at the head of the list amongst the hundred
who had passed in his term, he entered his
name as a candidate for admittance into the
École d'État-Major, and, as he was successful,
joined that institution. Here he remained
two years, going through the regular course
of instruction in military science; and—
although, like the rest of the pupils, he held
the rank of a commissioned officer under
almost as strict military and collegiate
discipline as any school-boy. Winter and
summer, the young men in this college rise at six
o'clock, and, with the exception of an hour
for breakfast, half-an-hour for recreation in
the middle of the day, and the same in the
afternoon, work at one or other branch
of their studies until five in the afternoon;
at which hour they dine, and are then at
liberty to go where they like, until ten in the
evening. When they want to be out of
college later, leave must be asked and
obtained from the governor of the establishment.
During the two years they remain at
the staff-school, their time is divided
regularly every day, each hour bringing its allotted
task. The course of studies includes all the
higher branches of mathematics, topography,
geography, and fortification, together with
statistics, military history, the English, German,
and Italian languages, drawing, and the
theory of military manoeuvres—artillery,
cavalry, and infantry—on a grand scale, and
separate as well as combined. One hour
every day is devoted to lessons in equitation
in the riding-school; and every pupil is
provided with an excellent charger at the cost
of the state. The young men have each
their own room, which is large enough to
form, with comfort, a sleeping apartment
and a study. They breakfast and dine
together in the refectory, the former meal being
served at nine, and the latter at five o'clock.
Out of the year, eight months are passed
at Paris, and are devoted to hard work at the
desk; three are spent in military surveying in
various parts of France; and one entire month
is required for the annual examinations. On
entering the institution, and for twelve months
afterwards, the pupils are attached to the second
division, or lower school. After a year has
elapsed they pass an examination, and, if
found qualified, move into the higher, or first
class. Any young man who cannot pass
this examination is forthwith remanded to
one of the regiments of the line. Serious sickness
for any length of time is considered the
only allowable excuse for any want of
proficiency in their studies. At the end of the
second year another examination has to be
gone through, and is considered the final test
of qualification. If passed, the pupil leaves
the school with the rank of lieutenant in the
staff corps. But, although enrolled as one of
that distinguished body, he has yet to go
through another and a longer ordeal of learning
in practice that which, as yet, he has only
been taught in theory. For two years he is
attached to a regiment of infantry; after that,
for a like time, to a cavalry corps, and then, for
one year, to a battery of artillery. With each
of these branches of the service he has to do
duty as a troop or company-officer for half
the period; during the other half he is
employed as a supernumerary-adjutant, under
the orders of the colonel.

During the five years that he is attached
to various regiments, the staff-lieutenant has
to prepare and transmit regularly to his own
corps, maps, papers, drawings, and surveys,
which he is ordered to employ his time upon.
My friend, Louis de Bonfils, after leaving the
staff-college, was attached for two years to a
regiment of infantry in Algiers, after which,
he passed a like term with a cavalry corps in
France, and then was ordered again to
Algiers with a battery of artillery. Having
completed his ten years' military education—
viz., three at the College of St. Cyr, two at
the staff school, and five attached to
regiments of the three arms of the service,
Captain de Bonfils commenced his career as a full-
blown staff-officer: that is to say, he joined
his corps with the rank of captain, and was.
then eligible for such appointments as officers
of his grade can hold. It is from this class—
and from this only that the aides-de-camp
of French general officers are selected, and it
is amongst the captains of the corps d'état-
major, that my friend de Bonfils takes his
place. The French staff is not divided, like
that of England, into two separate departments
of adjutant-general and quarter-master-
general. With our neighbours, these form
one and the same staff, and every officer
belonging to the staff corps is
perfectly qualified to fulfil all duties relating
to both departments. Nothing whatever
is left to chance, or to the hazard
of personal selection. The marshals of
France alone, have the right to nominate
their own aides-de-camp—each having
two, one a colonel, the other a lieutenant-
colonel of the corps d'état-major. All other
officers who are entitled to aides-de-camp
must take such as are nominated to their
staff by the minister of war; and to ask for a
friend or relative being appointed, would in
France be thought an unsoldierlike and
unpardonable liberty. Louis de Bonfils tells me
that in about a year's time he expects to be
promoted to the rank of chef d'escadron in the
staff corps, and that he will then probably be
sent either to one of the bureaux d'État-
Major, which are attached to the various
military divisions of France, or to the
staff of some general in the Crimea. As
I mentioned before, the Corps d'État-Major
consists of one hundred lieutenants (who are
attached to various regiments of infantry,
cavalry, and artillery), three hundred captains,
one hundred chefs d'escadron (or majors),
thirty lieutenant-colonels, and thirty colonels;
so that, without counting the junior rank, here
is always in France an effective body of four