The Government has taken a step which it will find
very difficult to defend, It has superseded. Sir Evelyn Wood as second in command in South Africa, appointing Major-General Newdigate, who, if Sir F. Roberts is shot or falls sick, will thus succeed to the supreme command. He did not suoceed when in command of a division in the Zulu war, and though the Horse Guards may know him better than the public do, the nomination is most unfair to Sir E. Wood, who was specially sent out to keep Sir G. Colley straight, and is now twice passed over. Mr. Childers stated, in explanation on Thursday, that the command. of 15,000 men could not be entrusted to a colonel ; but Colonel Wood could easily have been invested with local rank. It is, we imagine, a Horse Guards' appointment, made to prevent a brilliant officer outrunning the old stagers. Under this system, we shall never have a Clive again, and never deserve ono. Major Nicholson was made a General during the Mutiny, with the full approba- tion of the Army.
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