Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1861-06-14
From the london Times, MAY 25.
The Gigantic Military Preparation of
France.

1t will edify some of our readers if they will
cast their eyes down the review of the French
army in our columns to-day. -Four hundred
thousand men, being a hundredth of the whole
population Ut France one out of every sixteen
able bodied men, and more than all the able
bodied men in this vast metropolis, are raised
by forced CONSUMPTION, and maintained by
forced taXes-we cannot finish the sentence
for what In tbs country, lchether for u Just or
a groundless terror, zoe are accustomed 10 JeLieUe
ourselves the probable object Of iRyaSioa Many
OF us have seen with our own eJ es the invad
ing force prepared and Unanswered. Nay,
Mr.. Dsraei has well observed that England
has been invaded, not at all with uniform Ill
success, at least once century, ever since the
beginning of her annals. This alone might
serve to justify Il moderate armament but
the truth is that ARM is Uerq LILLE more than
a deDot ter our numerous distant and scattered
requirements. Its principle is to get the great
est amount of work done by the least means,
and to make one man, by selection, voluntary
feeling, good pay, good feeling, and frequent
change OF place, do duty for seyera! men. No
Englishmcn whose opinion is worth listening
to on the matter thinks our army one man too
large for its actual employment. He may be
of opinion that we have too many little wars
that we undertake too much colonial protec.
ton; that we have no need to garrison SO
many stepping stones round the world, and SO
forth but, assuming the work to he done, it
is impossible tu say that the power employ ed
is excessive. We can have no other object
but use, for parade we have none The milit.
airy force OF this metropolis is neither so nu
merous nor so prominent as the police, and in
many parts of the Countrywide greater part
"a red coat is as rare as a black man, or
cream colofed horse. In France all is the
/,
never been invaded eXceptby those who drove
back her own invaded armies. She is aware
that against all the thunders Of all her neigh
bOrs-Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy
and Spain, five electric wires are sufficient
They will no more invade her spontaneously
than they would plunge of free will into the
crater OF Etna. France has no colonies or for
eign Use Tor her soldiers, except where the
soldiers are themselves the USE and III a
vicious circle; redundant means are the insult
ficient end. Nevertheless, under no fear, with
no real object, France has an army so large as
to be in every great city and popuous town a
large part OF the population, and prominent
feature in the general effect. OF course, we
cannot suppose this to be mere vanity. There
must be purpose. and if the purpose be not
confessed, it must be snrnised.
But it is when we pass from the vast muster
of the men to the organization, the aids, and
appliances, that we are most struck with the
vast disproporton OF the means over the end.
This is no militia, no army Of defense to wake
like a sleeping lion, no living wall of men, no
bodies to be passed over by the would be
conqueror oil the country. 1t is most emphat-
ically an instrument in the highest state of
efficiency. AS IN the well trained human
frame the nerves, the sinews, the muscles pre-
dominate, and there is no spare flesh, the eff
consists in its cavalry, staff, train and admin
istrative services. TO quote the comparison
OF the British and French armies in our colo
MES, with only twice and half the number of
loot soldiers, the latter have, speaking i'll
round numbers, five times as many in the adj
illustrative services, three times as many in
the train, four times as many in the staff and
six times the cavalry that we have, beside,
ten times as many horses, while they have
but one third more in the engineers and about
one half more in the artillery. Again, in the
French service the proportion of officers to
men is as one to ten, and in the English SER
vice as one to nineteen. The French cavalry
numbers 76903 its artillery. 81 1913 its train
$500; administrative services, 8,737; lis
horses, 85,705. This is eminettiy locomotive
army. All know the trouble we have to pre-
pare moderate force tor an expedition. If
we have to send 10000 men far or near, it is
all the same. What g fuss and inquiry for
horses, artillery, wagons, ambulances, and Off
GERS competent for particular services But
here all is ready at moments warning. "a
trenchman with his sword" said Napoleon,
can march through the world" HeIe is the
very sword fer that service. What can France
herself, the compdctest territory in the porid, rdn
w'm 10000 horses That is the number in
France alone, deducting Algeria. Indeed
there is nothing in that so-called colony to
qualify the general character of the French ar
my as vast extravaganza of power and dis
play II not ambition and aggression. Algeria
is only the school Of the French army. The
clue TO its objects must be found in such occu-
pations as that of Rome, and shall we add /?
of Syria. With 100000 men and $4,000
horses, eating their heads off at home. there
must be great temptation to lodge them
wherever room and work are to be found. No
one ever possessed good weapon without
strong inclination to use it, and, even if
France had no immediate hopes of definitive
policy, still the mere handling of so mighty
and manageable a force must itself be sugges
tive. The sword must be APT TO cut through
its own sheath. We have lately seen this
vast army pour forth like burning lava and
stop not till 1t had run its appointed course.