RANKS.
Next to Field-Marshals come Full Generals. After a General comes a Lieutenant-General, and then a Major-General. The civilian usually makes a mistake in the relative rank of these two officers; for as a Major is higher in rank than a Lieutenant, so he considers a Major-General must be higher than a Lieutenant-General. The principle by which to remember this, however, is to deduct from General the prefix, and the remainder indicates the rank thus, deducting Lieutenant from General we have a larger remainder than if we deduct Major.
Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel come next; then Major, Captain, First Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant, and Cornet or Ensign.
A Second Lieutenant takes precedence of a Cornet or Ensign.
These ranks being fixed and known, we can now compare the staff and civil branches of the army with them. The great advantage of “rank” to the civil branches is not merely the position, but the power of choosing quarters in garrison, cabins on board ship, &c., before officers who are junior in rank. No nominal rank allows any person except a regular officer to have any military command; thus, if an Ensign were on board ship with troops, as also an old Surgeon and Paymaster, the Ensign would command the troops, though the Surgeon and Paymaster both rank as Captains.
The following are the relative ranks of the Staff Officers named below:—
| Paymasters | Rank as Captains. |
| Surgeons | Rank as Captains. |
| Assistant-Surgeons | Rank as Lieutenants. |
| Veterinary Surgeons during the first ten years of their service | Rank as Cornets. |
| Ditto after ten years | Rank as Lieutenants. |
| Ditto after twenty years | Rank as Captains. |
| Quartermasters | Rank as Lieutenants. |
In the Medical Department there are various titles, each of which ranks according to the following list:—