HOME NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume II, Issue 73, 24 June 1846, Page 3

HOME NEWS.

The Army.—Promotiok- from, the Rank?, and Rewards yob. Good Services. —A. war. rant was promulgated yesterday, by command of her Majesty, for the purpose of affording " a greater encouragement for the ■ non-commissioned officers and soldiers of tke ariay who may have distinguished themselves, or who ma; have given good, faithful, and efficient eerviee." It is dated Windsor, December 19. and is comprised in fortyfour articles, by the first of which it is provided, that whenever her Majesty shall sanction the grant of a commission without purchase to a non-com-missioned officer, selected aad recommended for this distinction by the Cemmaidor-in-chief, there shall be granted to such officer, in aid of an outfit as a commissioned officer, a sum of ,£l5O if appointed to a cavalry regiment, aud of .£10;) if to an infantry regiment. Subsequent articles provide that a sum *ot exceeding ,£2OOO per an«um be distributed in annui- ! ties of not above each, to sergeants who may be distinguished far meritorious conduct, on the recommendation of the Commander-in-chief; and that, with the view oi rewarding meritorious soldiers when discharged, and encouraging good conduct in others, gratuity in addition to ordinary pension may be granted upon discharge to men who have completed 21 years of actual tervice in the infantry, or 24 in tne cavalry. Gratuity to sergeants who shull have served 10 years as such, £15; corporal, 7 years as suoh, £10; privates, £o. The commanding officer of every regiment to recommend such individuals while serving as he shall consider best entitled to the gratuity, provided the amount recommended in any one year does not exceed .£3O for regiments of establishment of 700 rank and file and upwards, and £2Q for regiments of lower establishment than 700 rank and file. Under the denomination of "good conduct pay ,, a progressive increase of one penny per day, up to sixpence, and certain honourable distinctions, are also appointed to be given, under specified regaiatiens, to soldiers who shall have completed ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, or thirty years service. The rsmafaing articles are occupied in detailing the regulations under which these gratuities, good conduct pay, &c, shall be forfeited or restored ; or the period oF service necessary to confer a title to themjn certain degrees abridged j and the warrant concludes by declaring that " soldiers who were present at the battle of Waterloo shall be allowed .0 reckon two years in addition to actual service . and those enlisted before December, 1829, shall be allowed to reckon three years for two of actual service, after the age of 18, in the East and West Indies (in other than West India regiments.)" The warrant is signed— c ' By her Majesty's commajad, Sidney Herbert."

The fkst public whisper on the new policy of Sir Robert Peel'e Government appeared in the following paragraph of the Times, Dec. 4th. :— " The decision of the Cabinet is no longer a secret. Parliament, it is confidently reported, is to be summoned in Januaty ; and the Royal speech will, it is added, recommend an immediate consideration of the Corn Laws, preparatory to their total repeal. Sir Robert Peel in one house, and the Duke of Wellington in the other, will, we are told, be prepared to give immediate effect to the recommendation thus conveyed. A.n announcement of such immeasurable importance, and to the larger portion of the eomrnunqy so unspeakably gratifying almost precludes the possibility of comment. No pen can keep pace with the reflections which must spontaneously crowd upon every thoughtful and sensitive mind. They who have desired this change, and have lone: traced its manifold bearings on the welfare and happiness of the world, will in one moment see the realisation of that fair prospect, and will hardly endure to be informed of what they already behold. The approaching event, therefore which we this day communicate U our readears' must be left to speak for itself.'- , • The Standard. Herald, and the ultra Tory organs, generally laughed at the above announcement. but, in the end r the truth came to light—Sir Robert Peel resigned. Lord John Russell was cent for by the Queen, and undertook to form a Whig Ministry. It appears, however, that Lord John found difficulties insurmountable in his way. The Times gives the following curious account of them :— " It is due to the noblemen and gentlemen whose movements last week occupied so unusal a space in the columns of the public press, to state that the impossibility of constructing a Ministry out of all that splendid and abundant material, did not arise from any difference of opinion as to the measure proposed. They were unanimous for an entire repeal of the Com Laws; and though many of the

l>any were indisposed to take office, and not very hopeful of succeeg, all had consented, and the buginess of alloting the places began. For this purpoee, itie said that the species of provisional Cabinet in which the measure and the emergency had been discussed, was broken up, and Lord John Pussell gave separate views to his intended colleagues. Here, however, in first step of his administration, the Premier elect broke down. Rumour relates that beginning with Lord Grey, Lord John Russell offered him the Colonial-office. He accepted, but had the curiosity to ask who was to have the Foreign Office The answer was—Lord Palmereton—an intimation which had the immediate effect of neutralizing Lord Grey's love of place and power, patriotic and disinterested as it undoubtedly was. He most strongly objected to the appoint, meat, and for his own part, positively refused to serve with Lord Palmerston as Foreign Minister. We will not stop to discuss how far this objection sound, and how far the peace of the Cabinet would be compatible with the presence of a man whose name is]certainly Bot the harbinger of peace to th e world, Lord.Grey, in withdrawing frera the Cabinet under these circumstances only fallowed the example of the Parisian capitalists, who have bsen withdrawing their money f-.oai the funds with more or less haste, exa tly a 9 there was reason to expect that Lord Palmerston was to be the channel and negociator of internatiorul amity. Haweyer, 03 Lord Grey and the Bourse right or wrong, so it waa he would not couae to. It wii in vain ih v Lord John Russell represented the utter impossibility of paesing such a man by ; possibility or impossibility, Lord Grey was in> xorable, and took his ground oa the utter incompatibility of himself and Lard P*lmerston sitting at the same council table. The whole of Friday evening is Eaid to have been spent in fruitless endeavours to move the rock. As Lord John Russell considered that he could nor dispense with either of their Lordships, or at !e st could not afford to leave them at liberty to follow their devices in the approaching struggle, he resolved again, for the last time, to return his commission into the Majesty's hand. ,. The consequence was the recall of Sir Robert Peel and of all his formet Cabinet—except Lord Stanley.