18 
ARTILLERY SERVICE UNDER “ JOHN COMPANY ” 
officer of cavalry given the appointment instead. Colonel Faithfull 
openly expressed his dissatisfaction at his supersession, whereupon 
the Commander-in-Chief published a most extraordinary letter to the 
army. After explaining that in his opinion, a Brigadier should be able 
to personally instruct his command, he passed the following sweeping 
condemnation on the Artillery in general. “ The Commander-in-Chief 
ce has the highest respect for the officers of the Artillery, and he well 
“knows their many high qualities, but unfortunately he doubts their 
“ general attainments in these points, and therefore he deems them un- 
" fitted in ordinary cases to receive such commands as Colonel Faithfull 
“ covets.” He then proceeded to issue a challenge to Colonel Faithfull. 
“If Colonel Faithfull is an exception to this, and is master of the 
“ military qualifications alluded to, then the Commander-in-Chief will 
“ be sorry to have passed him over, and he offers to Colonel Faithfull 
“ his permission to come to head-quarters forthwith, and he will place 
“ a brigade at Barrackpore in his hands, and enable him to show his fit- 
“ ness for such a command under his own eye; or, he will do the same 
“ thing, on the first favourable opportunity which presents itself, when 
“ he goes to the Upper Provinces.” 
Colonel Faithfull at once wrote and accepted the offer, but when 
this came to be known a cry of dismay went up on all sides. It was 
said that this was the thin end of the wedge, and the first step towards 
introducing a regular system of examination for promotion and ap¬ 
pointments, and half the newspapers in India wrote begging him to 
pause, before accepting the Commander-in-Chieffs challenge, and thus 
creating a precedent which could end in nothing but the ruin of many 
old and deserving, but professionally ignorant officers. Whether these 
appeals influenced him or not, it is impossible to say, but certain it is, 
that Colonel Faithfull never submitted himself to the test, and so lost 
not only his brigade, but also the unique distinction, of being the 
first British officer to obtain promotion by passing an examination. 
1838 1838, Colonel Faithfull was succeeded in the command 
by Colonel W. IT. Whish, c.b., and he in turn by Colonel 
W. H. L. Frith. 
About this time, Battalion Messes were first officially recognized by 
the Government, and a G.O. was published stating that a mess allow¬ 
ance of Rs. 100 a month might be drawn in all cases where it was 
certified that a mess had actually been maintained. Lieut.-Colonel 
J. F. Dundas, commanding the 2nd Battalion of the Bengal Artillery, 
determined that his battalion should have a mess, but he was equally 
determined that the expense of starting it, should fall on the Govern¬ 
ment, and not on his officers. He clearly saw that the only means of 
doing this, was to draw and save up the Government allowance, until 
he had collected the necessary capital. The only difficulty in the 
matter was to find a way of reconciling his conscience to signing the 
following certificate:—“I do certify, upon my honour, that a mess 
“ has been maintained in the battalion under my command during the 
“ month of . . . 1835 ” 
He however started a flock of sheep with two shepherds to look 
