Page 81 - The Wish Stream Year of 2020 Crest

Government involvement
The legality of the purchase and sale of military commissions was often disputed, despite its long history. Legislation passed in the reign of Edward VI (1537 – 1553) had prohibited the sale of state offices, but that appeared not to apply to military commissions. In 1684, a royal war- rant by Charles II gave some official sanction to the practice by directing some of the proceeds (a 5% levy) of these transactions to the Royal Hospital at Chelsea for its benefit. This was the first attempt to establish some control over the practice, with the government now being aware of the sums paid by each officer for commis- sions, a certificate being required from the Pay- master General before the transaction could be completed. Although the full reasons for this ‘approval’ by the crown of the purchase sys- tem are not known, it was thought to be in part financial. The existence of purchase obviated the need for an expensive retired list, as the sum received by a departing officer was supposed to act in lieu of a pension (even though he had originally paid for it himself!). However, later in the same year (1684), Charles reversed his deci- sion for unknown reasons and a ban was briefly put on purchase, only to be revised again under James II. But throughout the ban it is known that illegal transactions continued to take place.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688 brought Wil- liam III (and Mary II) to the throne. William hated
King Charles II by unknown artist ca. 1665
King William III by Thomas Murray 1691
corruption, especially involving the military. He intended to revive the statute of Edward VI against the sale of public offices, to include military commissions. Although never passed by Parliament, it was a message of intent by the King and in 1693 a royal warrant was issued pro- hibiting any officer being commissioned unless he took an oath swearing that he had not paid for his commission. However, unscrupulous colo- nels often circumvented this by taking money for ‘recommending’ candidates for commissions, to the discouragement of others. Even though the oath requirement was incorporated into the Mutiny Act of 1695, the government seemed to abandon any serious attempt to enforce the regulations, and this continued into the 18th century. It was felt that it was undesirable for officers to continue to perjure themselves, and the oath requirement was abandoned in 1701. The purchase system was once again tacitly re-established.
Abuses
If there was ever a system open to abuse and corruption, this was one! These abuses were fuelled by the expansion of the Army following the outbreak of war in Europe, starting with the War of Spanish Succession (1701 – 1713) dur- ing the reign of Queen Anne (1702 – 1714). All vacancies, except those caused by death, could be filled only by the payment of money. Com-
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