kind-hearted man, and, pitying what he
considered the fallen condition of a young fellow,
who, although the son of a clergyman, had enlisted
as a private dragoon, he told the troop sergeant-
major to see that I was not bullied. The
consequence was that I was well treated, and
got through my novitiate without being laughed
at more than any other recruit. I think not
only that a gentleman may be made a very good
soldier, but that if any hopes of promotion were
held out to him he would become a better man
than very many of his comrades.

The question is, How are soldiers to be made to
take a pleasure in their work? "A little leaven
leaveneth the whole mass:" if a small proportion
of men in any regiment, squadron, troop, or
company, could be made up of men who, by
study, and application at the regimental school,
were qualifying themselves for commissions,
they would become influential for good over
all their companions. For these, proper schools
should be established, as in France, and a
certain number of non-commissioned officers
in each regiment should, if they wished, be
allowed to go to the Military College, and
there prepare themselves for the higher ranks
of the service. Those who were wanting either in
the primary education or the will to go through
this ordeal, should be taught trades and
handicrafts which could put money into their pockets
while serving, and give them the means of
earning their bread honestly when their period
of soldiering was at an end, besides making
them useful both to themselves and to the army
on a campaign. Let a man who was sensible
that he had not the qualifications for a non-
commissioned officer, feel that he was bettering
his condition more and more the longer he
remained in the service, and depend upon it there
would not be such a list of deserters sent up by
every country post to Scotland-yard as there is
at the present day.

"Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands
to do," is one of the truest proverbs, or sayings,
that was ever printed. When not marching, or
on days when there has been no parade to cause
an extra cleaning of horses, arms, belts, and
clothes, no man can find sufficient employment
to keep him from idleness in his military duties
only. He absolutely requires further occupation;
without it, he gets into mischief of some
sort. The desideratum is to give him variety
of occupation, by teaching him some trade that
will be of benefit to himself and to the service.
This is the grand secret which the French know
well. There, every man knows that if he
attains to the rank of corporal, it is the first
—only the first, certainly, but none the less sure
—step towards a commission. It is not every
corporal who can be in time promoted to be an
officer, but it is none the less certain that every
soldier of that rank looks forward to that advancement.
This not only keeps him well behaved,
but gives him a positive pride in the humble
rank he holds, such as we look for in vain in
our own non-commissioned ranks.

It is difficult to conceive any human being in
a more false position than an English officer
who has risen from the ranks, among his new
comrades. If he be a married man, of course he
sees but little of them; never, in fact, save at
parade, or occasionally when he dines at mess.
As a general rule, he has married some
person in humble circumstances; for what
"respectable" father or mother would allow their
daughter to wed a mere sergeant? The wives
of the other officers call on Mrs. Blank, when
Sergeant Blank is promoted, and there their
intercourse ceases. Husband and wife are, as
regards society, like Mahomet's coffin, which is
neither on earth nor in heaven. They cannot
mix with their old friends, and they have
nothing in common with their new. If by
chance there be some one other married officer
in the corps who has also been promoted from
the ranks, these form together a little society,
and keep among themselves. If, on the other
hand, the promoted officer be a bachelor, it is
more than probable that he has nothing but
his pay to live on: which means that he
cannot live in a regiment quartered in England
and do as his brother officers do. The
commanding officer knows this full well, and
invariably gives him leave not to belong to the
mess. He therefore lives on good terms with
his comrades, but sees nothing of them socially.
In the French army, non-commissioned officers
are treated by the commissioned ranks, much
as midshipmen in our navy are treated by
lieutenants. Most French officers have at one
time or other served in the ranks; in which men
of the best blood in France are to be found.
The apologists of our service say that the
reason for this, is, that the French army is
mainly recruited by conscription, whereas out-
ranks are filled by voluntary enlistment. But
it is well known that almost every man of the
better class who is to be found in the ranks of the
French service, is a man who has enlisted
voluntarily, and not as a conscript. The non-
commissioned or commissioned officers are taken
abundantly from those who have voluntarily
joined the army. When one of these becomes
sub-lieutenant, he finds, in his new grade, many
old comrades. No matter how poor he may be,
he can dine and mix with them. He has his
pay, and on that he can live as well as any of
his brother-officers. There in nothing so
universally frowned upon in the French army as
extravagance, and there is no crime which finds
less mercy with the French army authorities
than debt.

The plain-clothes wearing, horse keeping,
mess-plate having, mess-dinners giving, expensive
wine drinking, up to London rushing, life, which
forms the every-day existence of many of our
English officers, has no parallel whatever in the French
army. Men enter the profession of arms in that
country as they take to the law, to medicine, to
the church, or to any avocation; that is to say,
to work, and to earn bread and, if possible,
distinction for themselves. In England, for the vast
majority of those who can afford to live in a
regiment at home, military life is made a pleasant