In both cases there are idlers, stragglers, and
drunkards, who are left behind, are missing
for a time, and, perhaps, join their company
subsequently, perhaps do not. Even in the
native land of the troops, or in a friendly
country, all such as these are virtual
deserters, and many of them would become
really so if they happened to be in a
hostile territory. Join to this cause, disease
and slaughter, the attacks of the weather,
as well as of the enemy, and we need
indeed admire the wise forethought which
distinguishes the French war administration.
The loan, by General Canrobert, of ten
thousand great coats to our shivering troops, was
a noble triumph and a proof of superiority
which, in the eyes of many Frenchmen, almost
compensates for the reverse of "Waterloo.
Were a French army required to move, say
to the Prussian frontier only, official
precursors would be sent forward, to see that
stores and all other things required were
ready there, before the men would be
suffered to stir. We have been enjoying a peace
of some forty years; in our first war afterwards
we threw away in a few months some
forty thousand noble soldiers. In other words,
red-tape mismanagement cost us at the rate
of a thousand fine men a year for forty
years. An awful hecatomb to have
immolated before the shrine of privileged and
exclusive incompetency!

But, a good war administration is not
formed in a single year. The French military
organisation has been gradually and
carefully perfected. Its first grand step towards
improvement was the annihilation of
aristocratic privileges in the first revolution,
when the profession of arms became an
open career, and honours and rewards were
attainable by all who deserved them,
irrespective of birth. English soldiers now in
the East are astonished at its efficacy, and
are compelled by sad experience and
comparison to envy it.

John Bull, at the present day, can hardly be
so prejudiced as to refuse to adopt a good
thing, simply because it is taught him by the
French. It might answer the purpose of an
honest government, to translate and publish
the army regulations of our allies, for the
benefit of Englishmen who cannot read French.
Those of September, one thousand eight
hundred and twenty-five, "Reglemens sur le
service des subsistences militaires, ou Reglement
d'administration approuvé par le Roi," are a
master-piece in which all the best ideas are
embodied after careful searching out.
Alterations have since been made; but, as they
tend to still greater centralisation, the original
twenty-five regulations might be more
favourably received in England. Then there
is the "Annuaire Militaire," each year's
number of which is published in June.
Above all, a good "personnel," well-selected
individuals for the office they hold, is a sine-
quâ–non in France. A man who has served ten
years in Algeria, fighting the Arabs with one
hand and provisioning his troops with the
other, is thought more likely to manage
matters in the Crimea than a youngster whose
only field of glory has been the gardens
of the Tuilleries or the Champ de Mars.

The outward aspect of the Honvault camp in
winter, is that of a long town of mud-built
cabins, which might constitute a village of
Indian wigwams, but for their number and the
order in which they are ranged. The front of
the camp, known as the Front de bandière, faces
the sea, at no great distance from the edge of
the cliff; and it is to be observed that this
front occupies the same extent of ground as
would be covered by the men in battle array.
The number of huts is above a thousand,
comprising the stables and other accessories.
Streets of different width run backward
at a right angle to the front. Each camp
is divided into two brigades separated
by an interval of thirty metres. Between
the regiments of the same brigade there opens
a street twenty metres wide; between two
battalions one of fifteen metres, and between
two companies there runs a little lane something
like a couple of paces broad. By these
various outlets the men can start forth
almost instantly to their place in the ranks,
when summoned to it by trumpet and drum.
Each hut is calculated to lodge a dozen men.
Each man has a pound and a half of bread per
day to eat, besides half a pound to put in his
soup, which contains also half a pound of
meat, with rice and vegetables. He has a
daily allowance of sugar and coffee. The
bread, baked in the camp, is not given out
till it is twenty-four hours old. Amongst
the comforts distributed when winter
commenced, were a pair of wooden shoes and a
flannel cincture to every man. The former
articles are most effectual preventives of
colds, rheumatism, chilblains, and toothache.
Gratuitous theatrical performances, at the
cost of the Emperor's privy purse, by a
clever company of comedians, are organised
for the amusement of the troops during the
long dark evenings.

As to the management of this and other
camps, the war administration in France
comprises the service of the hospitals, the
provisioning, and the encampment. A general
direction, whose seat is at the war
minister's office, transmits, for each service,
the orders of the minister. All projects,
regulations, instructions, are elaborated in
the bureaux of the general direction. It
includes in its privileges the appointment of
the personnel and the management of the
materiel; it directs, in one word, under the
approbation of the minister, every movement
which circumstances render expedient. Each
service has distinct bureaux, personnel, money
dealings, transport. Each also has its
chief, sub-chief, and clerks. The general
direction is also charged with the verification
and the liquidation of the accounts produced