Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/30

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In order of precedence the cavalry stood highest, soldiers being promoted from one branch to the other.

The military officers were recruited in the same way as civil officials, no distinction being made between army and navy. In addition to admission through the examinations, whereby military masters and doctors were eligible to appointments, claim to office might rest on four grounds: hereditary rank in the national nobility from the grade of duke down, including fifth official rank; sons of officers brevetted because of their father's rank; sons of officers brevetted because of the violent death of the father in the service of the country; and promotion from the lower ranks for efficiency.

Claim to office and actual appointment were, however, two distinct matters. Three methods of making appointments were followed. In certain of the grades, especially from lieutenant up to lieutenant colonel, men who had been chosen in the regular way were sent out into the