On Thursday was published a memorandum on the position of
the Commander-in-Chief, written and addressed by Lord Wolseley to the Prime Minister last November. In out opinion Lord Wolseley asks for the right thing—i.e., the con- version of the Commander-in-Chief from print= inter pares into primus among the soldiers at the War Office—but for the wrong reasons. We have steadily advocated this change ever since the Order in Council of 1895, on grounds of sound adminis- tration and in order to make the civilian control of the Secretary of State over the Army effective. He advocates it because he wants military and not civilian control over the Army. In a week of unusual pressure we cannot summarise either Lord Wolseley's arguments, or those of Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Brodrick in reply, except to say that the quarrel is the same as that conducted in the House of Lords a fortnight ago, and rests on practically the same arguments.
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