Page:The supersession of the colonels of the Royal Army.djvu/10

 a fixed list of General Officers, both for Her Majesty's and for the Company's Army; but before this Warrant had time to show working results the Great Mutiny broke out in India. Then came the amalgamation of the two Armies, and, a few years later, the supersession now complained of commenced. To quote the report of a Select Committee of the House of Commons—

"'This supersession was caused partly by the Warrant of 1854, partly by the exceptional promotion in the upper ranks of the Indian Army, caused by the special pensions given by the Indian Government as an inducement to their Officers to retire after the Amalgamation, and partly by a Royal Warrant issued in 1864, rescinding another Warrant which had been issued in 1862, and which was considered by the Officers of the late East India Company's service to be an infringement of the Parliamentary guarantee securing them 'the like pay, pensions, allowances, and privileges, and the like advantages as regards promotion and otherwise as if they had continued in the service of the Company.''"

In 1865 Colonels commanding Her Majesty's Regiments in India were superseded by Officers in the late East India Company's service, who though far junior to them in the rank of Colonel, were promoted to the rank of Major General. As soon as this occurred, Lord Sandhurst (who was at that time Commander-in-Chief in India) wrote home a strong protest on the subject, clearly pointing out to the authorities the mischief that would be done by