A rumour is abroad that the rank of full General
bestowed on Sir Garnet Wolseley by Royal Warrant, when he was sent out to supersede Lord Chelmsford in South Africa, is not to be confirmed. We cannot credit the rumour. The Warrant in such cases permits the rank to be made permanent, " if in such temporary command" the appointed General " shall have con- ducted himself to our satisfaction for five years in time of peace, or for any shorter period in the field in time of war." Of course, there is a constitutional rule that no man can claim as of right any recognition whatever of military services ; but we have never heard of a case in which a General who has carried a campaign to a successful issue in a special rank, has not been confirmed in that rank. Apart from the fact that Ulundi was won by the adoption (with ludicrous exaggeration) of Sir G. Wolseley's own tactics, his prompt dealing with the difficul- ties in Zululand left by Lord Chelmsford's reckless retreat, and his brilliant feat of arms in the Sekukuni campaign—taking in forty minutes a stronghold which had defied attack for years, and which Boers, natives, and English alike asserted to be im- pregnable—entitle him to a confirmation of rank which has been uniformly given for very inferior service.
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