The speech of the Duke of Cambridge has, apparently, produced
some excitement on the Continent, and Lord Salisbury on Tuesday set himself at the dinner of the West Herta Agricultural Society to diminish its effect. He said the first merit of our Army and Navy was that "they enabled us to escape the terrible blood-tax under which other nations had to suffer." It would be a delusion, however, to imagine that money alone could place us on a level with nations on the Continent. It is not true " that if you lay out enough in Estimates, you can get it back in victories," as a farmer gets back the cost of manure in crops. It is men, and not money, by which victories are won ; it is by genius and heroism that the position of England must be maintained. The speech of the Duke of Cambridge had been misunderstood abroad, for no class in this country desired war, and "there is no well-grounded anticipation of such a calamity at the pre- sent time." All this means, we presume, that the Military Estimates are not to be much increased, but it does not prove that the country has a sufficiency of trained troops. When, however, men like Lord Salisbury are content, as he appears to be, with the Army, it is almost hopeless to expect improvement.
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