11 NOVEMBER 1899, Page 2

Lord Woleeley made a speech in London on Monday which

contained two or three noteworthy statements. In the first place, he admitted fully that the Boer people "are much more numerous and powerful than we had anticipated," a bit of frankness for which the Intelligence Department will not thank him. It is true, however, for besides the mistake as to numbers, in which the whole world shared—except possibly Sir Redvers Buller—we do not appear to have been informed of the superiority of their artillery. Then Lord Wolseley dwelt on the success of Army reformers in obtaining a new type of officers, men fall of all the professional learning of their day, yet who throw away their lives as freely as of old. And lastly, Lord Wolaeley praised the officers for their reck- less daring. "They have suffered, but they expected to suffer, and ought to suffer," and for himself he should hope that whenever there was war a large proportion of the sufferers would be officers. That will sound well in the ears of private soldiers, but as the officers did not need it we had rather it had been omitted. They will aczept it as an order to expose themselves to the bullets, which they are too ready to do already.