New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-06-09
THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH ARMIES.

our columns the strength oil the present stano-
ing army of France is computed at seven hum
bred thousand men. That of England is per-
haps overestimated at seventy thousand.
We are also told that to the field of war
in the Crimea France has contributed
one hundred and twenty thousand men:
England but thirty thousand, smaller contin-
gent than even her poor, sick Mohammedan friend.
| In small addition ofperhaps two thousand men,
now on their way to the Crimea, England, as
her leading journals acknowledge, has exhaust
ed her fighting fund and has stripped her shores
| of every regular soldier fit to take the field.
Yet while thousands are gathering round the
| eagles of France, England swells her bounty in
| vain and plies her recruiting fife and drum to
| irresponsiye SWANS. Doubtless this may arise
| in a large measure from the desolation OF those
| fields from which in her past wars she reaped
| her richest crops Of soldiers. Before the ad-
| yaDcing tide of what is termed civilization
by some, by others determination, the
rude hut of the Highlander has fallen,
and the hardy mountaineers have receded
further and further before its flood un-
til they have almost wholly disappeared, while
the kilt and the plaidie find their only dwellingn
some fancy ball. or used to disguise as Scotch
men those English and Irish recruits of which
the Highland regiments are principally CON-
posed. In Ireland that nursery of soldiers, fam
inc and emigration have also lent strength and
| fury to the extermnating sweep; and though
| her hereditary impulse swelled by the inspira-
tons of her national Church, makes her still
| the most exuberant recruiting-ground of En-
| gland, the men are not forthcoming as of old
| Multtudes have sought refuge on our own
| shores, multitudes on those more strange and
distant from which no traveller returns. These
are no doubt causes of England's present lack OF
defenders, but others still stronger and of more
| enduring character obtain to mark the contrast
| between France and England.
Even in these dull days, when the age of chiv-
airy has gone by and that of economists has
| succeeded, there is something in the clash and
| circumstance ofwar in the deed of daring and of
death, and in the return of the Scared soldier,
which touches the heart of every nation with
enthusiasm and emotion In France, which is
essentially military power, every art is brought
to bear to surround this feeling with poetry and
| preserve the encbanment unbroken. In the
humblest print-sbOp in the small, smiling village,
| may be seen beautiful engrayings of every phase
| Of the young soldiers life. There you see pie
tured the bright boy, dantily decked by some
fond sisters finger, going forth in the fullness Of
| enthusiasm and youth to join his regiment,
| while in the radiance which breaks through
| a mothers tears is touchingly told the
proud hope of her heart, that he will return
| with glory, and perhaps write his name upon the
story of his country. Again you see him break
| ing suddenly on his home as the officer COM
mander and kindling joy on all around, or by the
happy hearthstone recountiDg tales Of war ana
| telling how fields were won. 1t is by pictures
of her martyrs and virgins, of their victories and
| sunerings, that the Roman Catholic Church
| swells those entertainments with which she fasci-
mates the intellect Of men. 1t is by these IA
miliar pictures France always presents the sol
der as surrounded with romance and his career
as glorious, thus inspiring her children with that
martial ardor which sends them toiling and bat
| ting through danger and distress with the one
| bright star before them, not only of hope but
certainty that by yalor and by worth the highest
honor may be won. Song again, as in the Ro-
man Church, subdues the ear as picture does
| the eye, and-while the more warlike
and revolutionary Marsellase is proscrbed,-
in the half melancholy, half martial national
hymn, "Partant pour la Syrie," is strange
" blended that sorrow for leaving France
and 10y at going to fight her battle which dis
putes the dwelling of the French soldiers heart
1t is true that military CONSUMPTION prevails in
France and that every man within her borders,
from the highest to the lowest class, is liable
without distinction to become soldier by lot
But it is equally true that all-certahly all
of the high and middle cass-have power
of purchasing a substitute. When, therefore,
they enter the army it must be of their own free
impulse. Yet multitudes of the middle and
some Of the very highest class may be fou nd in
the rank and file of the French army. And few
have mingled in the brilliant saloons Of Paris
without meeting the sons of titled nObemen in
the uniform of the private soldier, glorying in
their attire Merit there prices the promotion.
Every man must enter the lists on the same
terms and win his plume by his own achieve
ment. There is but one exception to that ord-
nance which regulates that every man in the
French army must enter it as q soldier and this
is an exception of merit IL permits the student
OF the Poly tech ME School which answers to our
West Point, after several years of study and the
| ordeal of severe examination, to receive the
reward Of a sub-lieutenaney, which is the lowest
rank of officer But this advantage of merit is not
confined to the student.of the Polvtecbnic Ann