17 DECEMBER 1870, Page 3

It is scarcely necessary to attack Mr. Cardwell by exaggerated

statements like the one which appears in the Pall Mall Gazette about our supply of powder. It is entirely without foundation. There may not be enough pebble powder, but there is enough of the powder we usually use, and which many artillerists believe to be the better of the two, to supply us for years of war. There is, at all events, now in stock more than twelve times the quantity consumed in the siege of Sebastopol, which would seem to be sufficient. There are arguments enough for more preparation, without creating a panic by statements which, even when correct to the letter, produce absurdly false impressions.