22 JANUARY 1876, Page 2

Mr. Goschen, in a speech at a dinner given to

the Commissioners of Sewers on Tuesday, at the Albion Tavern, deprecated the policy of treating the strength of the Army as a party question. He was a party man, but he would not treat either foreign affairs or the condition of the Army or Navy as a party question. The Army would occupy a good deal of the attention of the House of Commons, and he maintained that if the Duke of Cam- bridge and those who agreed with him believed their own state- ments, which he did not doubt, they should bring forward their proposals in Parliament. He believed that an emergency had arisen, but that all parties would know how to deal with it, and that there would be no reason to doubt the spirit of the British people. There never is any reason to doubt it, if only the political leaders will speak out. The difficulty is, that they all go about muttering that recruiting is in a bad way, and more money must be spent, but never tell us distinctly where the failure is, or how much is required for extra wages, or why there can be no reductions in other portions of the great machine. The day has come, as Mr. Goschen says, for definite proposals.