Lords Sitting of 28 February 1879

ARMY EDUCATION—LITERARY AND PHYSICAL COMPETITIONS.

  OBSERVATIONS.
  EARL FORTESCUErose to call the attention of the House to the Report of the Joint Committee of the War Office and the Civil Service Commissioners appointed to consider whether the present literary examinations for the Army should be supplemented by physical competition. The noble Earl said, he felt some apology was due from him as a civilian for troubling their Lordships on such a subject. But he had been brought much into contact with the Army by his personal investigations into the sanitary condition of our barracks and military hospitals in 1856—investigations which he had been led to make after years of experience in sanitary administration, by observing the excessive sickness and mortality among our troops even at home compared with the civil population; though most soldiers were in the prime of life, and all had been certified as sound before admission into the ranks. Those investigations cost him personally very dear, for whilst he was engaged in them he contracted a sickness which destroyed one of his eyes, and permanently impaired the sight of the other, and which sent him an exile abroad for many successive winters. But this had not diminished the interest which had thus been kindled in him about the Army—an interest latterly
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  increased by having two sons holding commissions in it. In calling attention to the Report of the Commissioners, he might, perhaps, be allowed to remark that he had never on any occasion when he had addressed their Lordships on this subject grounded the views he had laid before them on any hardship done to deserving young men by their being excluded from the Army by the operation of the present system. He had always rested his case exclusively on the injustice done to the Public Service by the selection of any but those who promised to make in every way the most efficient officers. One of the chief reasons for instituting competitive examinations, after the abolition of Army Purchase, was the overwhelming number of candidates who were anxious to obtain the honour of serving the Queen in the Army. It was justly said—"Let Her Majesty take the best of them." He had always accepted this principle; but what he desired to see was that the best men "all round" should be those who obtained commissions, and not merely those who were most advanced in book learning; and he did not see how the really best men could be secured without supplementing intellectual with physical competition. The Secretary of State for War was reported in Hansard to have said last year that the officers who had recently joined the Army were not at all of a lower standard now than those who joined before competitive examination became the rule; far from that, taking them all round, a finer body of young men could not be found. But, even if—which he (Earl Fortescue) did not doubt—that was the case, the remark was quite irrelevant. For the question was not whether the general physique of the successful candidates, under the present system, was good; but whether, under an improved system, it would not be better. When Purchase was abolished, it was not abolished on the ground that the British officers at that time were, as a rule, inefficient. Not to go back to the old successes of the Army in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, he ventured to say that for many years our Army, small as it was, had been rendered illustrious by many glorious deeds of arms, both as regarded gallantry and skill. The conquest of Afghanistan, the conquest of Scinde and the Punjaub, and more especially

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  the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, shed a high lustre on our Army. The disasters in Afghanistan did not arise from any default of our regimental officers, but from the successful treachery of the Native Leaders, from the credulity of our diplomatists, and the helplessness of our bed-ridden General. The suffering and losses in the Crimean War were less attributable to the Military than to the Civil Department. He ventured to say that the competitive system of examination was not introduced into the Army because the Purchase system had given them bad officers, but simply because, though the general results of that system were good, it was thought to be improvable, and that still better results might be obtained. This was equally the case now. Therefore, the argument of the right hon. and gallant Gentleman the Secretary of State for War was utterly beside the question. Considering how small and costly our Army was, it was of the utmost importance to bring it up to the highest pitch of efficiency attainable; and they ought to be satisfied with nothing less, not only with regard to the general body of officers, but with regard, as far as practicable, to every individual officer. He thought they heard a great deal too much of the unfair advantage which might be given to some candidates by having certain tests of physical excellence allowed to count in examinations—as if the object was to give as equal a chance as possible to men of unequal qualifications—in sporting language, to handicap unequal horses so as to secure a good race, instead of letting the really best horse win. But he considered that their object ought to be simply to get the best article they could for their money—to get the young man selected as an officer whose qualifications in every way, physically, intellectually, and morally, afforded the best promise of future efficiency in the performance of his duties. When he brought the subject before their Lordships last year, he suggested that riding should be one of the subjects allowed to count in examinations. Strong objection was made to this suggestion on the ground that only the sons of rich men had an opportunity of learning horsemanship. This, however, certainly did not apply to walking, running, leaping, or swimming. But he (Earl Fortescue) did not believe riding
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  was near as costly an accomplishment as it was often stated to be, and he believed that a deal might be very cheaply learned at the riding-school in most large towns during their dull season. In the country, he had certainly known many young men, sons of far from wealthy parents, who somehow or other managed to get frequently mounted. But, assuming it to be as costly as it was said to be, he did not see why the claims of a candidate, coming already qualified in that respect to render the Queen service, should be ignored. He did not see why such a candidate should not be considered, cœteris paribus, preferable to another, who, if he learned to ride, must learn not at his own but the country's expense. In engaging servants, people asked themselves which out of the number of candidates were the most likely to be useful, not whether they had been placed in comparison with others at unfair disadvantage as regarded their training for service. And that, he thought, ought to be the principle adopted in selecting officers for the Army. He put the question altogether on the ground of economy. There was an accumulation of authorities in favour of adding physical to purely intellectual qualifications, to which he would now call attention. Before he adverted to the Report of the Joint Committee, however, he must be allowed to tender his thanks to Her Majesty's Government for having named a Committee which comprised men of such high military and scientific attainments, and of such high literary character. The list of names spoke for itself. Three were distinguished officers, two of the civilians were of well-known literary culture, and the Chairman, the noble Lord opposite (Lord Hampton), had for some 40 years taken a prominent part in the House of Commons, and bad held some of the highest Offices in the State. All these unanimously reported in favour of the desirableness of the addition of physical qualifications in examinations for the Army. The Committee had sought the best advice and information which could be obtained from various sources—from the Army Medical Department, from Inspectors of Military Gymnasia, and from the Superintendent of the Woolwich Riding Establishment, and had printed 23 replies to letters which had been addressed by them to the Heads of the three great

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  Military Colleges and the Masters of the great educational institutions of the country—such as Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Uppingham, Marlborough, and others. Of these, nine were strongly favourable to physical competition, fifteen were favourable, one doubtful, one was for a qualifying examination, one was rather against than for it, and only three were strongly against the proposal. The Report states—
  "On the general question of the desirableness of the proposed addition we apprehend that there can he little difference of opinion. Whether regard be had to the direct utility of physical vigour in the discharge of military duties, or to its importance as connected with valuable mental and moral qualities, we entertain no doubt that some account should be taken of it in such examinations, provided that the value set upon it be not such as to depreciate superior intellectual ability, that proper tests can be agreed upon, and that satisfactory means can be found of applying those tests… We recommend that competitions should be held under the following six heads: (1) riding; (2) walking; (3) running; (4) leaping; (5) swimming; (6) gymnastics… We propose that no candidate should be allowed to enter as a competitor under more than three heads, and that the total number of marks allotted to the physical competition should be obtainable by adequate proficiency in any three… We have already intimated our opinion that nothing should be done to interfere with the reward due to superior intellectual merit. But in competitions for entrance to the Royal Military College, as in most large competitions, it is commonly found that below the degree of superior merit, and on each side of the line which separates the successful from the unsuccessful, there occurs a long list of candidates showing a comparative level of mediocrity; and we consider that no undue weight will be given to physical excellence, if it be allowed practically to decide the question of success or failure among candidates of this class, while helping also to determine the position of the others. Looking, therefore, to the fact that at these examinations, in which about 100 candidates are usually selected, the average difference between the 50th and the 150th is about 1,000 marks, we think that the desired result would he attained if the method of marking were so arranged as to give about 1,000 marks to the best candidate in the physical competition."
  Sir John Adye strongly opposed, but the Governor of Sandhurst and the Commandant of the Staff College quite as strongly supported, the Committee's recommendations. Sir Archibald Alison says—
  "It seems to me very advisable that, in a profession where (especially in the junior ranks) physical fitness in addition to mental capacity is of great consequence, a certain weight should he given to these qualities.… No one
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  can have a higher regard for literary qualifications than I have; but I think it is a mistake to attach, in examinations, no value whatever to physical ones in an essentially (physically speaking) hard-working profession like the Army."
  The Rev. E. Thring, the very successful Master of Uppingham, writes—
  "In my opinion the proposal to give marks for physical qualifications in the Civil Service is most valuable. Much harm is done in the world by men who are all head, and have none of the powers or sympathies of ordinary humanity; who, in the good old phrase, 'have never been boys.' Such men often attain to power, but are bad rulers of men. On this account, as well as on the more obvious one of common usefulness, I hail the acknowledgment of physical life-power."
  The Rev. H. M. Butler, of Harrow, writes—
  "In my judgment the change proposed would be a decided and important improvement."
  The Rev. J. J. Hornby, of Eton, writes—
  "With regard to those proposals generally, I must say that I welcome them very warmly."
  The Rev. E. H. Brad by, of Hailey bury, says—
  "Among those who come between the 50th and the 150th on the list in a Sandhurst, or even Woolwich examination, I should much prefer, had I to pick men for Her Majesty's service, those who could ride or run or swim well, for instance, to those who could not. The tendency of the change would be to make idlers and 'loafers' (if the expression may be pardoned) among the clever boys look to their physical exercises, and to give a fairer chance to a very useful class of young Englishmen, who are in some danger of being crushed out by the purely literary character of our present competitions."
  He quoted last year the opinion of the late Sir John Burgoyne, who expressed to him his fear lest mere book learning should have too much weight given it to the exclusion of other qualifications for the Army; and he had mentioned that the present Bishop of Exeter, when, as Head Master of Rugby, he had a commission in the Army placed at his disposal, instituted a competitive examination for it, partly physical, partly intellectual, which resulted in its being won by a good, but not the best scholar in the school—the captain of the cricket eleven. He hoped that the principle of the recommendation of this very able Committee, fortified by the preponderance of opinion of the best educational and military authorities would prevail, and that physical as well as in-

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  tellectual competition would be adopted as a test of qualification for admission into Her Majesty's Service. Perhaps lie might be asked why he had not earlier expressed his views upon this subject? But his reason was that though he had long entertained them he had, perhaps weakly, shrunk from publicly expressing them while his son was preparing for the Army, lest he should be supposed to be actuated by personal rather than public considerations. As soon, however, as his son had won his commission in competitive examination in 1876, he took the earliest opportunity of publicly speaking elsewhere on the subject, and last year had addressed their Lordships upon it. With regard to that son and some other young friends of his just embarked for South Africa, he must add that he did not think they would be likely to discharge their duties the less efficiently there, because from their boyhood they had been accustomed to hunt and shoot, to ride and walk long distances over rough ground in the pursuit of sport, to surmount obstacles, to disregard fatigue, and cheerfully endure the inclemency of the weather.
  VISCOUNT BURYsaid, he was sure the noble Earl need not have made the excuse for not bringing this matter forward sooner that he did not wish to be suspected of having interested motives. He was struck by the admission of the noble Earl at the end of his speech that the young officers who had gone out to South Africa would not be the less efficient because they had been accustomed from their earliest youth to hunt, ride, walk long distances, and disregard fatigue and inclement weather. Now, these young officers were only fair specimens of the young officers they now got in the Army, and this was rather an argument against the noble Earl, that they ought to adopt some system other than was now pursued. In fact, the noble Earl admitted that they now got young men who were well qualified, and all he desired was that they should take some course by which they could obtain young men better qualified still. No doubt the thing to be done was to get the very best officers they could. It would be a very bad excuse to say that to introduce such and such a competition or to refrain from introducing such and such a competition in the Army would be unfair to this or to that candidate.
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  That would be no argument at all—what they wanted to do was to get the best men for the Public Service. Some time ago it would have been possible, in the old days of nomination, to select this or that man, and to those who were not selected it would not be a cause of complaint, and nothing would have been said against the fairness of the selection. But now, after deliberate consideration, they had resorted to a different principle, and competitive examination had been resorted to. The first principle of this system, and one without which it could not continue to exist, was strict fairness to all competitors; and when a man had in open competition, with a fair field and no favour, come to the front, they were bound to assume that they had got what they wanted—namely, the best man for the Public Service. The noble Earl's suggestion was that the system, as at present administered, had so far broken down that purely intellectual examination did not give them the best men for the Public Service. If that were proved, and it could be shown that a better class of men could be obtained by introducing some such physical qualification as the noble Earl had intimated, and as the Committee had recommended, then no doubt it would be the duty of the Government, at all hazards and all inconveniences, to introduce such a modification into their scheme of examination as would enable a physical competition to be held. But the testimony which had been brought before the War Office, and indeed before the Committee themselves, was that they did get a body of as fine young men as they could obtain by any other means; and that being the case—it not being necessary on account of the physical deterioration of our young officers, or of the class of men who offered themselves for that position, it not being alleged that there was any reason on account of such physical deterioration to resort to any further system—it was a matter of grave consideration whether the system which had been established, and which worked so well, should be thrown aside. No one could have a greater admiration than he for the great ability and industry displayed by the Committee who had made this Report. Their authority was deservedly great, and from the high position they occupied their opinion was worth much attention. But they had been

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  rather hesitating in. their approval of this scheme of physical competition. His noble Friend (Earl Fortescue) had read a part of Paragraph 14 of the Report; but he did not allow sufficient weight to the first line, which said—
  "We have already intimated our opinion that nothing should he done to interfere with the reward due to superior intellectual merit."
  If they were to give marks for physical competition, how was it possible not to interfere with the purely intellectual competition—the literary competition? Sir John Adye said—
  "I do not recommend the present proposal for the following reasons:—The number of marks proposed to be given are considerable, and will therefore really influence the general rule."
  The opinion of the Governor of the Royal Military College was that the physical competition which it was proposed to introduce would not be compatible, and would certainly interfere with the purely literary competition now existing. If the system of intellectual examination had not been proved to be insufficient, and as it was not even alleged that they did not get now properly qualified young men to present themselves for examination, then, was it worth while, in face of such evidence, to change the present system? The noble Earl had quoted Dr. Carver, the Head Master of Dulwich College, who said that high moral energy might exist in connection with a sickly and feeble frame. That was quite true; but had they any allegation that they had now among their young officers men of feeble and sickly frames? Quite the contrary. Dr. Carver himself admitted that he had generally found those young men who were most distinguished in physical competitions in the school were also those found most generally at the top of the literary examinations. It was in evidence from other quarters that it was a general rule that when physical fitness and development were found in the young men who were of the age that those young men were who came up for examination, that mental fitness generally existed as well. Therefore, there was no need for changing the present system. Under these circumstances, the Under Secrerary of State for War, calling to his assistance some of the military authorities whom he had constantly
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  around him, consulted with them whether it would be advisable to introduce such a change; and the result he had arrived at was that it would not be advisable and would be almost impracticable. He (Viscount Bury) had now shown why it would be inexpedient and unnecessary to make any change at the present moment. He would now show that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to carry out such a change. First of all, when and how were they to introduce these physical examinations? Seven or eight hundred young men now came up to London for examination twice a year; they were quartered at various lodgings in town—as the noble Earl no doubt knew—somewhat to the embarrassment of their fathers and guardians; they had to remain knocking about London during the whole time of these examinations. It was very inconvenient that they should be detained longer in town than was absolutely necessary. When were they to introduce these physical examinations, and where were they to introduce them? About three-fifths of the young men who came up were, to use their own phrase, "spun in the preliminary;" in other words, were found wanting in the first stage of the examination. Those young men were at once, or as soon as possible, sent back to their homes, and dismissed with the usual information that they were not to go in for further examination. So large a proportion of young men being dismissed, it would be obviously not worth while to examine the whole 800 or 900 young men in physical competition before the intellectual competition commenced. If they only passed on for physical examination those who had already proved themselves to a certain extent intellectually qualified, they would introduce that antagonism between physical and intellectual qualifications which it was the object of the Committee themselves entirely to keep out of consideration. Supposing they did adopt that course, were they to examine them all before they went in for their final literary examination, or were they to examine only those who finally passed for commissions? These were practical considerations to consider before a change was made. It was only fair to the noble Earl who brought forward this subject that he should go into details on this point. If they were to examine

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  all the young men, they must either give marks for their physical acquirements, or they must make them undergo a pass examination in physical qualifications. He would suppose the case of a gentleman whose son had been educated for the Army for some years, and had passed his preliminary and final literary examination, but who was rejected because he could not run a certain number of miles an hour or leap a bar 4 feet 2 inches in height. That gentleman would, he thought, have every right to complain of such a system, and he appealed to the common sense of the House whether they would be able to keep it up for a single year. If they were to give marks for physical excellence, then they would have to decide how far these should displace the marks for intellectual ability. Should it be found that physically qualified men ceased to come forward to compete for admission to the Army, then it would be time enough to make a change. It must be borne in mind that at present all the candidates were subjected to medical examination—and, as he thought, to too many such examinations—they were examined every time they presented themselves for a fresh literary competition. They had therefore, at the present moment, every guarantee that neither the feeble nor cripples were admitted into the Army—that none, in fact, would be admitted into the Service but those who were sound in life and limb. The noble Earl had quoted Hansard to prove that his right hon. and gallant Friend the Secretary of State for War had out of Office approved of these physical examinations. It was true that his right hon. and gallant Friend the Secretary of State for War was at first disposed to carry out the recommendation of the Committee; but, on considering it and taking the opinion of military authorities, he found that difficulties of an insurmountable nature presented themselves against giving effect to it, and, therefore, he would not advise the Government or Parliament to endeavour to carry it out.
  LORD HAMPTONsaid, he could not agree with what had fallen from his noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for War, that the difficulties referred to were insurmountable; and he must express his regret at the decision which the War Office authorities had come to. This proposal of the Committee had been supported by the weight
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  of very great authorities, and the Committee—of which he was himself a Member—were unanimous in their opinion as to what ought to be done. The Committee examined the subject with very remarkable care, and had entered into every detail; and in justice to them he felt bound to say that they did not leave out of view any consideration in reference to those physical difficulties which had been mentioned by his noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for War, and had arrived conclusively at the opinion that there was nothing in those difficulties which ought to be considered as being insuperable. His noble Friend opposite (Earl Fortescue) had referred to the Appendix to the Report. In it their Lordships would find set forth the opinions of three distinguished Military Officers and of 18 Head Masters of their great Public Schools in favour of the Report, and they were men who were eminently calculated to pronounce an opinion upon such a subject as this. It was true that Sir Joseph Hawley was not in favour of the scheme; but Sir Archibald Alison and General Napier had expressed strong opinions the other way, and the chief educational authorities in the country had supported their views. He believed that an almost unanimous welcome had been accorded to it—out-of-doors no one hardly ever heard a different opinion. Wherever he went he heard it stated that the training of young men as officers for the Army should not be so exclusively literary, but that they should have a sound physical training. He must acknowledge that the difficulty had been met in a fair and courteous and conciliatory spirit by the authorities and the War Office. His own conviction was that the adoption of the plan recommended by the Committee would have brought about a very great practical improvement upon the present system of training those young men; and therefore he deeply regretted that the authorities at the War Office should have deemed the difficulties insuperable.
  THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGEsaid, that it might be expected that he should say a few words on this interesting subject. He would say that he felt strongly with the noble Lords who had addressed the House; but he must honestly confess that when he came to the question of bringing the proposed system into practice, he found that it would be

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  utterly impossible to do so—he did not himself see how it could be done; and two distinguished officers who signed the Report, being present when the question was further discussed, could not give any plan as to how their own recommendation could be carried out. If the recommendation should be adopted, it would change the whole present system of education, and changing the whole system was an extremely grave matter. How could they bring in marks for physical examination without its telling against the literary examination? They could not add to or diminish the marks without upsetting the system that now prevailed. There might be very good grounds for doing this; and possibly there might be found a system for combining the two things; but he and his noble Friend at the War Office, having given every consideration to the matter, he did not see how it was possible to combine the two things. There was one reason why they need be in no great hurry, and that was that there was not the slightest complaint to make with the existing state of things. The other day his representative, General Lysons, the Quartermaster General, went down to Sandhurst, and he said that he never saw a finer or a better set of young men than he saw there; young men better physically qualified or worthier to become officers in the Army had not presented themselves for some years. He himself also had been struck with the qualifications of the young men; and, therefore, he did not think that there was any necessity for making a change—unless, indeed, they could in some way combine the two systems of literary and physical competition. There were, however, already physical exercises at Sandhurst as well as at other places; so that the young officers had this advantage already. He himself thought it better that these advantages should be given at the large Schools and Colleges after the students entered those places. Before they entered them they might largely depend upon the means of their parents or guardians. He trusted that it would be understood that he did not in the least go against the Committee in their sentiments and desires to introduce into the Army efficient and physically competent young men; but he must say that he had no reason to doubt that they were now in the position of having very
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  well qualified young men m the service.
  VISCOUNT HARDINGEsaid, he must decline to believe, until more evidence to the contrary was shown, that the proposal of the Committee could not be carried out. It might be difficult but was not impossible; and he held emphatically in this matter that if there was a will there would be a way. Colonel Stanley, the Secretary of State for War, speaking in the House of Commons on this subject, said that the onus probandi rested on those who advocated the change of showing that the supply of young men for the Army with proper physical qualifications was insufficient; and the illustrious Duke the Commander-in-Chief was highly satisfied with the appearance of the young officers turned out under the present system; but it was really quite impossible to judge of a man's powers of endurance by his looks; it required the physical fatigues and dangers of a campaign to show what was in him. As to riding, he had been told on high authority that officers in India rode infamously, and as they came from Sandhurst the inference was that riding there was not, to say the least of it, what it should be. This, he understood, was the opinion of the illustrious Duke himself.
  THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGEsaid, he was not aware of having expressed any opinion of the kind. What he had said on the subject was that he should have liked to see more time devoted to riding than was the case; but he had found no fault with what at present existed. It was desirable, of course, that men should ride as well as possible.
  VISCOUNT HARDINGEsaid, he had misunderstood the illustrious Duke. He certainly thought that the course of study at Sandhurst was not sufficient to enable a man to learn to ride well. If, however, a man had not had the opportunity of riding as a boy, there were other athletic exercises, such as walking or swimming, in which he might excel—so that it could not be said that the poor student would occupy a less favourable position than the rich. It was said that the advocates of this change wished secretly to undermine the principle of competitive examination; but the Committee in their Report studiously guarded themselves against that imputation. The intellectual boy, as they explained, would

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  always be at the top; but when, coming down the list, they reached a low level of mediocrity, intellectual might, as they very reasonably suggested, be supplemented by physical acquirements. As to the medical examination, it was not by any means so strict as it might be. The candidates, he understood, only had their chests tapped and their legs examined for varicose veins; and some greater security than at present existed as to the physical capabilities of officers certainly seemed to him to be required.
  VISCOUNT CARDWELLsaid, his noble Friend opposite (Viscount Hardinge) had done something to infuse a fresh vitality into a discussion which, after the crushing speech of the illustrious Duke, had appeared to have been extinguished. He first told their Lordships that if this method was not adopted the medical examination must be made more strict, and according to the noble Viscount's knowledge it was not strict enough. Then let them make it more strict if that were necessary, and they would entirely accomplish the object the Committee had in view. The noble Viscount had furnished them with another important fact, and had told them that it was impossible to know what the physical condition of an officer was until he had gone through an arduous campaign. Where was this arduous campaign to be held? Was it to be held at Aldershot or at Sandhurst? Surely he could not have it before the Committee, for they would eschew what was called by one of the principal advocates of the scheme the vulgarity of a public exhibition, and they would work it by some plan of a private competition, on some different and various methods which they had laid down. Then it was absolutely impossible to accomplish the object in the manner suggested by his noble Friend. That was exactly the thing which the illustrious Duke held out to their Lordships during the late Session. He said he would be delighted if there were such qualifications added; but he said it was a serious question on which he was not prepared to give an offhand opinion. The Secretary of State for War expressed very much the same opinion in the House of Commons. He (Viscount Cardwell) was not at all surprised at the opinion so decidedly expressed to-night by the illustrious Duke, or at the conclusion at which the War Office
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  had arrived. It had been held that they now got the best officers. Sir John Ayde said so, and their Lordships had been told so by some of the best of the other witnesses whose testimony was given in the Appendix to the Report of the Committee. He recommended the whole of this evidence to the same careful consideration of their Lordships as it had received at the hands of the illustrious Duke and the authorities at the War Office; and he thought the more time they spent in investigating the subject the more they would arrive at the same conclusion which he was happy to hear Her Majesty's Government had come to.
  LORD TRUROsaid, that upon the introduction of competitive examinations, not only in the War Department, but in the Civil Service Departments, they were somewhat overdone, and the same thing had happened in the Medical Service. For instance, in the Prerogative Court, a long correspondence took place when a man was wanted who could bring up a coal-scuttle. What was required in men was moral force of character, and the power of discrimination, so that they might be able to read the characters of others, and that alone would qualify men for command. While, on the one hand, it was most important that attention should be paid to the physical powers and bodily strength of these young men, yet it was by no means desirable to introduce competitive examinations for the purpose of obtaining the best men of that sort, and to abandon the system of mental and educational competition which now existed; but far more than all for consideration were the moral requirements of these young officers.
  EARL FORTESCUE,in reply, said, that the proposal of the Committee was not that this competition should be compulsory, but that it should be voluntary. It would, therefore, only apply to a limited number of the candidates. There was no wish to interfere with the reward for superior intellectual merit. The object which he held should be sought and attained by the Government, and which was recommended by the Committee, was to give facilities for the selection of the best men "all round" among the intellectual mediocrities examined at the competitions for commissions. Far from denying the frequent concurrence in the same individual of

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  bodily strength and activity with great intellectual power and application, he had himself called their Lordships' particular attention to the fact last year, and had then mentioned as a proof of it the habitual superiority at cricket and football of the Engineers, the most scientific of the scientific branches of the Army. He remained unsatisfied, as he was happy to find the noble Lord the Chairman of the Committee (Lord Hampton) was, of the absolute impracticability of the scheme, though he had no doubt of the difficulty of organizing it. He (Earl Fortescue) confessed, however, that he did not despair, considering the weight of authority which the Committee had elicited, and the general feeling in its favour out-of-doors, and above all its accordance with common sense, that sooner or later, like other improvements denounced in the first instance as impracticable and unnecessary, the scheme would in the course of a few years be adopted, and be found to work easily and satisfactorily.
  House adjourned at a quarter before Seven o'clock, to Monday next, Eleven o'clock.