Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/30

 men tied to the service by large debts or large families.

7. RANK.—Previous to embarkation, the assistant-surgeon must take the oath of allegiance to the East India Company at the India House; and then he will receive a certificate of his appointment to one or other Presidency,for which he will have to pay £5. Some months after his arrival in India, he will be presented with two commissions; one signed by the Governor-General and Council, confirming him in the Company's army; the other by the Commander-in-chief, conferring upon him the same privileges in the royal army in India. The fees upon these two commissions amount to about £4.

Formerly, the rank of all Company's officers was limited to India and to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope; but in Europe, and westward of the Cape, it was null and void, and a major, a colonel, or a general returning home, became a simple layman. Of late, this invidious anomaly was abolished, and the Company's officers are allowed to rank on the same grounds with those of the royal army all over the world. They are thus qualified for entering the royal army.

8. MEDICAL BOARD.—The highest grade in the Medical Service is the Medical Board, composed of the three senior surgeons on the list, with a