The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-18 00:00:00

THE FOREIGN LEGION.

More than •six months since Parliament was called
together -hurriedly, for the purpose of authorising• the
embodiment of a Foreign Legion, and whatever be the
merits or demerits of the scheme the ex:•-ting Government
was empowered to carry it out, We are free to acknow-
ledge that language was used by our legislators which
went forth from their places in parliament to travel over
the world, of such a nature as to disgust foreigners with
the service offered to them, and deter them from joining
our ranks. Notwithstanding this, satisfactory proofs
exist that all difficulties might have been overcome by the
exercise of moderate abi:itiee, aided by persevering in•
dustry, and tempered by ordinary judgment. Turn where
we will, this is seen to be a self-evident fact, but we
will content ourselves with but one instance. Months
since we pointed out how a powerful and efficient body
might have been raised among the Swiss Cantons, when
great numbers of Switzerland's hardy sons were most
anxiously desirous to form themselves into a Swiss con-:
depot in aid of that which they believed a just and
hole cause, and when the offices of our foreign consuls
and agents ,were besieged with inquiries as to the course
to men only asking to be received by Eng-
la ben. followed
Twomonths subsequent to this information being
laid before -Government,: as we know that it was, this
French authorities followed out the scheme with rapid and
full success: It. wasthen pointed out that from the peculiar
-nate-reef -the-Series laws on this subject enlistment could
not take
place for any foreign power save the Italiah
states on Swiss territory. To send recruiting officers
into the country would then be merely an insult to both
cantonal and federal laws, and the French, more practi•
cal than. Ourselves, consulted the wishes of the men to
be raised by establishing a cordon of recruiting districts
on their own frontiers, while they encouraged them by
leaving the off oering of the companies thus raised par-
tially in their own hands. This practical mode of pro-
ceeding was so efficient as to produce a large body of
troops in a short space of time, and a small expense to
the country. •
As we hope to return to this subject we will leave
the mods: operands for future development, and pro-
ceed. Now it is well known and will be admitted by
every person at all conversant with Switzerland and the
'Swiss, that -there are no men who can be relied on
with more confidence in the hour of need for their
valour, powers of endurance, and fidelity The Swiss
peasant is of necessity a soldier. There being no stand-
ing army in Switzerland, every min is trained, and is
ear
,
forced to pa •s a certain period of every y
under can-
vas in the camp ; they are not only drilled but trained
soldiers, and the importance of this latter
point will be
appreciated by all our readers, for the men are fitted
for the endurance of the difficulties and toils of a cam-
paign, both by the early training of laborious agri-
cultural pursuits, in a land where the earth yields nothing save by the tni! of the huhbandman, end
-by the later training of—mi Vary education taught
them in the field itself. More than this—es a
marksman the Swiss peasant is unrivalled. His ear-
liest desire is to possess a rifle, and when by the
labour of his hands he has laid by: whtrewithal to buy
one, be passes his holidays in pe-fect'ng himself in its
use. Not a villaee but has its rifle club, and prizes for
perfection in rift a practice are given in each, while the
same competition is ensours,ged by the cantonal clubs,
and to crown all, annually, the Federal Rifle Meetings
bring together the youth of the whole land to contend
for its much envied prizes. Thus, in fact, do they be••
come-a nation of soldiers, not only in name and training,
but in heart and soul. More than all this, they are men
of education. Ignorance with them is a crime, and
treated as such ; the consequence of which is, that there
is perhaps not any country in Europe which can boast
such useful and general education among its people.
Such are the men who asked to be permitted to
share in our arduous task ; but procrastination has in
this, as in almost every other instance, allowed others
to take precedence of us, and, if we may credit a
recent paragraph, the bungling measures we have at
length attempted have all tut defeated our object.
We allude to the reported imprisonment of an English
recruiting agent in Switzerland. Instead of entering
the cantons in scornful and open defiance of the law
of the land, why did not our agents fix the head-
quarters of their recruiting districts on the frontiers
of Savoy, where would have flecked the inhabitants
of the cantons of Genev e Taud, and Fribourg ; and on
the frontiers of France, to which the German cantons
would have sent their quota of mountaineers ? Instead
of presenting the spectacle of another British agent
arrested for the flagrant violation of Swiss federal laws,
thousands would have flocked to our appeal. We are
assured that the object may even still be gained, and
that, though it will be now more difficult, a Swiss legion
may yet be raised equal, if not superior, to any existing
troops, at an economical rate, and almost instantly
available.

Why should this not be carried out; We have at
the head of our War Department a man well versed
in military matters, said to be full of zeal and energy.
The occasion certainly requires all his ability, ail his
z,al, all his energy. We write these things not in a
spirit of rebuke, but with an anxious desire to see that
war which has been declared over and over again a
rizliteous one vigorously prosecuted and speedily
brought to a happy issue. We cannot blind ourselves
to the fret that the same procrastination, the same mis-
management, which we here deplote, has had the same
f ►tal effect in America and in Germany ; while we have
heard with deep regret that the Turkish contingent,
though boasting a full complement of officers, is miser-
ably deficient in the sinews of war—soldiers,—Corre-
spondent of Daily News.