individually excellent in their respective ways,
but they take time to work together as one
brigade. But the French have this done to
their hand. When one of their regiments goes
on service, it is as complete as an English
brigade; and although as handy as a battalion, it has
the strength of three battalions. On some
occasions, when a French regiment goes abroad, the
companies of the two first battalions are made as
strong as possible, and the third battalion, with
all the weakly men, remains at home under its
own major, and serves as a depôt. This great
advantage does away at once with the whole
system of depôt battalions, which have proved
very expensive in our army.

Our neighbours hold that an officer, although
an excellent captain, may be unsuited for the
work of major; the more so, as, with them, an
officer of the latter rank has real and
defined duties, which is not the case in our army.
In the same way, a very good major may not
have the qualities requisite to be a lieutenant-
colonel; or an excellent officer of the latter rank
may be wanting in what is looked for from the
colonel of a corps. That their plan works well, I
am quite convinced from all I saw. The colonels
of their regiments have very great power, and
very little—if any—interference from the higher
authorities. The colonel of a French regiment
is supreme over the discipline of his men. He
can, under certain rules, make and unmake the
non-commissioned officers, according to his own
will, without the intervention of any court-
martial; and he can put any officer under
arrest, as a punishment, for a period extending
from ten days to a month. In fact,
in his whole power of managing his corps, he
is like nothing so much as the captain of an
English line-of-battle ship. French soldiers
always struck me as having a great deal of affinity
to English sailors. They are exceedingly strict
on duty; but, once the rifle is put aside, they are
treated more like rational beings, and less like
grown-up children, than our soldiers are. They
are taught to depend more upon themselves,
and so long as they are clean in their barrack-
rooms and persons, and the cooking of their
food goes on properly, their officers do not
worry them with petty details of discipline,
such as buttoned up jackets for dinner, and the
like.

I was anxious to find out how the French
system of promotion worked, and was invited
to be present at the examination of some
four or five private soldiers who were
candidates for the rank of corporal. Two corporals
in the corps had been promoted, and a
competitive examination was to take place among
those anxious for promotion. I was told that
any soldier who has passed through his drill,
and has become what, in the English army,
we term "a duty man," may put his name
down as a candidate for the rank of corporal;
from those who have been longest down on
the list the colonel selects those who may
compete at the examination whenever a
vacancy occurs. These candidates must have
a certificate from the superintendent of the
regimental school—who is a subaltern officer
of the regiment, but whose promotion goes
on all the same—that they can read well,
write a good hand, write from dictation, and
that they are acquainted with arithmetic up to
the rule of three included. The examination,
which takes place before the colonel, is very
strict indeed, but is purely professional. From
the way of making the soldiers' soup, up to what
a corporal should do in action if all his superiors
should happen to be killed, no subject
whatever is left untouched upon. French officers
say that, the examination for the rank of
corporal once passed, subsequent promotion to a
commission is simply a question of time. Of this
I am certain:—that among the many English
subalterns I have known during my fifteen years'
military career in our own service, there is not
one who could answer all the questions put to
the corporals whom I saw examined, as well as
even the unsuccessful candidates did. Touching
the providing of food, the cooking of
food; the manner in which, under various
imaginary circumstances, the corporal or other
leader of a party should behave on picket,
upon advanced or rear guard, before an enemy;
the best way of keeping the enemy at bay until
the main body of the troops could be alarmed;
the most handy makeshifts in mending clothes,
boots, pouches, belts, and other articles of
military equipment in the field; the embarkation
and disembarkation of troops, and the packing
of arms when soldiers proceed on ship-board for
foreign service; I say, touching all these various
topics, the intelligence displayed by these young
men, and the evidence which their words and
manner gave that they belonged to the higher
ranks of life, surprised me. Their self-respect,
the pride they took in their profession, their
anxiety to attain the first step in the ladder of
promotion, were most remarkable. There are, of
course, many inferior men in the ranks of the
French army, but I was told that what I may call
the intelligent class numbered not less than from
ten to fifteen per cent of the whole barrack-room.
No wonder that the expression "common
soldier" has no equivalent in the French idiom.
Of the five or six who were examined, the
colonel of the regiment told me he would
promulgate in the next day's order of the day the
names of the two successful candidates; but,
as he said, laughing, "they all do so well,
that I am generally puzzled as to whom to
award the prize of promotion. However, as
the unsuccessful are allowed to compete again,
and as often as they like, they generally end by
obtaining the coveted stripes on their arms,
sooner or later."  In the French army there are
no "acting" or "lance " sergeants or corporals,
as is the case in our service; a soldier is bonâ
fide of the rank he works in. From corporal
upwards there is no examination. To the
rank of sergeants, the colonel promotes by
choice, or selection. The period which the
candidates for promotion passes as a corporal
is considered quite sufficient test of his capabilities