Military demonstrations keep up a retrospective exultation over the war.
The Guards have been entertained at a dinner in the Surrey Gardens where two thousand sat dowtt to table with
cant-Major Edwards at their head. It might have been better if some of the managing committee had in person played the part of host, and shared the table of their guests ; but Ser- geant-Major Edwards showed that from the ranks of the army comes a natural sense and eloquence which can thoroughly execute the British duty of chairman. He accepted the compli- ment to the Guards as a tribute paid by the capital, through its own garrison, to the Army at large. The Irish Lord-Lieutenant, again, has been delivering to the Irish soldiers in the British Army, through the Eighteenth Regiment at a presentation of colours, a speech glorifying the bravery and loyalty of the Irish soldier. Although the topic has become a truism, it is one of those truths which men are always glad to hear repeated of them- selves. Still more satisfactory, because less ha.eknied, is Colonel Percy Herbert's speech to the people of Ludlow, who had been presenting him a sword of honour. He said many excellent things, but especially when he claimed a welcome for the sol- dier as a citizen and the defender of liberty, who would show his Mends at Ito' me that military training can bring out the moral qualities, and maintain the spirit that is ever ready to draw the sword in a just cause. Whatever doctrine may be the fashion of the day, history has never yet recorded a country in which the political and military elements were divorced without showing us a pe6ple- whose army was despotic and whose liberties were enervated.
