17 OCTOBER 1903, Page 2

Remember that the attacks were not aimed at the Com-

mander-in-Chief's military policy, but were directed against him personally. Mr. Bromley-Davenport and the group he led and inspired attacked the Commander-in-Chief with the utmost bitterness for doing what in the opinion of the Secretary of State and the Cabinet it was his duty to do. -Yet now this virulent assailant of Lord Roberts is appointed to the War Office. Surely he might have been placed instead at the Admiralty, and so the wounding of a great public servant to whom the nation owes so much have been avoided. To inflict such a humiliation on Lord Roberts was a piece of cynical indifference which the nation will not lightly pardon. Mr. Arthur Lee, we are glad to sae, has been appointed Civil Lord of the Admiralty. That there will be a very general agreement as to the fitness of Mr. Lee for office we do not doubt, and we can heartily congratulate the Administration upon having got the assist- ance of so sound and able a man. Whether Mr. Lee is to be congratulated on his inclusion in this Ministry of damaged reputations is another matter. Mr. Pretyman at the same time becomes Secretary to the Admiralty, Lord Hamilton Treasurer of the Household, and Lord BalcarrFs a Junior Lord of the Treasury. Lord Balcarres is a young man of great ability, and his many friends will be delighted with an appointment which, as in the case of Mr. Lee, is thoroughly well deserved. Finally—on Friday—comes the news that Lord Donoughmore goes to the War Office as Under-Secretary, and Lord Hard- wicke to the India Office as Under-Secretary. Truly these are days when it is good to be a Peer. Under Mr. Balfour a seat in the House of Commons is fast becoming a positive disqualification for office.