The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-27 00:00:00

THE I.RENCH ARMY.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
CAMP OF CHALONS, AUG. 23.
Decidedly the Emperor's visit to the camp was
very different from visits of soldier-playing Sove-
reigns, who fell, as it were, in their element in
having thus the material tangible sight of their own
power placed before their eyes. With them it is a
satisfying of their vanity, sometimes a professional
enthusiasm, or even a hobby. Here it is a matter
of business, and is treated as such. The army is
an instrument exceedingly valuable and requiring
the closest attention ; but it is regarded less from
a purely military than a general political point of

view.
It must never be forgotten that the army in
France represents a considerable proportion of the
popular element to whose verdict the present dynasty
ow es its rise. It was therefore highly important to
make this most powerful section of the people Impe-
rialist. The task was scarcely less difficult than it
was after 1815 to substitute a Bourbon army for
i the debris of the army of the First Empire. Every.

One knows how tenacious armies are in their tradi-
tions, which form the real link of union in them,

and for the want of which no organisation or disci
pline can ever make up. Thb Bourbons never suc

ceeded in their task because they had supplied no
traditions except the military promenade to Spain.

They eliminated carefully the Napoleonic element,

but substituted nothing for it, and when the try-
ing moment came the whole fabric crumbled away.
Not so the Orleanists, who saw the advantages
which were offered in this respect by the footing
which had been gained in Algeria, and improved
upon such a welcome opportunity. Eighteen years
of small but harassing warfare under peculiar cir-
cumstances created a new generation of soldiers

from top to bottom. One after another the Royal
Princes were sent there to identify the army with
the dynasty, and the result was a thoroughly Alge-

rian •orlean- ist army. If it played the part it did in
1848 it was owing to a want of resolution and
energy in those who had done so much to pre-
pare an instrument which they did not know how
to use. The army felt deeply its avillissement, and
seized the first opportunity when it was called upon
to rehabilitate itself.
The Emperor seems to have understood, this
thoroughly, as well as the uselessness of attempting
to revive long extinct traditions. Marengo, Aus-
terlitz, Wagram were dead words to the existing
French army, except to those tottering remains
of it which come from time to time piously to lay
down their crowns of immortelles on the railing of
the Colonne de la Place Vendome. French soldiers
he found knew only in general that the French
army had gone all over Europe, but entertained
themselves in garrison and camp with tales of Afri-
can bivouacs, or coquins d' Arabes of Constantine,
Oran, Isly, &c. They could only be weaned from
these traditions by substituting new ones. The
Crimea and Italy have done the business in a great
measure. Algeria is a thing of the past, of which,
like many past glories, you will shortly see the re-
mains only in absinthe and coffee. However, the
Emperor is not the man to do things by halves.
The process of substituting Napoleonic for Orleanist
ideas goes on in peace as much as in war. The
formation of the Imperial Guard, reviving an old
tradition with palpable advantages, the gradual
improvement of the soldier's prospects, the thorough
change in the uniforms and in the evolutions, are
all steps which serve to further the great purpose.
Many more changes seem to be yet contemplated—
first, the abolition of the rule which counted each
year passed in Algeria as a campaign, that is two
years' service. When this rule was established
Algeria was in a chronic state of warfare which
more or less justified it, especially if the hardships
even of a march through those districts were taken
into consideration. Now all this is changed, and I
am not sure whether this or next year the old rule
is to cease—a deathblow to the interest in Algeria
and everything military connected with it. It be-
comes a garrison, like any other, only hotter,
with worse absinthe and better coffee. Another
Orleanist tradition exists in the Chasseurs a Pied,
originally Chasseurs de Vincennes, or d'Orleans,
from the Prince d'Orleans, who first formed them.
A choice corps, better paid, it was not looked upon
by the mass of the infantry with much affection,
although everyone admitted its goodness. But now
that there is an Imperial Guard, la creme de la
creme, and that besides the whole infantry is armed
with rifles and exercised as riflemen, what is the
use of such an inconvenient tradition ? It has lost
its meaning. The knife, or rather the pen, is raised
to put an end to the existence of this corps. It will
be formed into regiments, I hear.
But the transformation into a Napoleonic army
would not be complete without establishing a direct
link between the army and the person of the Em-
peror and his family. Not to go to the Crimea was
probably one of the greatest sacrifices made by the
Emperor to the English alliance. The campaign
in Italy made up for it. Solferino, Magenta, the
general success, are a stronger link than a razzia in
Algeria. It is no more the War Department or a
Marechal who is the ruling genius of the army and
everything connected with it; it is the Emperor—
not the Emperor who opened the campaign in 1857,
but the Emperor who has proved himself a soldier.
The yearly visit to Chalons, which before 1859
might have called forth a smile from the soldier,
has now another meaning. This year it received
an additional interest by the application of the new
evolutions introduced.
These two objects were followed up during the
Emperor's visit with the usual perseverance, the
first having decidedly the larger share ; and natu-
rally so, for the aim was not to try an experiment
about things to be applied, but to test the value of
changes already introduced, so as to see whether
modifications are required. Marshal *Mahon, re-
puted one of the best officers in the army, was com-
missioned to see the troops perfected in the new
system, and the Emperor came only to see how it
answered. Therefore, during the whole time only
two large manoeuvres took place, while the rest of
the time passed away in reviews, inspections, visits,
fireworks, races, &c.
There was a third object contemplated, the meet-
ing with his Majesty of Prussia, for which occasion
the number of troops would have been doubled ;
but as this did not come off the orders given were
countermanded. For Prince William of Baden,
who has spent this week here the display was suffi-
ciently large.
As you know, to-day another great man oeuvre
was predicted, but the prediction proved false, for
it was the day of the final review and of the depar-
ture. Wednesday concluded the strictly military
part of the proceedings.
Yesterday afternoon the races took place. Four
prizes—first two given by the Emperor, and second
two given by the Director-General des Haras, Ge-
neral Fleury—were run for in two steeplechases,
the competitors being, with one or two exceptions,
officers of the Lancet's ; the horses chargers trained
by a couple of months' hard manoeuvring ; the
ground the least parched spot in a depression of
ground behind the Imperial quarters; the fences
frames of lathwork, 18 inches high, with fir-
branches of an additional foot high entwined; the
distance 1,800 meters; and the riding full of good
intentions.

The Emperor was there in his char a-Lane re-