THE ENGLISH ARMY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1697, 12 June 1884, Page 2

THE ENGLISH ARMY.

Lord Wolseley's latest public certificate as to the condition of the army is (says the Pall Mall Gazette) far and away the most favourable it has received. Some of his statements, indeed, are almost too good to be true. Lord Wblseley ia an optimist, no doubt, but he is an English gentleman, and he would not deliberately deceive his countrymen on a point of such vital importance as'Jthat of the condition of their military forces. So that when he tells us that " short service has really and actually been a success," that " the men who have recently enlisted are as fine as, if not finer, than those who have enlisted at any time since ..he joined the service," that "England has at no period of her existence' had an army more worthy of her reputation than the army which who has at the present moment," and that "in every way, officer for officer and man for man, the army is more effective than it was before the Crimean war," we are either bound to believe him, and to dismiss all the croakings of alarmists about weedy boys ; the service gfoing to the dogs, etc., or we must set down the ablest and most successful general in our service as one who deliberately deceives the public in a matter vital to the safety of the realm. We need not say which alternative the public will accept.