would tell him, that the Royal Warrant of George the Third, dated 22nd May 1804, ordered all Assistant Inspectors from thenceforth to be dubbed Deputy Inspectors of Hospitals; and that the Royal Warrant of our good King William the Fourth, dated 29th July 1830, made all Deputy Inspectors to be "Deputy Inspectors General;" and that all "Assistant Staff Surgeons" should be lopped in their honours, inasmuch as the word STAFF should be reduced, and the rank in future to be simply "Assistant Surgeons" to the Forces! And now, with great submission, let me say, that a moment's consideration will easily evince how far this tabular form of duties and distribution, “ made up to April 1831," is, or is not, what it should be, if actual truth and fair observation were the breaches through which the general attack had been made.

I freely allow "the London Medical Board" consists of a senior and junior officer; the one, "Director General" at £2000 a-year, and the other, "Principal Inspector" at £1200 a-year; and the compiler is requested to say, who may be "the Assistant Inspector?” The Secretary of the London Medical Board, as per Monthly Army List, comes in rank immediately after the Director General and Principal Inspector; and "the Professional Assistant," (an extra rank most certainly of no class,) is ranked after the Secretary! Of course, all connexion with the Army Medical Board, London, means simply that he is an officer of the Board, of a particular character, and is in junior rank to the Secretary.

We may all admit that 66 a Staff Surgeon" is a very good, a very correct, and a very called for, medical officer in a town or in a city where a larger garrison than one or two regiments is usually stationed, to receive the orders of the Metropolitan Medical Board, and to superintend the medical and financial regulations of the several corps placed under his control, giving his professional advice and assistance where ordered, and where in consequence necessary, for the observance of the regimental medical officers. In many of the stations enumerated in the "Tabular Distribution," I must acquaint the compiler thereof, that the Staff Surgeon is attached to a "Recruiting District," and as such is merely the Medical Staff Officer annexed to a local duty, without reference to or interference with the surrounding district; and as an allusion is here made to "Surgeons of Recruiting Districts," who, at the commencement of the rank, were an isolated body of men, at ten shillings a-day pay, it may not be inappropriate to observe, that all the surgeons appointed thereto in Ireland, were named and gazetted under the immediate authority of the London Medical Board, although probably it may be found that the Dublin Medical Board was in active operation before the conflicting materials, of which the London Board was formed, could be brought into action.

The Pay Warrant of 1797 originated with the Dublin Medical Board; that of 1804 was the work of the London Medical Board; and the recent Pay Warrant of July 1830 emanated from "The War Department" solely. Our worthy" compiler" will see, in reading over the foregoing passages, that a strange anomaly has been acted upon in Ireland for many years past, namely, the service of two Medical Staffs in that land of "Job"-the Irish Army Medical Staff, and the Staff forced into the country as the "Recruiting District Staff!" Not another word upon the subject is needful; but it may with great honesty be added, that the original possessor of the Recruiting Depôts was from time to time placed upon half-pay; and "the Surgeon to the Forces," nay "the Deputy-Inspector-General of Hospitals," are now doing duty in Ireland as "District Surgeons." Oh, that our compiler" were acquainted with these and some other little facts! Let him look to Newry district!

The " Assistant Staff Surgeons," now so very correctly given in the "Tabular Form of Distribution," as doing DUTY at Chatham, may also be brought

forward for an observation or two. It is quite ridiculous to put them down for duty at that place. They are merely sent there to await the calls of service, and to give the young medical recruit an idea of duty, as well as to prevent his loitering his time in London for orders of eventual disposal.

To follow, however, the observations of our worthy "compiler" throughout the various grades of his disquisitions upon the English Army Medical Concerns, would answer no good purpose. It is to be much suspected, and it is really to be regretted, that the loaves and fishes seem to swim before his eyes; were he to come forward and attack measures, without noticing the men in employ, he might, and it might reasonably be expected that he would and must, do good to the service. For instance, take up the dieting of the sick soldier. Let him give his opinion how far HALF A POUND of boiled potatoes would appear a cheering accompaniment to a convalescent Irish or Scots soldier, when he gets his cut of boiled beef for dinner, and how the stomach of such a "gourmand" could stand the allowance of two tea spoonfuls of milk to his Congou at breakfast! Let our compiler come at a few of those desiderata for the recovery of the sick soldier, and his good intentions will tell. There are, to be sure, a list of mighty fine extras allowed; but the Regimental Surgeon in Ireland keeps those kind exceptions from the knowledge of the soldier. Were the soldier aware of them, he could, and certainly would, annoy the Regimental Medical Officer; and I may with great truth say, that if the soldier's option in hospital diet was attended to, agreeably to regulation," a pound sterling a-day would not cover his hospital stoppage of tenpence! Let it be recollected that the service in Ireland is here solely alluded to under this head.

At this place it may not be very foreign to remark, that " our compiler," in observations upon "Head Quarters, London," says, it would be well if the members of the Army Medical Board had each respectively his defined office duties to perform. He knows not that under Mr. Keate, Sir Lucas Pepys, and Mr. Knight, this notable expedient was fully tried, weighed, and found deficient. The Surgeon-General" could take his Assistant-Surgeons and Surgeons, and his higher officers, from the Hospital Mates, from the Assistant Surgeons, and from Surgeons of Regiments. The " Physician-General" had the appointing of Dispensers of Medicines, of Apothecaries, and of Physicians to the Forces; and the "Inspector General" could appoint Hospital Mates, Purveyor's Clerks, Deputy Purveyors, and Purveyors of Hospitals. The first collision took place between Mr. Keate and Mr. Knight-the latter had the appointment of the Hospital Mates, and Mr. Keate was obliged to take his Assistant-Surgeons from the Hospital Mates, or appoint Assistant Surgeons direct to regiments who never had been Hospital Mates. This frequently occurred, and the Regimental Surgeon himself has been appointed when he never had been either Hospital Mate or Assistant-Surgeon!

So much for London Jobbing and immaculate conduct in office regulation. The fate attending such prosperous doings was easily anticipated; and the change brought forward old Mr. Weir to the head of affairs, and after him succeeded the present dynasty in Berkeley Street.

And now to come to Jobbing Ireland. It is to be stated, that the Army Medical Department in Dublin acknowledges but one chief, and that is the present Director-General of Hospitals, Doctor George Renny, on whom it is with pleasure confessed, that our compiler has passed an eulogium, but which eulogium is no more than what truth and fair reasoning would entitle that truly honest man to receive. This gentleman serves as "Chief of the Army Medical Department in Ireland" since June 1795, and his salary is 8667. 178. 6d. a year. He has not more than four clerks in his office, and controls the entire of the General and Regimental Military Hospitals in Ireland, upwards of sixty in number, by monthly accounts, comprising a sum of upwards of 26,000l. yearly, to be checked and regularly audited, and reported upon to head-quarters.

He has one "Deputy-Inspector-General of Hospitals," as his first Staff

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medical officer, and with vast submission to our compiler, it must be recollected, that the person who now fills that situation was appointed a “ StaffSurgeon" in the year 1795, was promoted to the rank of "Assistant-Ïnspector” in 1803, and no doubt would have remained at said rank ever since, had it not been that our deceased gracious Sovereign George the Third did by his Royal Warrant, dated at St. James's the 22nd of May 1804, enjoin and order that the rank of “ Assistant-Inspector” should cease, and that all officers of that rank should thenceforward be called and approved "Deputy-Inspectors of Hospitals." And at this latter rank he remained, until our present beloved King, William the Fourth, by his Royal Warrant of July 1830, made all the Deputy-Inspectors to have the additional title of "GENERAL."

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The Staff medical duty at Dublin is peculiar to itself, and can only be known to those employed on the station. And our compiler's remarks about "Sick Certificates" and " Medical Boards," contain more venom in the way of the "loaves and fishes,” than almost at any other part of his lucubrations breaks forth!

In answer to our compiler's remarks, as to the Physician-General and Surgeon-General in Ireland, it is simply necessary to observe, that on the reduction of the Army Medical Board in Dublin, in the year 1816, which consisted of the Physician-General, Surgeon-General, and Director-General of Hospitals, the Physician-General and Surgeon-General were reduced as members of said Board, and the entire of the duties, both medical and financial, were placed under the sole and absolute control of the DirectorGeneral of Hospitals. And the duties of the Physician-General and Surgeon-General retrograded, or went back to the medical and surgical services they had to perform before the Establishment of the Medical Board in 1795; namely their professional attendance on the General Military Hospitals in Dublin, oftentimes, and for years together, two and even three in number, besides the present General Military Hospital in the Phoenix Park. In a word, to prove the assertion beyond yea or nay, it may be as well to name them-they are not so many years broken up, but that two of these additional Hospitals must be in instant recollection.

1st. The upper wards of " Steevens's Hospital" were hired for the accommodation of sick soldiers, holding generally 200 patients.

2nd. The "Convalescent General Military Hospital," on Arbor Hill, containing seldom under seventy-five patients.

The Medical General at Cork has the same good fortune to thank for his promotion as our Dublin General had, and no doubt our worthy compiler looks upon him with equal love and kindness for his removal to a better staff! But enough has been said to prove, that if reform is wanting in the Army Medical Department of his Majesty's service, it is not at the individuals employed the PECKING should be first made-but at measures. The officer in command of a regiment is now bona fide the Surgeon! and too often interposes his opinions on remedial measures, as well as in other matters it were quite as well to be silent about. But so it is well known!

And now a few words upon our friendly compiler's hints at economy, and Mr. Editor I shall bid you good night. Suppose, as Ireland seems in his opinion the genuine land of jobbing, the economy system commenced here, and the present incumbents were sent to the left about and put upon half-pay, or rather, it would be whole pay from their length of service. Surely the fresh feeders on the public purse must be paid. The men in office are old, but they are yet able to work; and if this single point be once admitted, and surely to every unbiassed character it must, where can the saving be of putting by the old before worn out, and using the new? A due consideration of the DEAD WEIGHT" will answer all farther questions. I am yours, &c.

on the Irish Medical Staff. Those of that rank on service in Ireland are attached to "Recruiting Districts," and were appointed thereto, as before said, by the English Army Medical Department.

Comforts of Midshipmen Afloat.

MR. EDITOR,-In these days of reform, I hope a few remarks on the present state of the Mids in His Majesty's service may not be considered too trifling for a place in your valuable Journal.

The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have, in the most praiseworthy manner, turned their attention to the amelioration of the condition of that class of officers, and no doubt their care and attention has tended greatly to an improved state of society and respectability in our noble profession; and there is, I hope and trust, a heartfelt pride glowing within the breasts of these rising Nelsons; but do not let our old officers imagine from this I would impugn them in the slightest degree. No one can revere the reapers of our last war's glorious harvest more than myself; but I doubt not they will themselves acknowledge that an improvement has taken place in our service generally, and I feel persuaded they will see no cause to be offended at the remark.

The point to which I am now coming will at first appear trifling, but conviction satisfies me of its importance. I allude to the respectable appearance of the Mids in His Majesty's service, which, if not essentially requisite, is unquestionably very desirable. With a view to this end, it is of course necessary they should be allowed a chest to contain their clothes and washing apparatus. Now, although the custom of the service has for many years past, and does still sanction their possessing such an article, it has never been officially granted them, and their chests are therefore at the disposal, I may say, of their Captain, who alters their size, or even destroys them, at his pleasure.

First. With regard to altering their size, suppose a Midshipman having a chest full of clothes which he has been allowed in his last ship should remove to another, on a foreign station particularly, and the Captain should order his chest to be razéed, he must in consequence lose, spoil, or sell a portion of his kit, which is a loss many in our service are unable to afford.

Secondly. Suppose his chest broken up and a bag substituted, with the addition, perhaps, of a small drawer to contain his washing traps, how is it possible he can appear on the quarter-deck like an officer or a gentleman; and besides, the chances are a kit that cost from 607. to 1007. is totally ruined in three weeks.

The first of these cases has continually taken place, and is still of common occurrence, and chiefly for the sake of uniformity and regularity of appearance. The second, I believe, (and for the credit of our service I hope,) is of very rare occurrence, although I am most credibly informed of its having taken place within the last three years.

The proposal I would therefore make is, that the Admiralty do appoint a size of chest to be allowed throughout the service, by doing which they would obviate the difficulty, and I may almost say injustice of the former, and effectually crush the tyranny of the latter.

Captains, Lieutenants, and Warrant Officers are allowed cabins for their clothes and comfort, and I think the Mids may with justice claim a chest. I can only add, that the above remarks may be useful, or tend eventually to the comfort of the Mids in His Majesty's service, is the sincere wish of your constant reader and admirer, HAM.

Charge of the 23rd Light Dragoons at Talavera.

MR. EDITOR,-In your United Service Journal for July, I observe a letter from a "Talavera Man," relative to the charge made by the late 23rd Dragoons at the battle of Talavera. Will you permit me to mention what

I observed on that occasion? In this battle, I was a Subaltern of the Light Company of the left regiment of Hill's division, and was in consequence in a very good situation to view the charge in question, being placed on the left of the hill, well known by the name of " Hill's hill."

On this part of the British line the French had made some most determined attacks on the morning of the 28th, as well as the previous night and afternoon, and it was with considerable fear for the safety of our hill, that I observed, towards evening, some heavy columns of French preparing to renew their attacks on our division, already very much reduced in numbers, and those that remained, not over well fed during the previous twenty-four hours. We had scarcely stood up from the ground to receive the attack of those columns, (one of which was in the act of deploying,) when a heavy body of British cavalry came into the valley on the left of my company, and had not been long there before a charge was ordered; being at the time a very young soldier, and not before having the good fortune to see cavalry preparing for this sort of work, the sight had an impression on me which I shall never forget, but which, I suppose, every soldier has occasionally. The 23rd, which was in front, advanced in the most splendid order, but before they went far, we had the unhappiness to perceive them entirely broken, by what afterwards appeared to be the dry bed of a rivulet, and which each man crossed over as well as he could. After such an event, it was not possible even for the 23rd to make an impression on a column of French veterans, and which by this time was in square. I am, therefore, very sorry to differ with your Talavera Correspondent, but must assert that I did not see the 23rd Dragoons charge through this column.

I am fully persuaded that if any Light Dragoons, or, indeed, Dragoons of any description, could have broken that fine body of French infantry, formed as they then were, the 23rd would have done it; however, from the moment they came in contact with the bed of the rivulet before mentioned, this corps did not appear to me to be in a state to attack the most inexperienced infantry; and although many went on after this unfortunate occurrence in the most gallant manner, yet, I fear, it was merely a useless sacrifice of life, as I did not see them touch a single man in column. Still, although by this unforeseen misfortune, the 23rd did not succeed in their charge, yet the General-in-Chief fully succeeded in his object, as the spirit which this corps had shown certainly deterred the enemy from repeating their attacks on our hill. I am, yours, &c.

A LIEUTENANT-COLONEL (Unattached).

J. U. Service Club, 18th July, 1831.

Suggestion for a United Service Retreat.

MR. EDITOR,-Your valuable and ably conducted Journal has proved both an honour and a benefit to the "United Service." It has shown that Science is a twin sister with Valour, and that Learning can march hand in hand with Loyalty; while at the same time I think you must have convinced even the reading public," that there is knowledge in the camp as well as in the schools. Some of the most able and useful papers that were ever written have appeared in the pages of your Journal, and written, too, by officers of the "United Service.' Let us always be thus united, and those who envy England her greatness and her glory, whether they come in the shape of a MINERVA or a MARS, will ever find us with our " lamps burning."

While we confess that our modesty is a little ruffled by the strength of these compliments, we are, of course, the last who should be insensible to their faithful application. In justice to ourselves, therefore, and to the acuteness of our correspondent, we give, as we are bound to do, his complimentary opinions without retrenchment; we aspire to no more legitimate reward than " laudari à laudato.” -ED.