The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-05 00:00:00

MILITARY ORGANIZ.iTION.

(FROM THE TIMES' CORRESPONDENT LATE WITH,
THE FRENCH ARMY IN ITALY.)
II.• ,
•

I have endeavoured to bring before you the real
cause of the superiority of the French military or-
ganization over that of any other country in Europe,
and I think I have shown that there are sufficient
reasons for producing such a result without there
being any necessity for recurring to the usual com-
. monplaces of France being by nature a military
nation, having a particular aptitude for warfare ;
that her institutions, and above all her administra-
tive centralization, give her superior means cf
organization to those possessed by others ; and
numerous other plausible generalties which are re-
sorted to by ignorance or prejudice to explain a fact
which no one can deny.
Its superiority is due to the observance of a few
simple principles, self-evident, almost truisms,
which are not the particular treasure of the French,
but tile common property of all those who can raise
themselves above old traditions and time-honoured
prejudices. ' Like all great wars,. the wars at the
end of the last and in the first part of the present
century produced a peculiar system of military
tactics and organization, the fruit of long years of
bitter experience and sacrifices. The result of
this long struggle was that France, which had
originated the new system, and Napoleon, who
by his genius l'ad contributed most to its
development, were overthrown. The result was
so great that,it was but natural in those who brought
it about to conceive a great opinion of the perfec-
tion of the means by which they succeeded,— to lie
down on a bed of laurels and forget that even a
system for standing armies, however perfect, must
yield to the common law of progress which regulates
everything else in the world. '
This may seem strange now, which even those
who think mummies the ideal of mankind dare
only to dispute about the degree of progress to
be aimed at; but it must be recollected that the
idea of progress, although coeval with the world,
is comparatively new as a recognised principle of
action. If this principle had to struggle hard to
establish its pasition in other institntions, it re-
mv ined almost powerless in a sphere which was less
subject to the influence of public opinion, and jea-
lously guarded, like the mysterious 'worship of
Eleusis, from the eyes of the profane.

Thus it comes that, while France ever since the
year 181,5 recognised and followed the principle of
progress in the organisation of her army, in most
other great European armies a war was waged
against this-principle, and every concession which
had to be made to it was bewailed and considered
as a defeat. While France reformed almost every
detail connected with her army, and made a com-
plete revolution in military matters, herformer ad-
versaries and victors thought they had done
wonders by changing the shape of a shako or the
cut of a coat, not with a view of convenience to the
soldier, but simply as a matter of appearance.
But although wrapped up in the world of the
past, it was impossible in this age of intimate inter-
course of nations to remain altogether blind toivhat
tookplace elsewhere. With all the predilection for a
peculiar system—a consequence of the national
genius and institutions of each people, it was im-
possible, in this age of mechanical skill, to deny the
superiority of certain improvements which, by de-
grees and after much opposition, were adopted.
Among these the greatest and most important is
the improved rifle.
We find invariably the history of warfare that
the invention or adoption of a new or improved
weapon goes together with, or is followed by, a com-
plete revolution in the art of warfare. The Mace-
donian phalanx presupposes the long lance and
evolutions by masses. The organisation of the
Roman legion is only possible with men of great
individual superiority and armed with the short
sword and shield. The introduction of full armour
after the Crusades engenders the superiority of
horsemen over the foot soldiers. The application
of gunpowder to warfare re-establishes an equili-
brium between the two. The systematic introduc-
tion of fire-arms by Gustavus Adolphus creates a
new system in the Thirty Year's War. The aboli-
tion of the lance for infantry, and the invention of
the bayonet, become the basis of our modern system
of warfare.

The great perfection of the modern rifle and its
general introduction as an arm of the infantry
foreshadow as great a revolution in all military
matters as any which has ever taken place. It is
scarcely necessary to point out its obvious supe-
riority over the old musket, but the difference be-
tween it and the old rifle itself is great enough to
give the two weapons an entirely distinct character.
If any proof were required it would be found in the
circumstance that the Swiss rifle, which approaches
nearest to it in point of perfection, led to the esta-
blishment of the Carabineers—the heaviest of Swiss
troops, while the new rifle produced Chasseurs de
Vincennes and Zouaves—essentially light troops.
But it is, perhaps, even more in the general intro-
duction of the new rifle than in the greater degree
of perfection that one must seek for the consequences
of the change, which is nothing more or less than
a comnlete subversion of the very principle on
which the military organisation was based hitherto.
It is characterised in a few words. 'The old
musket was the arm of the masses, and the rifle is
that of the individual. The general introduction of
the former led to a system where the individual
soldier did not exist as such, but vi as only looked
upon as a part of a whole; the general adoption of
the latter gives back the full value of individual ex-
cellence and skill to the single soldier. The great
aim in the old system was, therefore, to make an
unconscious passive machine of the soldier, while
in future everything must tend to develop the indi-
vidual soldier into an intelligent being.
The nation which shall first attain this individual
excellence and superiority of the soldier in its paili-
taPy system, and which by its genius and its insti-
tutions is most adapted to introduce this new
principle into its army, will surpass the others in
its military organisation.
Hitherto the palm belongs to France, and it is a

well-deserved, fruit of unceasing exer telk- •• '44
part. In spite of her large'army the 4
; V 7.1
it the best clad and the best care ~010,-4-itf"
Although the French army has to rely 'n'gtfiligd 4t'
tion, the French soldier is the most intel cs' •
most independent soldier in Europe. The no °P
cratic spirit of equality which is paramount in the
people has likewise penetrated the army, and has
contributed to destroy by degrees the old system,
wherein the soldier was considered as a machine.
You see the effects of- it in that free, elastic
step of the French soldier which must strike every-
one in contrast with other armies. He is
taught to think and rely upon him-elf, aLd he
acquires the habit of stlf-reliance, 'Which gives
such a superiority iu • campaigning. This en-
genders self-consciousness and emulation, which
receive an additional spur by the system of pro-
zmitions and rewards. Finally, France was the first
to understand that thinew weapon would requite
a new system of tactics, that arim+ of ptecision were
only valuable in the hands of men 'indeed to act
more freely than was compatible with the old sys-
tem, and that soldiers did not arrive at this free-
dom of action by practising the goose step, but that
each individual soldier had to be trained in all exer-
cises of the body, and to be taught to act more or
less for himself.. The thing was so self-evident that
most of the Continental nations have made more or
less faint copies of the Chassenrs de Vincennes.
This is only the beginning. The new rifles are
considerably dearer .thah the old musket, and: it
may be questioned whether a large army brought
together by conscription for a few years ca' ac-
quire, as a body, this higher degree of excellence.
Such a change would 'require considerable outlay,
and there may be likewise some few traces of pro-.
fessional prejudice remaining. However this may
ba, •the French have not changed their whole.itk.'
fantry according to the new model ; but, although
the old regulations for the rest subsist in practice, •
the loose order of fighting has slipped in likewise
among the rest of the army.

incliVidunl freedom, individual energy and emtera
prise, have been for centuries the boast of England.
All her institutions are based on them. She has
conquered empires and spread civilization over the
most remoto parts of the world by means of them,
while such is the superiority of her mechanical
skill, and such the excellence of her industry, that
all the world recognises them by the establishment
of protective tariffs, and envies the colossal wealth
accruing from them.

llere, then, are the three elements—individual
excellence, high mechanical and industrial skill, and
great wealth. Verily it will be England's fault if
she does not take the lead in the revolution which
is going on in the art of warfare for she will not
have known how to take advantage of her supe-
riority.
If this is not the case, none of the usual pretexts
for shortcomings will be en excuse—neither the
stinginess of Parliament nor the plea that England
is not a military country. There are above 220,000
men inscribed on the rolls of the British regular
army, besides from 140,000 to 150,000 militia, and
the sum spent on the regular army alone amounts
to nearly £12,000,000, giving one-fourth more for
every individual soldier than in any other army in
the world. The subdivision of a great part of the
army over widely-spread colonies ought to be an
advantage rather than a disadvantage, for it ought
to be the best school for practically teaching every
officer his duties in the field, and educating the sol-
dier for camp life; nor is there the practice swott-
ing in actual warfare, and thus the means of study-
ing the defects of organisation and the improve-
ments to be effected. If France has ber Algeria,
England has India and China.
England had slumbered longest on her laurels,
until the Eastern war awoke her. It would be
almost supernatural to expect that she should shake
off the drowsiness all at once, and come up to the
point where those were who had continuously- ad-
vanced daring the last 30 or 40 years.
But she has made the first steps in the right direc-
tion, and she is so alive to the necessity of advancing
that it may be hoped she will soon be up in the race.
She has recognised that her military system needs
improvement; she has sought and introduced the
most perfect rifle hitherto invented, and is now in-
tent on making her soldiers worthy of their weapon.
And in this respect England is already at the head
of all others, for she is the first, and hitherto the only
one, who has made rifle shooting the object of the
systematic education of the infantry soldier.
But there it has remained for the present. It has
not yet been understood that the rifle is a revolu-
tion in and subversion of the old system, and that
with the rifle everything else must be reformed and
brought into harmony—that the, movements, meant
for old Brown Bess are ineffective and dangerous in
an age of rifles ; that a soldier educated as a ma-
chine will wield it only imperfectly ; that he must
have the greatest amount of bodily health,
strength, and agility ; that he must be trained and
clothed accordingly; that in this utilitarian age
even soldiers' dresses must be calculated on useful-
ness rather than ornament; that the command and
administration must follow in the same direction—
less routine and fewer councils, but more indepen-
dent action and responsibilities.

LIVERPOOL, Wednesday.—The screw steamer
Anglo-Saxon sailed to-day for Portland, with an average
number of passengers and mails for Canada and the United
States. The Liverpool, Philadelphia, and New York Com-
pany's steamer Edinburgh
.sailed the same day, with 130
passengers and a mail for New York. On Saturday text
the Cunard steamship Africa will be despatched for New
York, with the mails for the United States and North Ame-
rica. Letters, &c., will be received at the post office till
8 45 a,m., and on the landin; -stage, with an extra fee of
6d., until 9 30 a.m.
APPALLING SUICIDE.—About 3 o'clock on Tues-
day afternoon a fine young woman, 19 year, of age, de-
stroyed herself by leaping down a coalpit near the Bilston-
road, on the eitskirts of Wolverhampton. The pit is in
Messrs. Dodd and Williamson's colliery, and near that down
which a man recently fell, owing to its being improperly
fenced. The victim of love and jealousy in the present
ease was named Illicebe Davis. A few minutes before 3
o'clock on the day above yarned she called at a cottage oc-
cupied by an aged couple close by the shaft down which
she was about to preCipitate herself; apparently very lunch
agitated. Pulling a handkerchief from her neck, she handed
it to the aged inmates, saying, " Give this to Jack, for I
shall never see him again." She then ran to the pit month,
and climbing over the fencing surrounding it cast herself
headlong down the shaft, which has been disused for sores
time, and is upwards of 90 yards deep. A large concourse
of people speedily assembled, and information having been
sent to the principal police-station at Wolverhampton, In-
spector Corden end a body of policemen proceeded to the
spot. Owing to the existence of foul air in the shaft, a
number of precautions—such as throwing down quicklime
and placing air troughs—bad to be taken before any at-
tempt could be made to recover the body.' At last, after 8
o'clock in the evaning, an Old.rreiner named Russell, having
been fastened to a chain, was lowered down byhand ; and,
sleaching the body of the poor girl to another, it was brought
to the surface. Russell himself nearly fell a victim to his
exertions, for when brought up he was (mite insensible,
and friction and other means had to be used for nearly
three-quertere of an hour before he could be restored. There
is no doubt that the poor girl destroyed herself in a la-
roxysm of jealousy, owing to her lover having taken another
young woman to a dance. Tie body was removed to a
neighbouring public-house, and an inquest will be held on
it to-day (Thursday).
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This day is published,
NARRATIVE OF THE EARL OF ELGIN'S
MISSION TO CHINA and JAPAN in the years
1857, '5B, '59. By LAURENCE OLIPHANT, Esq., Private
Secretary to Lord Elgin, Author of " The llussian Shores of
the Black Sea," &c. In two volumes, Bvo., Price £2 28.
Illustrated with Numerous Engravings in Chromo-lithog-ra-
phy and Woodcuts, from Original Drawings, and Photographs
and Maps.
William Blackwood and Sons, edinburgh and London.

ARMY AND NAVY GAZETTE,
and Journal of the Mo.rrtA and VOLUNTEER FORCES.
Edited by W. H. RussErx„ Esq., LL.D. (late Special Cor-
respondent of " The Times"). No. 1 will be published on the
7th January, in thin:, fur the Morning Mails.
Office (where Advertisements and Subscriptions are re-
ceived), 16, Wellington-street North, Strand.—Sold by all
Newsmen and Booksellers.