New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-02-24
THE FRENCH Ag5iX.

THE FRENCH AsIh'
Tie Paris Constitutional has lately put forth
q statement intended to prove that IN case
Of wsr, France could send across her from
tier. force of 800. 900 men. According to
NJ Gsillardet in his letter from Pari, pub
li,hed ia the Courier des Etd,S Cnts OF yester-
dsy. this statement and the figures by which IL Is
,,.porte5 we're furnished TO our Partisan cotemPo
r,rv directly from the Emperor himself, WITHOUT
rho krc,vledee of any of bic Ministers. The hsst
point Of ths statement is that, II al the men Oh
frrlouOb are called iu, and no more burroughs
piSen. tie French army, will consist, on Iae Isl
Of Aprjl next. Of 1884, men; if the whole d
the recruits of 1858 are called in, this strength
will be Increased by 1900 men; and 1t war be
declared. the Government may, with absolute cer'
t,pty. count upon 80 900 voluntary enlstments at
least. either Of old soldiers whose time has eX-
PRED, or of young volunteers. This would give a
grand total Of Co., OOO men, divided, according to
the Imperial statisticaD, as follows:
Infantry. 800 97S Trsip...... ...... Ol?O
Chvalry....... $1,000 Guards ....-.-.-. 29,9l2
ArtilleIy...... 46 i50 Miscellaneous corps 49,VOO
Engineers. II, llOI - -
Total. w. INV
There is evidently some flaw in thi, sum total
There are CO. 600 men wanting, which the lnperlsi
pen in the hurry Of the moment, has forgotten TO
distribute. But never mind that Suppose the
GS2 0O0 men are all right. In case OF war, there
would remain in the 5epots, which form st the same
tine the garrisons of the interior, 100, 900 men.
They Mould be supported by the $4,000 gems
d'armes, while 80 600 men would be sufii Gent for
Algeria. These l75, 900 men, deducted from the
above grand total, would leave 500, 900 msn. But
his Majesty hiss again managed to lose lO,OO0
mep, and deducts from 672, coo instead Of from
6s2 COO men, thus reducing the net available
field force to 497 900 men. An army of 100000
ms cap therefore, according to our authority, be
made available for foreign war by the lst of june
1859, without in any way altering the existing
military organization Of France.
Now let US see what the French army is made
Of in reality. The existing organization Of an army
forms certain limit to its extension; b,ttallons
sauadrone, batteries, cannot comprise more than a
certain number of men, horses and guns, in any
particular service, without destroying the sys.
tenn and the tactical specalities of that service
TIE French battalions of eight companies each,
for instance, could not Increase their companies
to anything like twice their normal number of ll5
combataats without necessitatiDg an entire reyolu-
ton in the rudmentary and battalion drill; nor
could the French batteries increase the number OF
their guns from SIX to eight or twelve, without
similar effect: and 10 either case, the co npi-
MES and batteries would become extremely
clumsy, unless they were subtivided. Thus the
r al. mi
10 the numbers it can accommodate; and II
those limits be exceeded, new formations be-
come Necessary. As these, however, cannot escape
public notice, 90 soon as they are established TO
any extent and as, far, the Constitutional Gays
that there need be no new formations, We may
take the frame work of the army as it existed
al the conclusion of the Russian war, as the limit
Of the number of men il can at present absorb.
The infantry battalion of the French line, with
its complex organization Of six companies Of the
Ire AID tW of elite cannot well exceed the strength
of COO mep. For 100 regiments OF the line, this
would give, at three battalions each, 800 GOO men.
We purposely Iclude the third battalion, for, al
though UP to the Russian war it merely figured as
depot battalion, il was then modified, and three
t&ud rcpOh Pc IL WuiOA
DO doubt are still in existence These 300 depot
companies viii form total of about Sc, 900 meu.
The 20 bsttsous of ehassesrs d-Pi,d, destined to
fight in detailed companie, rather than in closed
bstlaions, admit of larger number of men; they
number nearly 1900 men each and would there
| fore give a total strength Of &c, coo men, with
scarcely any depots, as they receive many men from
other regiments The guard consists Of two diyis-
ions Of pf,ntry and its regiments, up to the peace
with Russia, had only two battalions each, which
| agrees with the Constitutional, according to
which lis infantry viii consist of Il bsttahOns or
| Is eco men. This constitutes the whole of the
French inisntry, with the exception Of the troops
designed for African service. These are bastaons
Of Zouaves, equal to 5000 men, beside sbou. 500
in depot: 3 penal batt,IiOns (zephirs), or 5000
men, and battaliOns of Algerian (bstiye) Trail.
leurs, which, if fully up to their complement, will
number 1900 men, Thus, the total strength
Of the French infantry may be summed up as fol-
lows:
Line intending dspO,' SIS 90 In 80 battalion, ard 30
1 depot paIies.
| Glass, us, % go men In % bs..AHona
| Quad, s,ufo meE IN le battslonA
| ZoG6yes so Den in Q ba; Aions.
| ZsphtEs, $500 men in bsttsliors.
| Native Algsrians, 9,oo0 men In y esttslions.
fCta 1850 men IN S5 tattaions and 80 de2o. companies
OF which $500 belong TO tie depots, leaving
| 3i5 eco for active seryice AZ korne ard abroad