The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-18 00:00:00

which has been said to have influenced the fate of
Waterloo, By far the most important chapters in
the volumes are those on the British army and the
volunteers, which are written in a spirit entirely
contrary to the general sentiments of foreigners.
M. Esquiros enters on the subject with the follow-
ing observations :

The notion has been too lightly spread that Great
Britain was not a military nation. The movement which
has taken place during the last year in the United King-
dom sufficiently contradicts that opinion, which at a given
moment may become dangerous to the other European
States. On what do people rely, moreover, when they re-
cognise in England only a maritime power of the first class ?
Have not English soldiers, though few in numbers, sufficed
for all the great eventualities of history ? Has not for ages
the weight of their arms been felt when the destinies of the
Continent were placed in the scale ? Every time
when victory was needed have they not conquered ?
I will not evoke irritating reminiscences ; I will
not write down the name of a great battle so painful to the
self-esteem of the French—suffice it for me to remind them
that recently England re-captured India with a handful of
men."

He enters very fully into the system pursued in
the English army, the mode of education followed
in Woolwich, Sandhurst, and Addiscombe, and
remarks in reference to the recent adoption of
the competitive examinations, that in France it
required a revolution to make the upper grades of
the army accessible to the middle classes; but that
in England the institutions are endowed with an
elasticity which enables them to yield to the
movement of public opinion without disaster.
Ile manufacture of the means of warfare ❑ext
engages his attention, and he gives a full account
of the recent improvements in ammunition. With
regard to the Volunteer movement, he speaks
with all the satisfaction of an ardent lover of our
liberties who is relieved to find them secure. To
conquer England, he says, the English must be
exterminated, and even then behind England
would remain the rude children of Scotland, sup-
ported by their citadels of granite. He styles
the Volunteers an army of guerillas, waiting for a
foe whom all trust may never come. Such a
goog on to say, testifies the strength
alike of the Government and the
the ruling powers dare confidently rest on the sup-
port of the nation, who have no temptation to
misuse their arms.
" The armaments and military reforms of the United
Kingdom are of a nature to inspire Europe with serious
reflections. Any continental nation, no matter which, that
wished to come into collision with Great Britain, ought to
think twice of it. Before all, she will find before her the
old wooden walls of England, which has hitherto covered
the coast with an impenetrable bulwark ; behind the ships,
the soldiers—improving daily in numbers and organisation,
and behind the soldiers a country in arms."

It is to be hoped that this sound and honest advice
will have weight with continental readers, given as
it is by one of themselves, who has had better op-
portunities of judging than previous French
writers, having " taken root in the civilisation
through which they passed on the wings of steam."
But with all his hearty admiration of England and
her institutions, he retains the feelings of a French-
man, and as such is no servile flatterer but a
friendly critic. His work will be cordially received
on this side of the Channel, and will be welcomed
by all impartial and enlightened minds who see in
the better mutual understanding of the two great
peoples—in their more enlarged comprehension of
the peculiarities incidental to race, climate, and cus-
tom, as well as of each other's national virtues and
character—in the quickened sympathies which such
knowledge must bring in its train—a stronger se-
curity for the preservation of European peace, than
armies and armaments on one hand, or treaties of
commerce on the other.