The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-04 00:00:00

COMPARISON OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH ARMIES.

On the 14th of August, 120,000 men defiled before the
Emperor in the Place du Carousel. He took his station
in front of the centre pavilion of the Tuileries, a little
before two o'clock. The operations lasted until after five.
The troops consisted of 85,000 regulars and 35,000 National
Guards. It was a sight to make a Frenchman proud, and
a foreigner respectful. I had not seen so large a force
together since the great reviews of 1815-16, and examined
them with an eye of eager curiosity. The impression left
on my mind was, that I had seen as handy an army as a
good general could wish to lead into the field of battle—
ready for service, and fit for anything ; well disciplined,
well appointed, quick in movement, robust and intelligent.
The ranks of the National Guard contained more fat
citizens of the John Gilpin cut than I thought Paris could
produce. They looked as if they would rather be behind
their counters. The artillery was superb, consisting
entirely ofbrass 12-pounders and large howitzers. The cavalry
numbered about 20,000. They are much better mounted
than they were during the last war, particularly the heavy
dragoons and cuirassiers ; still the men and their equip-
ments are too weighty for the horses. Every regiment of
hussars has a different uniform ; the endless mixture of
colours produces an effect somewhat bordering on the
theatrical. The lately established corps of Guides appeared
for the first time in-their full costume, and a magnificent
body they are; formed on the same model as those estab-
lished by Napoleon under the Consulate, and evidently
intended, as were their predecessors, for the nucleus of a
future Imperial Guard. The infantry of the line are
dressed alike, in plain blue coatees, brick-dust coloured
pantaloons, and close-fitting truncated shakos. The
flank companies carry a small straight Roman sword,
in addition to the musket and bayonet. The dress
is convenient for service, but not showy. The men
generally are of small size, many of them mere boys.
Such a regiment as the 79th Cameronian Highlanders,
which I saw under arms a few days afterwards at Chob-
ham, covers half as much ground again, when drawn up in
line with a front of the same number. In a hand-to-hand
fight, or in a charge of bayonets, they would bear down
three French battalions, by superior weight and muscular
strength. But the French infantry soldiers are agile and
dexterous, keep well together, handle their arms as if they
knew how to use them, and are exactly the same sort of
light, manageable materials with whi:h Napoleon nega-
tived the heavy Austrian tactics at Montenotte, and
Massena confounded the dogged Russians at Zurich.
A Frenchman is naturally a soldier, and acquires the
mechanical training, almost by intuition. An English
peasant, taken from the plough, is slow at his drill, and
requires much more time to master the rudiments. French
soldiers march more loosely than ours, and are less erect and
military in their gait. Greater freedom is allowed in the
ranks ; and from the general down to the drum-boy every'
body has a cigar in his mouth. The regimental officers
look as if they understood their business, but very few
have the bearing of gentlemen. The heavy marching-order
is not so ponderous as ours, and the knapsacks are more
convenient. If the French army are badly paid, it is a
mistake to suppose they are not well fed; they live on all
sorts of light condiments ; and, as every man is a cook, he
can make something savoury with a roll and an onion.
The bands are nothing particular, but the drums are the
best in the world. , The Minie rifle is not likely to come
into general use. The ball is found to be too heavy and
elaborate. A French army will assuredly beat any other
continental troops, on. a fair .field, with equal numbers.
But how would it be in a battle with England under the
same conditions ? Experience says that we should win as
before ; but they laugh at experience and tell us she is a
superannuated old lady, not to be taken into the account.
We have no wish to see the trial, unless it is forced upon
us. When King Frederic William of Prussia showed his
tall regiment to Lord Stair, he asked him if he thought an
equal number of Englishmen could beat them ? "I cannot
tell, your Majesty," replied the ambassador ; " but I think
a smaller number would try." In a contest with a British
army, the object of a skilful French general would be to
manoeuvre from a distance, to harass by clouds of skir-
mishers and batteries of artillery, to turn the flanks, inter-
cept the communications, and to refuse close fighting.
The English comma-rider, on the other hand, would seek
every opportunity of bringing his troops into immediate
collision ; to decide matters by heavy volleys and the force
of the,bayonet. He who best carries out his own plan of
tactics, will have the best chance of success. It seems
strange, that a nation so practised in arms as the French,
should persist in the old-fashioned infantry formation of
three-deep, when drawn up in a line ; a system which
neutralises the third rank for all active purposes, increases
the number of casualties when they are exposed to fire,
whether from artillery or small arms, and demands more
men to occupy extended ground. They also invariably
assail in dense masses of deep extent and narrow front,
which cannot deploy in the face of a steady, concentrated
fire. We have hitherto beaten their heaviest columns of
attack in a slender line of two-deep, which has never been
forced. The column is the obvious formation for compli-
cated movements ; but the Duke of Wellington always
fought in lines, and the result of many battles proved that
he had no reason to think he was mistaken. We speak of
the science of war, without the slightest wish to see it
illustrated by experiment.

The present number contains three stirring
chapters of the adventures of " Sir Jasper Carew,
Knt.," besides other papers not enumerated in the
foregoing list ; and concludes by one of those
fantastic, yet delightful whimsies, which, under
the name of " Nights with the Mystics," promise
to afford unconnected observations on men, man-
ners; and passing events, in a manner somewhat
akin to those delightful reveries which erst adorned
the pages of " Blackwood," when Wilson, Lock-
hart, and others of the literary lions were in the
heyday of their strength and grandeur.

Hogg's Instructor. Edinburgh : James Hogg.
The Instructor for October opens heavily, as the
share market is sometimes said to do, with an article
on Walter Savage Landor, in which copious extracts
are made from the writings of that singularly consti-
tuted recluse. The work first brought under notice
is the extraordinary fiction entitled the " Citation
and Examination of William Shakspere," in which
Mr. Landor makes the great dramatist an organ
for expressing many of the forms of his own
peculiar philosophy. In this work the story
hangs upon the supposed arraignment of Shakes-
pere before Sir Thomas Lucy, on a charge of deer
stealing, and the interest of it consists in the
manly and broad comprehensiveness of the de-
fence. Among other philosophical effusions which
deck the forensic display, the great accused, in
answer to the inculpator3 pleadings of the knight of
Charlecote's chaplain, is made to utter the following
BEHORTA.TION TO HUMILITY IN CLERICAL JUDGMENTS.

Let us preachers (it is quoted as from a certain fictitious
Dr. Glaston) who are sufficiently liberal in bestowing our
advice upon others, inquire of ourselves whether the ex-
ercise of spiritual authority may not be sometimes too
pleasant, tickling our breasts with a plume from Satan's
wing, and turning ow heads with that inebriating peison
which he bath been seen to instil into the very chalice, of
our salvation. Let us ask ourselves in the closet whether,
after we have humbled ourselves before God in our prayers,
we never rise beyond the due standard in the pulpit ;
whether our zeal for the truth be never overheated by in-
ternal fires less holy; whether we never grow stiffly and
sternly pertinacious at the very time when we are reprov-
ing the obstinacy of others ; and whether we have not
frequently so acted, as if we believed that opposition were
to be relaxed and borne away by self-sufficiency and in-
tolerance. Believe me, the wisest of us have our catechism
to learn ; and these are not the only questions contained
in it. Learned and ingenious men may, indeed find a
solution and excuse for all those propositions ; but the
wise unto salvation will cry, " Forgive me, 0 my God, if,
called by Thee to walk in Thy way, I have not swept this
dust from the sanctuary."
The writer in the review expresses a high
admiration for the talents of Mr. Landor, as
these are developed in his published works, and
ventures to ensure for them, so far as his opinion
can do so, an extensive fame and popularity
in the future, to counterbalance the neglect with
which they have been treated by contemporaries.
The second article in the " Instructor' is ele-
vated to a much more material inquiry than the
ethics or aesthetics of Mr. Landor. It applies to
the consideration of preserving provisions without
the use of salt—a subject of deep interest to a
large class of the community, and to none more
than to a maritime population like that which con-
stitutes so important a section of society in Liver-
pool. The paper professes to be descriptive of "A
Visit to Ritchie and M`Call's establishment," in
Houndsditch, where preserved meats are manufac-
tured. In the course of this visit the various pro-
cesses of preparation are cursorily described, the
details of which are given with considerable gusto.
Continuations of several stories begun in preceding
tunibers are, in parliamentary phrase, " forwarded
their several stages," and new matter is introduced
in various ways. A paper, displaying considerable

research, lays before the readers of the " In-
structor" an account of " Gold-finding in Scot-
land," proving, by incontestable evidence, that
such an occupation is not new in Caledonia,
although it cannot be denied that many of her per-
severinc, and intelligent sons have found, and suc-
cessfully worked, more fertile fields of golden en-
terprise in other lands than have as yet been
opened on her own soil. The number concludes
with an excellent article on the " Condition of
Agricultural Labourers," made up of scraps from a
pamphlet on the same subject, written by the Rev.
Harry Stuart, A.M., and published by Blackwood
and Sons.

The Educational Expositor. Edited by T. Tate
and J. Tilleard. September. London : Long-

mans and Co.

This periodical, although professing to expound
the principles and methods of teaching, seems more
decidedly addressed to the public as a means of
justifying and inculcating certain doctrines as to
the social status of teachers, entertained and en-
forced by a body designated the United Association
of Schoolmasters. As we entertain grave sus-
picion of anythinc, or person which or who, under
one pretence, endeavours to effect the accomplish-
ment of one object, while professing another, we
are unable to place unlimited confidence in the
purposes of this serial. If the opinions of the
United Association of Schoolmasters be well
founded and socially safe, let them be boldly and
directly advocated. Side-winds and side-wind in-
struments are not in accordance with the genius
and institutions of the British people, and, above
all, are peculiarly unwelcome in the hands of those
who guide our youth in the early steps of moral
discipline.