Lord Wolseley made on Saturday a long speech to the
students at Oxford, much of which is both instructive and enjoyable. Unfortunately, he allowed himself to be carried away by the applause of his audience into a fierce party diatribe which we cannot think consistent with his position in the permanent service of the State. He has apologised since ; and for the rest, he justly eulogised military training as a means of national education, and brought into strong relief the new fact that crime has almost ceased in the Army. Its prisons are half of them empty, and but for a few ruffians in each regiment who are discharged, and discharged in vain, as they always re-enlist, the Army would be freer of, legal offence than ordinary civil life. The total drilled force of • the Crown, including Volunteers and Militia, now amounts to 617,000 men, 8 per cent. of all adult males ; and of these, only 105,000 are abroad. The remainder are being made into a good army of defence, and Lord Wolseley believes that if we paid the Regulars like policemen, we might make of discharge a severe punishment. We fear the Exchequer would not like that, but it is in that direction that the method of avoiding a.. conscription will ultimately be sought.
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