On Wednesday the Lord Mayor entertained the London merchants and
bankers at dinner, and Sir Michael Hicks- Beach addressed them in reply to the toast of "The Con- tinued Prosperity of the Public Purse." In spite of gloomy prophecies, the condition of the public purse was good, but though he believed us equal to any emergency, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach wisely insisted upon the need of keeping uninjured the sources of our prosperity,—i.e., "a wise fiscal and commercial policy involving very light taxation for many years on the people at large, and therefore developing and encouraging our industry and our commerce." When he came to the question of our armed forces, the Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke with his usual good sense. It was necessary that we should have a strong Navy and "an efficient, though I think it need not be a too numerous, Army." While pleading for efficiency and economy, he went on to condemn the professional expert, and, as we think, used exactly the right formula :—" Hear the experts by all means, weigh carefully whatever they put before you, but in your public affairs, as in your private affairs, act with prudence, intelligence, and judgment, and weigh their advice before you take it." Alas, that the Cabinet did not act on this principle when their military experts told them that the war in South Africa was to be an infantry war, and that they must tell the Colonies that infantry were preferred ! Had they had the courage to act on Sir Michael Hicks-Beach's principle, they would have refused to accept military advice so clearly contrary to common-sense, and would have insisted that men on foot cannot successfully run after and kill men on horses. How- ever, we are entirely with Sir Michael Hicks-Beach when he counsels economy, and we are certain that if economy is properly applied it is not the antagonist but the friend and supporter of efficiency.
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