The Government believes, as its recent appointments show, in "blood,"
and it may possibly believe in bone too. Lord Hardinge on Tuesday asked if marks would not be given for physical strength, as shown in athletics and gymnastics, in the competition for Woolwich and Sandhurst. He ob- jected to " weedy young men." Lord Hampton, who re- ceives £2,000 a year for professing to be head of the Civil Service Commission, entirely agreed with Lord Hardinge, and Lord Bury seemed to think that the Government were only waiting for a confidential report upon the subject, which had been submitted to the Duke of Cambridge. As the candidates are already submitted to a severe medical examination, the proposed system is hardly required, but it will in many eyes have this advantage,—that every mark given for athletics will reduce the quantity of brains required for admis- sion. That the proposed scheme would have weighted some of the greatest Generals, as, for example, Vendome, Napoleon, General Havelock, and Field-Marshal von Moltke, does not matter. It will give marks to the sons of the squires, who learn riding early, and that is sufficient.
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