Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/110

 90 THE NEW SOUTH WALES COEPS. 1789 Its status in the British •xmy. The method of recruiting. Bounty money. precisely the same as though it had been formed for general instead of special service. This point seems to have been raised while the Corps was in course of formation, for in August, 1789, the Secretary at War considered it necessary to explain : — " With regard to the rank of Major Grose's corps, it being the youngest in the Army must, of course, when drawn up, either with other entire corps or with detachments from them, take part on the left. But with regard to the officers in all corps, without distinction, the militia excepted, they naturally take part in all duties according to seniority in their respective ranks."*^ As the New South Wales Corps played a prominent part in the early history of the colony, and exerted a potent in- fluence on its affairs, the conditions under which it was formed and maintained are worthy ol more than ordinary attention. The force was raised after the manner in vogue in those days. A "letter of service '' was given to an officer, usually a colonel, authorising him to enlist a certain number of men, and fixing the bounty allowed for each recruit at so much per head. If the officer employed in this service could procure men at a smaller bounty than the sum allowed in the letter of service, the extra money went into his own pocket — ^it was his profit or reward for the services rendered in raising the regiment.f There was another system in practice so late as the Crimean War, known as '^ raising men for rank,^^ by which regiments were raised by noblemen or gentlemen, who received as compensation for their trouble and expense the right to nominate the officers.J In Grose's case both methods seem to have been employed: he received t " When new regiments were raised, a fixed sum was allowed as bounty or lery money for each recruit, and the colonel to whom the letter of service was giyen for raising the regiment in some instances got the men at so much more or less, as his personal influence or good fortune enabled him to do.'* — Clode, Military Forces of the Crown, toI. ii, p. 4. X ** Theexpense of raising new corps was frequently prorided for in another manner, fiz., by an agreement between the Crown and a nobleman or gentle- man that the latter should raise the regiment or corps, reoeiyiog — n the coDsideration for his trouble and expeoso— the nomination of all or of some proportion of the officers.*' — lb., p. 5»
 * Historical Beoords, toI. i, part 2, p. 255.