occasions, many of whom will otherwise never put them on, from a notion, that it is not becoming to wear them with plain clothes, which I confess accords with my own ideas, as I have a medal for services performed about thirty years ago, but have not worn it ever since the peace, being on halfpay, and having no regimentals.

Should His Majesty be graciously pleased to comply with the request of the United Services, and signify his pleasure in the Gazette, to whom each officer's statement of services should be forwarded, I would submit that it may be done in the following form, which is simple, and yet, no doubt, will contain all the information that may be deemed necessary to satisfy His Majesty of the merits of the applicant to the honour he solicits.

The form of badge being approved by His Majesty, the next step would be for the Committee to ascertain from some skilful and eminent Die-sinker, (Wyon, for instance,) the expense of the badge in gold, silver, and copper, which information might be communicated to the Service generally through your valuable Journal, with the address of the person who proposed to provide them, when any officer who may be desirous of wearing the badge, and having His Majesty's authority to do so, could signify to the contractor by letter, post free, the description of badge he was desirous of having, whether gold, silver, or copper, and give a reference to some friend or agent in town, who would receive and pay for the same, provided the badge was produced by the contractor within a stated time-as there are instances of persons making a convenience of such contracts, and are years in performing what might be done in a few months. By this arrangement, all parties will see their way most clearly, and the chief trouble, and all the expense, will fall upon those who are willing to bear it. I am, Sir,

9th July, 1831.

Your obedient servant,
A SUBSCRIBER.

Abstract of Officers who served in the Army on the Peninsula and at

Waterloo.

MR. EDITOR, I have lately seen some notice taken in the daily papers of the number of General and Field Officers remaining in the Army who were at the Battle of Waterloo, and subsequently one or two complaints of the junior ranks omitted in such notice.

With this you will receive Abstracts of the officers who served in the Peninsula and at the Battle of Waterloo, which you may be disposed to print in the United Service Journal.

It may perhaps be requisite that I should explain, that the officers of the late German Legion are included in each Abstract, and also that, many individuals being included in both Abstracts, the real number of officers who served in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, and of those remaining in service, is less than the totals of both the statements. I am, Sir,

Your most humble servant,

16th July 1831.

T. B.

ABSTRACT OF OFFICERS OF THE BRITISH ARMY WHO SERVED IN THE PENINSULA BETWEEN THE YEARS 1808 AND 1814.

ABSTRACT OF OFFICERS OF THE BRITISH ARMY WHO WERE AT THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO.

The "Micee" of Hindostan.

MR. EDITOR,-As a sound set of teeth is amongst the requisites most to be desired, either in the field or on a long voyage, by a man who would crack his biscuit comfortably, the following hint, if you can find room for it, may possibly interest some one who can make it available.

Mr. Johnstone, in his "Indian Field Sports," tells us that the females of Hindostan,

"After they attain a certain age, or get married, use an application to stain their teeth black; this I also believe was and is used to destroy the tartar, and preserve the teeth and gums, which it certainly does. The time of life at which they first begin to use it, is when tartar collects most; and were it used solely for ornament, the young would all have their teeth black, which none of them ever have. This application is called micee; and what it is composed of I cannot say. Whatever it is, it destroys the tartar, hardens the gums, and makes the teeth of a jet black, without destroying the enamel."

Now, Sir, was this same "micee" submitted to the test of chemical analysis, if a mineral preparation, its component parts could be easily ascertained; if a vegetable one, some of your readers resident in India, may, perhaps, be enabled to obtain possession of the secret, thereby benefiting many of our brethren of " both arms," whose teeth may happen to hang rather loosely in their sockets; and I think it is very probable that its beneficial qualities may be found to exist entirely independent of the colouring matter, (for I fear few of my brother officers will be found willing to exchange even rotten teeth for the most sound and beautifully polished black ones ever exhibited,) and, if it is so, as I suspect, society in England may be materially benefited by the "micee" of Hindostan.

Plymouth, July 16th, 1831.

Military Punishments.

Yours truly,
NAUTICUS.

MR. EDITOR,-It has frequently been observed by myself and other military men, that the system of flogging in the army appears to have drawn upon itself the violent disapprobation and detestation of that most useful class of society, viz. newspaper editors.

Through the means of your valuable publication, I take the liberty of informing these bulwarks of public freedom, that their ignorance on the above mentioned subject is great in the extreme; and that their humane conjectures on the barbarity, causes, and effects, are totally groundless, and tend to show that however well versed they may be on other subjects, their inclinations have never led them to make any investigation from good authority into military affairs. Possibly they may be prompted by humanity; but it appears to me, that by this violent rating and animadversion of an evilwhich punishment is in any shape, although a necessary one--an attempt is made to obtain favour in the eyes of cockneys and languishing damsels; however this may be, they would find it of infinite service to themselves and papers, were they to consider things in their proper light, and not thus expose their impotency by pelting sand at the figure of military justice.

June 12th, 1831.

MILES.

** It is not by the responsible editors of newspapers that these tales respecting military punishments are trumped up, though they are bound to be more vigilant in excluding such trumpery from their columns: they are the fabrication of the "gentlemen" of the Penny-a-line Press, who live upon their wits, and sell poison without labels to the public, for which they are manifestly indictable. It is unnecessary to add that the piquant paragraphs upon this stock topic, cooked up from time to time by these ingenious authors, are utterly at variance with the facts.-ED.

EDITOR'S PORTFOLIO;

OR

NAVAL AND MILITARY REGISTER.