The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 5, 1859.

THE FRENCH ARMY.

Whatever may be the resolve of the ruler of
France with respect to the difference with Austria,
one thing seems to have been generally ascertained
and admitted—the people of France display no
alacrity, no eagerness, or desire of war. On the
contrary, the reports of every provincial authority
concur in representing the population as more than
indifferent to the martial struggle in prospect.
This, with respect to some classes, is perfectly na-
tural.. The French have become almost altogether
a commercial or industrial people, When one goes
amongst them, there is but one cry heard—that of
a desire faire des affaires ; and to pursue fortune
and advancement is the only path that is left open.
But the peasant is a stranger to these calculations;
and he especially is the depository of all those im-
perial traditions of glory which have introduced
the Legion of Honour into so many cottages. Still
the French peasant shakes his head at the mention
of war ; and the French housewife does more.
She corrugates her brow, and looks unutterable
things, indicative of the strongest aversion to mili-
tary glory, and the price at which it is to be pur-
chased.

A number of causes kindle the aversion of the
French peasant class for war. There is a horror of
the excise, or of what are called the droits reunis,
and a kindred dread of the new taxes which come
in the shape of centimes additionnels. But we will
confine ourselves, for the present, to a description
of what especially disgusts tho French, men and
women, with war—the conscription; and the new
regulations which have come to reinforce it.
The French conscription during the reign of the
Bourbons, legitimate or quasi, raised nominally
every year 80,000 youth of twenty-one years
of age. Of these 80,000, however, scarcely
more than one-half joined their regiments ; and
those who did join generally got placed on the
reserve, and were sent home after four years' ser-
vice. A father of a family who wished to exempt
his son from service did so either by subscribing a
yearly sum of no great amount, or by paying
down about £6O for a substitute. The Con-
scription, in fact, did not fall heavy upon the
rustic communities, and mothers when they did
part -xith their sons, felt that it was but for a year
or two. Since 1853, and especially now, the con-
scription is quite another thing.
In the first place, those who do join the army
remain in it for at least eight years. If they have
learned a trade they forget it ; if they have a sweet-
heart they lose her. Next of all, it is no longer
80,000 conscripts, one half of whom join their corps,
but 100,000 conscripts, all of whom must either
join or pay. When 100,000 are taken, the result
is, in general, that all the valid or war-worthy
youth of the district are taken, All, indeed, do
not join the army. But the parents who do not
suffer the loss of their children suffer severely in
pocket.
To explain this, it must be stated that the Em-
peror Napoleon has introduced a new law, called
that of the notation de r Armee. This law abo-

STOCKTON AND DARLINGTON.

lished the old system of parents supplying each an
especial remplacement for their sons, which certain
companies used to furnish. The Government now
receive the money, and in return grant the exemp-
tion. Instead, however, of laying out this money
in paying young recruits, it is handed over to the
credit of the army dotation. Of the 100,000 men
raised for the Conscription, not 80,000 enter the
depots ; therefore the Government receives redemp-
tion from 20,000 or 25,000 conscripts whom it really
does not replace. The price of redemption is about
3,000 f., or £l2O. Multiply this by 20,000 or by
25,000, and we have the sum of £3,000,000 sterling
raised annually upon French parents, and chiefly
from peasant parents, for their offspring, and this
over and above what was raised or paid previous to

1850.
The French Emperor, or his War-office, makes a
very good use of this money. It engages soldiers to
re-enlist, gives all who do so increased pay, with
great advantages at the expiration of their service.
In a word, the condition of the real, permanent
soldier is very much improved by the regulation of
this dotation of the army. But the increased burden
of taxation thrown upon the peasant classes by
these additions to the Conscription-law, and by the
increased and unnecessary number of conscripts
taken, weighs not the less, especially upon the rustic
population, and inspires it with sentiments of
diminished respect for military exigencies and
glory. Another fact well worthy of remark is,
that notwithstanding all the advantages promised
and offered to those who will devote themselves
exclusively to the career of arms, they are not taken
advantage of, at least not in the proportion that
might be expected. If a French soldier sees that
he has no chance of becoming an officer, he in
general quits the service. So many comrades pass
over him and gain epaulettes that he is disgusted,
so that it is with the utmost difficulty that the War
Administration is able to maintain a sufficient
number of first-rate sous-officers in a regiment.

Another mistake which the above faCts will cor-
rect is the too general supposition that, in conse-
quence of the large number of naval and military
conscripts raised annually, the number of both ser-
vices must be almost on a war footing ; but in truth
no more soldiers swell the army from a conscription
of 100,000 than used to do so from the old one of
80,000. The increased number is merely an affair
of finance, and augments the dotation, not the
number of the army. The aim of the Emperor
Napoleon has been to increase the efficiency and
the well being rather than the number of his
army, and for this we are most ready to give
him due credit, _ being convinced that the more

the expense of the soldier is increased, the more
impossible will it become for any country or
government to keep up multitudinous armies.
These, however, are incidental considerations.
What we have sought to explain is the repugnance
to war and to a military establishment which is
evinced and avowed by the French peasant, and
which already shows on bow very tottering a basis
is built a military monarchy when it is made to
repose upon universal suffrage.
Let it here be remarked that what is true of one
expected belligerent is true of the other. For
Austria has adopted not only the French Conscrip-
tion, but the recent additions to it respecting re-
engagements. Here, then, are two great empires
which have destroyed every institution save the
army. They have centralised all authority, and
leave nothing between their Emperors and the
people, from which people are raised at once the
men and the funds to compose and support the
army. The population have but to give utterance
to one cry of dissent or dissatisfaction with the
system, and ' the entire fabric of power crumbles
like a piled up pack of cards.—Daily News.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

The directors of this company state in their re-
port that the net revenue for the half-year ending
the 31st Dec. last, after deducting interest on loans
and all other preferential charges, amounts to
£202,480, to which £4,853, the surplus from June
last, is added, making a total balance available for
dividend of £207,334. From this sum the directors
propose that a dividend shall be declared, payable
on the 21st inst., at the rate of £5 15s. per cent.
per annum, amounting, on £7,197,855 of capital
paid up, to £206,938, leaving a balance of £396.
Tho increase in the gross revenue for the last half-
year, over the corresponding period of 1857,
amounted to £22,802, of which £16,953 was from
passengers and mails, £6,323 from goods and mer-
chandise, but there was a decrease of £474 from
rents and sundries. The total receipts on 2871 miles
for the half-year amounted to £468,662, the work-
ing expenses to £177,722, the taxation to £22,882,
and the net revenue to £268,059. The improve-
ment in the receipts was not produced by any ex-
traordinary cause, but was a gradual increase of the
traffic spread over the whole system of the com-
pany's lines. The traffic returns since the com-
mencement of the year 1859 also show an increase
in the receipts. Considerable progress had been
made in providing the additional stock necessary
for working the new lines about to be completed.
Before the close of the present year the company
will be working (including the Portsmouth line,
already opened) upwards of 120 miles of additional
railway. The sum of £19,202 had been expended
on this account. A considerable sum had been ex-
pended, at the cost of revenue, in improving and
altering the old stock of carriages.
The permanent way continued to be maintained
in good order. A further portion of the main line
had been renewed during the past half-year, at an
expense of £10,553, charged against revenue.
A similar expenditure on the main line
under this head might be expected each
half-year, the increased mileage run and the
additional trains required in connexion 'with the
new lines creating a considerable increase In the
wear and tear on the old line. The doubling of the
Southampton and Dorchester line for the 36 miles
from Southampton to Wimborne was completed,
whereby the working of the traffic on the line was
much facilitated. The contractor was proceeding
rapidly with the works on the Exeter extension
line. Some delay had occurred in finishing the
station , works at Salisbury, at the junction with
the Salisbury and Yeovil line ; but there was no
doubt that the first portion of that line to Gilling-
ham would be ready for opening early in the
spring. The new line from Wimbledon to Epsom,
which this company had agreed to work, will be
opened on the first of March next. The directors
had also agreed to take the railway recently com-
pleted by an independent company, between Epsom
and Leatherhead, at an annual rent of £2,000, with
' further conditions for 44 mergence with WA COM.

pany's general undertaking. Acting on the reso-
lution passed at the special general meeting on 27th
Oct. last, the directors had concluded an arrange-
ment with the Portsmouth Company for a lease of
their undertaking for 999 years, at a rental of
£lB,OOO a-year, subject to such other incidental
conditions as the directors had considered just and
proper. The Portsmouth line was opened for
traffic on the Ist of January, and trains were run-
ning over it, pending the application to Parliament
for the lease. An arrangement had been concluded
with the Stokes Bay Railway and Pier Company,
by which the company was to lease and work that
undertaking in perpetuity, at an yearly rent of
£l,BOO, but the arrangement was to cease if the
sea service between Stokes Bay and the Isle of
Wight should at any time not be sufficiently worked
or provided for by tho Stokes Bay or Ferry, Com-
pany. The directors regret that the proposed lease
by this company of the Portsmouth Railway had
led to differences with the Brighton Company.
With regard to the charge of breach of faith made
by the Brighton Company against the board, the
directors feel that they have a full and satisfactory
reply. The board thought the time had arrived
for calling the attention of the proprietors to
the subject of the remuneration of the direc-
tors. In August, 1846, the:salary of the board was
increased from £l,OOO to £2,000 per annum; the
capital account of the company was then £2,636,585;
it was now £7,197,533. The gross receipts of the
year were £365,355 ; they now amounted to
£862,516. The miles of railway open were 105; and
there were now 287, with 120 more miles in pro-
spect. The qualification of directors had been since
1846 raised from a holding of £l,OOO, not paid up,
to a holding of £3,000, paid up and held for twelve
months.

The report of Mr. Beattie states that the cost per
mile for the locomotive department had been at the
rate of B.old. per mile, showing a decrease of ex-
pense of £1,488, or 0.60 d. per mile, as compared
with the corresponding half of 1857. The saving
had in part been made by improvements in the
engines to economise fuel, whereby nearly three
tons of coals had been used to one ton of coke, and
the same results had been obtained by one ton of
the former as by a similar quantity of the latter.
The comparison stood thus during the six months
ending Dec., 1857 ; the cost per train mile for fuel
was 2.68 d. ; last half-year it was 2.43 d. ; the de-
crease therefore bad been id. per mile, notwith-
standibg the proportion of goods train mileage had
been greater. The amount expended in the car-
riage department had been £12,959, or at the rate
of 1.92 d. per train mile, giving a total expenditure
of £67,039 for both departments, or 9.93 d. per train
mile, as compared with 10.25 d. for a similar period
in 1857.

The capital account showed that £10,074,776 had
been received, and £10,125,561 expended, leaving
a balance of £50,785 against the company.

The directors of this company state in their report
that the receipts for the six months just ended, in-
cluding the balance of £1,653 brought from the pre-
ceding half-year, amounted to £193,697, and the
expenditure to £111,487. The half-year's accounts
contain a debit of £5,545 in part payment of the
Parliamentary expenses of last session. Tho dis-
posable balance, after payment of all interest, pre-
ference dividends, and other outgoings, amounted.
to £37,000. This sum was fully equal to the pay-
ment of a dividend at the rate of 91 per cent. per
annum on the ordinary stock, and, if sanctioned by
the proprietors, would make the dividend for the
year 1858 9 per cent., leaving a balance of £3,000
for the next account.