The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-23 00:00:00

THE FRENCH ARMY.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
CAMP OF CHALONS, AUG. 20.
Camps are supposed to teach officers and soldiers
campaigning, nor was this supposition altogether
false when the old method of so-called concentra-
tions was followed by large continental armies. A
number of regiments, horse and foot, and a propor-
tionate number of guns were called up from all
corners of the country. The time of their depar-
ture from cantonments and that of their arrival at
the camp being fixed, all the details were left to
the commanding officers, who had thus a first oppor-
tunity of exercising their discretion in the march-
ing, providing, and encamping the troops on the
road. The march was always conducted as if be-
fore the enemy, with advanced guards and rear-
guards, flankers, and regular outposts and patrols
at night. Both officers and soldiers were thus
initiated in field duties ; the infantry learned march-
ing without being footsore, the cavalry to save
their horses, to picket them, to prevent sorebacks ;
both were exercised in pitching and striking their
tents, packing and unpacking without losing, break_
ing, or spoiling half their things, so that by the
time they arrived at the camp a good deal of the
helplessness which cantonments and garrisons pro-
duce was worn away. The same system of appren-
ticeship in self-reliance was, as much as possible,
adhered to in camp. Roads of communication were
made, wells dug, field-ovens erected, and wherever
there was brushwood the tents were stored, so' as to
teach the soldier to shelter himself without them.
Even in the manoeuvres and sham-fights the aim
was as much as it could be to bring real warfare
before the soldier and officer. Instead of the feeble
line of dots supposed to mark the position of the
enemy, the forces were divided into two hostile
armies, and a broad enough programme was drawu
up to leave the respective commanders a certain
latitude in handling their troops.
Theory and garrison life are to real warfare and i
campaigning what pure mathematics are to me-
chanics. The friction and the disturbing forces are'
not and cannot be calculated. The old method of
temporary concentrations brought, although imper-
fectly, some of these into play. The standing camps,
aided as they now are by railways and other me-
chanical inventions, are likely in most cases to re- ,
duce camps to mere shows.
As far as the teaching of campaigning goes the
Camp at Chalons is another Aldershott. In winter
a small garrison for a few thousand men, it becomes
in summer and autumn a convenient place for ma-
nceuvring and airing a part of the army. And cer-
tainly no better place could be found for such a
purpose than the healthy and airy chalk plateau
lying between the Marne and the Aisne and the
Valley of Argonne and almost equi distant from
Chalons and Rheims. I don't know why it should
be called the Camp of Chalons, except from defer-
ence to history, which shows Attila's camp of
Chalons on the same plateau, to the south-east of
the present one. A stranger coming to Chalons
would find himself mistaken in looking for the camp
at Chalons, for it is almost 18 miles north of it.
From the fertile plains of the Marne the plateau
rises up in successive wave lines, not unlike the
petrified surface of a colossal ocean after a storm.
This plateau in the heart of France, blocking up as
it were all approach from the north-east and north,
is in itself of considerable strategic importance, and
Napoleon I. had conceived the idea of a fortified
camp on that commanding situation when invasion
was threatening on that side, and who knows whe-
ther this Napoleonic idea has not contributed to the
establishment of the present camp ? As a man-
oeuvring ground for the movement of large masses
it is scarcely to be surpassed. With barely six
inches of vegetable soil over the chalk, most part of
the plateau was scarcely 15 years ago a desert with
only here and there some patches of cultivation
round the few hamlets which border the small
streamlets intersecting this high land. Since that
time, but, above all, since the camp was esta-
blished and road and railway made to it, cultivation
has been gradually creeping up ; but the inroad
thus made has not been great enough to spoil the
plateau as a manceuvring ground. Nay, it assisted
it by planting numerous patches of fir woods,
which are no small advantage on the otherwise too
open ground. The long uncultivated sweeps of
ground are covered with short and scanty grass,
scarcely soft enough at this time of year for horses,
but excellent marching ground for infantry.
On one of the highest points on the north-west
of the plateau lie the two hamlets, Mourmelon le
Grand and Mourmelon le Petit, built at a couple of
miles from each other. The Roman road from
Rheims to Bar-le-Due crosses between the two, and
passes over the little stream of the Cheneu, along
which both hamlets are built. The stream makes a
bend from south-east to west, about four to five miles
and this bend has been followed by the camp, which
has its centre just behind the village of Mourmelon
le Grand. Easy access to water was probably the
reason for such close proximity, for so destitute of it
is the neighbourhood that wells have been dug be-
hind the present camp in expectation of the further
arrival of troops.
The centre line of the camp consists of several
rows of huts, considerably augmented since last year.
and now sufficiently numerous to harbour a whole
division of infantry, four regiments each of three
battalions, and a battalion of Chasseurs, besides hos
pitals. All the rest of the troops are under canvas.
There are in all three divisions of infantry and
two of cavalry, Lancers and Cuirassiers, besides 10
batteries of Artillery, the whole under the command
of the Duke of Magenta. As the regiments have a
good number of men on furloagh, they are scarcely
more than 1,200 to 1,500 strong, which would give
from 6,000 to 7,000 the division of infantry, about
1,000 horses the division of cavalry, so that alto-
gether from 22,000 to 23,000 men may be assembled.
Hitherto none of the great manoeuvres and experi-
ments have taken place. The rule until now has
been to have twice a week manoeuvres of corps
d'armee, and the other days divisional field exercise.
This morning only the Lancer§ And two batteries