PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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ments whose service companies are raised to 600 rank and file, leaving the numbers abroad and at home exactly as they are, it must be obvious that no addition is made thereby to the number of regiments applicable for foreign reliefs, and he earnestly repeats his application for such an augmentation of force as will enable him to place the depots of those regiments which are to remain abroad upon an establishment as nearly as may be practicable to that originally intended, namely, four companies of fifty-six rank and file, but not less than fifty. Expediency of re- Although the Government did not, at the commencement of the present year, medi- ducing garrison of tate a reduction of the garrison of Malta, yet a question has arisen, which makes it ne-
cessary to determine, whether such a measure would be expedient.
Malta.
Appendix, No. 14.
That question arises out of some of the measures of local reform, which have been re- commended by the Commissioners for inquiring into the affairs of the island.
The case stands thus :-
The infantry force allotted for the defence of Malta, has for some time past, consisted of four British battalions of infantry, and of a local corps, which is styled the Royal Regiment of Maltese Fencibles, composed of native officers and soldiers.
The charge of the British regiments has, of course, been defrayed by the British Trea- sury; but the charge of the local corps, amounting to £11,000 per annum, has been de- frayed by the Maltese Treasury.
The duties of this fencible regiment have hitherto been of a mixed nature. Fit in all respect for military duties, the regiment has been chiefly employed in aid of the police and in guerding the coasts of the island.
The Commissioners of Inquiry recommended that this local corps should be disbanded, and that in lieu of it the existing police establishment should be placed on a more efficient footing, and that a small force should be raised to act as a coast-guard.
The cost of the existing police establishment was about £7,255 per annum.
The estimated cost of the establishment with a coast-guard, as proposed by the Commissioners amounts to £11,176.
If, therefore, the fencible regiment had been disbanded, the saving thereby accruing to the Maltese Treasury from the suggestions of the Commissioners, would have amounted to a sum exceeding £7000 per annum.
But the Governor did not altogether concur in the reasons which had moved the Corn- missioners to recommend the abolition of the fencible regiment. The Secretary at War de- precated the proposal. The people of Malta viewed the projected disbandment of their native force with dissatisfaction, if not with alarm.
It was, therefore determined that the fencible regiment should not be dis- banded; that it should be relieved entirely from civil duties; and that it should be applied exclusively to the defence of the island, as forming an integral portion of its garrison.
The Commissioners of Inquiry were thereupon invited to state their opinion, as to the amount of the sum which Malta ought to be called upon to contribute towards the charge incurred by Great Britain for the military defence of the island.
The Commissioners, although averse from sanctioning the principle of calling upon Malta to contribute towards the charge of its military defence, considered that, if the principle were adopted, the amount of such contribution might be fixed at £5000 per annum.
A correspondence then ensued, between the Secretary of State and the General Com- manding-in-Chief on the one hand, and between the Secretary of State and the Board of Treasury on the other hand, upon the two questions: first, whether anyreduction of the British force in garrison at Malta could follow from the measure contemplated in re- gard to the fencible regirnent; and, secondly, whether it would be fitting to sanction the Commissioners' proposal in regard to the amount of the military contribution to be charged upon Malta,
On the first of these questions, the General Commanding-in-Chief thought proper to No. 15. consult the Governor of Malta, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Bouverie. The view taken of the subject by the Governor is stated in No. 15; and the opinion delivered by the General Commanding-in-Chief, in No. 16 of the Appendix.
It will be observed, that the inquiries addressed to Sir Henry Bouverie were of the most searching nature.. He was asked, whether, in the event of a more efficient police and sanitary guard being established, the present Maltese fencibles could be placed as an efficient battalion on the roster of the garrison, and take its proportionate share in the due performance of all the military duties of the fortress, in like manner and with the same degree of military efficiency as any of the service companies of the regular regiments under his command. But he was at the same time warned, that if it should be his opinion that the fencles could be made applicable to all the military duties of the garrison, in fair roster with the British regiments, the result would probably be the withdrawal of one of those regiments.
Sir Henry Bouverie has had no hesitation, however, in stating that he considers the fencible regiment in all respects cqual in efficiency to the British regiments for the pur- poses of garrison duty, and in some respects as efficient and trust-worthy as the best British regiments, and more sober and, therefore, more trust-worthy than those which cannot be ranked with the best; and he feels himself bound to state such his opinion, although it might lead to the withdrawal of one of the British regiments, a circumstance which he would very much regret, as he considers the duties of the troops to be more severe than they ought to be, even though they have been reduced below what is desirable and indeed necessary for the due preservation of the works.
The General Coinmanding-in-Chief expresses his opinion, that it would not be pedient under any circumstances to diminish further the force in the garrison of Malta
when it is stated upon the best authority, that the duties now performed by the troops are
more severe than they ought to be.
At a subsequent period Lord Hill thought it necessary in support of his opinion, to bring Appendix, No. 16. under Lord Normanby's notice the outline of a detailed report, from which it appears that the garrison, as already stated, consists of four battalions on the establishment of 479 rank and file, or 1916 men; that after deducting the average number of non-effectives, 458, there remain 1458 men for all the ordinary duties of the garrison; that the separate daily guards absorb 262 men; that, in addition to their constant daily duties, each regiment has 3 field days in the week, and finds the usual fatigue parties for the ordnance and barrack departments amounting to the whole of the men of a regiment off duty; that the daily military guards mounted by the fencibles, in aid of the duties of the garrison, are 8, amount- ing to 33 men, the remainder of that regiment being employed in aid of the police and coast-guard; that the number of sentinels for guarding the works, stores, magazines, &c., has been reduced to within the very lowest number, and that so far from considering that any further reduction can be made, Sir Henry Bouverie is of opinion that the sentinels ought rather to be increased, in order to prevent the mischief perpetrated by boys and idlers in the ramparts.
The question relating to the amount of the military contribution to be charged upon Malta remains undecided. In answer to the inquiry proposed by Lord Glenelg, whether the Board of Treasury were disposed to sanction the fixation of the contribution at the sum of £5,000, the Board required to be informed in the first instance, whether any reduc- tion in the amount of the British force maintained at Malta was likely to result from the contemplated change in the constitution of the fencible regiment; and, in reply to this inquiry, Lord Glenelg after having considered the communications of Sir Henry Bouverie and Lord Hill, stated, that "some" reduction of the British force was likely to result from the measure in question.
In the meantime, measures have been taken for reorganizing the police establishment and for instituting a coast-guard; and the Governor has been instructed that he is to con- sider the fencible regiment as relieved from all civil duties, and to hold it wholly disposable for military purposes.
The effect of these measures, according to the calculations of the Commissioners of Inquiry, will be to relieve the Island of Malta from a charge of £7079 per annum, subject to the determination which shall be taken with regard to the amount of the military con- tribution. If that be fixed at £5000, the relief afforded to Malta will be reduced to £2079 per annum, while an additional charge of £6000 will be imposed upon the British Treasury.
After the Legislature had (in 1833) enacted the transfer of the island of St. Helena to Expediency of rein- the Crown, the Government deemed it advisable to send out two Commissioners, to in- forcing garrison of quire into the actual state of the local establishments of Government, and to report their St. Helena. opinion and advice as to the scale on which the future establishments might be fixed.
The Commissioners ascertained that the East India Company's military establishment consisted of one regiment of infantry of 427 officers and men, of a corps of artillery of 323 officers and men, of an invalid company of 86 officers and men, and of a corps of militia of 300 officers and men, making a total force of 1140 officers and men available for the defence of the Island.
The Commissioners recommended that the future garrison establishment should con- sist of 1 company of artillery and 4 companies of infantry of 80 men each, which would furnish a force little short of 400 men, exclusively of militia. "We feel," the Commis- missioners stated, "that we should not be warranted in recommending a smaller force."
Measures were accordingly taken by the Government in the following year, (1835,) for bringing home the East India Company's regular troops, and for replacing them by a force consisting of I company of royal artillery and of a detachment of the 91st regiment; but, as it was apprehended that the discipline and general efficiency of the service companies of that regiment might suffer from the unusual measure of separating them, it was con- sidered preferable to send the whole of the 6 service companies instead of 4; and arrange- ments were subsequently made for placing the militia upon an establishment of 4 com- panies of 75 men, by which means a disposable force of about 800 men was provided for the defence of the Island, until it could be determined what the permanent garrison establishment should be.
The solution of that question having engaged Lord Glenelg's attention, his Lordship resolved in the first place to consult Lieutenant-General Sir Hudson Lowe, as the only officer of rank in the service of the Crown, who had had the fullest opportunity of forming a deliberate judgment respecting the defences of St. Helena; and having obtained that officer's opinion, his Lordship invited the Master-General of the Ordnance, to consider. whether it might not be advisable to appoint a committee of officers in London to report their opinions on the following questions, viz :-
First, what should be the amount and composition of the permanent garrison establish- ment of St. Helena, with reference to the present state of the military defences of the Island? Secondly, what further works are required in order to supply any prominent, or marked deficiency in the present system of the Island defences?
Thirdly, what should be the amount and composition of the garrison establishment, under the hypothesis of measures being taken for remedying any such deficiency?
The Master-General of the Ordnance, judged it to be advisable to commit these questions to the consideration of a committee of officers on the spot; and for this purpose, Lieutenant-Colonel Harding, of the royal engineers, was ordered to proceed to St. Helena,
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