These, then, were the three military events of most note during the twenty years ending in 1741; and they are certainly not such as to affect the peaceable reputation of the period. An unhappy expedition to the West Indies, under Lord Cathcart, was ordered in 1741, but as it was not completed until later, it can be alluded to more fully in a succeeding chapter.
But the domestic life of the Regiment during this time requires description. The rank of Captain-Lieutenant had been introduced in 1720, and the third and fourth Lieutenant of a company were called Lieutenants and Fireworkers, the conjunction being speedily dropped. The strength of a company was during this period as follows:—
| Captain. | ||
| Captain-Lieutenant. | ||
| First Lieutenant. | ||
| 2 | Second Lieutenants. | |
| 4 | Fireworkers. | |
| 3 | Sergeants. | |
| 3 | Corporals. | |
| 12 | Bombardiers. | |
| 25 | Gunners. | } |
| 5 | Cadet-Gunners. | } |
| 43 | Matrosses. | } |
| 5 | Cadet-Matrosses. | } |
| 2 | Drummers. |
The annual pay of each company amounted to 2956l. 10s.
It was in 1727, that the Regiment was increased to four complete companies. The siege of Gibraltar suggested an augmentation which the declining numbers on the old establishment admitted of the Board carrying out. On this taking place, the staff requisite for the Regiment was added, and Colonel Borgard was styled Colonel-Commandant.
The staff consisted, in addition to the Colonel, of a Lieutenant-Colonel—Jonas Watson; a Major—William Bousfield; an Adjutant, a Quartermaster, and a Bridge-Master. To meet the demand for the more scientific element in the new companies, one Second Lieutenant and one Fireworker per company were transferred from the old, and the number of bombardiers and gunners in each reduced to eight and twenty respectively. The matrosses, as being more easily obtained, and requiring less special training, were increased to sixty-four per company; and from this time vacancies among the gunners were filled by the most deserving matrosses.
The large number of junior officers and of bombardiers in each company was intended to meet the demands of the bomb-service, which even in this peaceable time were very heavy: more especially for the bomb-vessels in the Mediterranean. It created, however, an evil which must always be found in a profession where the junior ranks so greatly outnumber the senior, and where the prizes are so few, while the candidates are many;—the evil of slow promotion and even stagnation, and in their wake, discontent, loss of zeal, and, at last, indifference. So soon did this manifest itself, that by reducing the number of junior officers, and increasing that of the seniors, it has been repeatedly attempted to remedy it; the last attempt being so recent as during the tenancy of the present Secretary of State for War—Mr. Cardwell. But this remedy has its limits. There are duties to be performed suitable only to inferior military rank, and the performance of which, by senior officers, would have the effect of degrading the rank to which they may have attained. A considerable proportion of an army's officers, therefore, must always hold inferior military rank; but whether the evil which accompanies stagnation in their ranks is to be remedied by increase of pay in proportion to service, or by enforced retirement in the upper ranks, is one of those questions which it is not for the historian to argue.
The Captains of the four companies of the Regiment after the augmentation were
Captain James Richards,
Captain Thomas Hughes,