The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-27
telegraph
TUESDAY. DECEMBER q. 1894.
THB FIqaTIEG- POWER OF EUROPE.
Hovv The Armies are Ratsed-Five MI
IInu. nnn Nnhnr Arma.

are raised and their comparative strength. We
extract from his paper the following parts
'In RaIet's grimy conceived picture Of ma
poleon's Midnight Review the shadowy armies
Of the Corsican hero are marshaled in force on an
imaginary Champs dc Mars. Once more the vcte-
rams of Lodi Austerlitz Jena, Leipsc, and Mos
COW, with the young recruits Of the Hundred
Days, hear the voice Of le petit Coporal,' and
swarm In spectral battalions to m inuuyre and
'march past beneath his commanding eye. The
exile Of ST. Helena, familiar to us as the lonely
Emperor gazing out over the vast reach Of Allan
SIC waters in melancholy contemplation Of his
destiny, and watching scntincl-likc for the day
star Of hope 10 arise, bchods once more the
resurrection Of those whom he has led to victory,
and receives the homage and devotion Of o multi
tudinous array. The ghosty columns come on,
dense and deep, filing the capacious canvas with
their weird forms. Like Millions hosts they
spring up mnumersble as the autumn leaves o
YallambrosA, or rather as the mastering Of tho
warning angels, when all The plain, covered with
thick embalted squadrOns bright, ChariOts and
flaming arms, and fiery steeds rejecting blaze on
blaze first appeared to the faithful Abdel
on his return to heaven. What gathering what
review what n monument 20 the incarnation of
insatiable conquest How eloquent a comment
on ambition, power, glory, fortune, the vanity
and the nothingness Of human Vaccinations
"To him who welded the baton and gave the
word of command TO these martial hordes, they
were but as tools and engines the instruments Of
his will. With them he executed his high
schemes, and, like an Attila or TamerAue,
scourRed the nations who we're disobedeut. For
him war begat war; a son of slaughter he in
spired his followers with the love of slaughter
and they, volunteers Of fight, fell victims and
yctimisng in one terrible melee, waving the
broken sabre above their heads, aud shouting
with delirious enthusiasm, even with their last
gasp, IiUe PEmpeTouP
Were it possible, after the manner OF RafTet
not, however, at midnight review, but in the
open eye of day--to marshal the armed myrads
that constitute the living armies Of Europe what
a crOwding Of warriors there would be upon the
plain From every quarter of the continent the
shining cohorts would muster. From the pine
clad Crags of the Dovrefeld to the black coasts of
the EuXine; from the lnterminsbe steppes Of
Muscovy to the laughing plains Of Andalusia;
from the sober-hued riiiemRn of Great Britain to
the gorgeous. .capoted Albanian, they would throng
in thousands nay, by milliOns-helmeted, tur-
baned, shakoed, kepied hated, and cdpped-tO
meet in this great military camp of the nations
this universal gathering of the clans and
races OF Europe. We believe ourselves to be at
peace; to be reposing under our vine and y.tree,
with the clouds Of war far from their shadow.
Thirty years OF comparative exemption from hos
ttes has fed the illusion; the sound Of drum
and fife was rarely heard, except on parade, and
the music most familiar TO English ears was the
music of Doric pipe or an EOlian Tyre. We
Knocked ourselves with the idea that civilization
was introducing moral elements into the Gov
eminent of the world, and that the sword was to
be converted into the ploughshare, and the spear
into the pruning hook. Yet never within the
annals Of history have the nations maintained
such stupendOus armies, or mankind witnessed
such fearful destruction on the battlefield as at
the present day; never has the spirit of war been
more Systematically fostered, and a military
education amongst the people encouraged, than
in this year Of grace 1864. The contagion has
caught even the solid, stOld, phlegmatic English
man. Our armies are larger than they have ever
been before our war expenditure is out of all
proportion when we consider that earnest
prayer and wish is to live peaceably with all men
and not content with setting aside portion Of
the community to act professionally as our
sentinels and guardians, q vast number of our
manhood has been kindled with the martial
spirit and taken upon itself share of the national
defense, and under the title of citizen soldiers
given onem more illustration how little peaceable
are the ideas that prevail on every side.
THE FRENCH SOLDIER.
"The armies which were raised by France and
England for the invasion Of the Crimea, and the
forces raised by Russia to repel that invasion,
were enormous, even by the side Of the vast mus
teTings that took place under the eagles of the
First Empire. Again, the colossal hosts that
were thrown within few weeks upon the plain
of Magenta and against the heights Of SOlferinO,
no less than the lavish carnage that a few hours
witnessed on those memorable battle-telds, testify
to the same fact, and show how numerous and
how crowded are the barracks of France, Italy,
and Austria.
$50 little, however, can a Government depend
upon the martial instincts of the people, upon
their innate love of fighting, that in every coun-
try in Europe, with two exceptions, and those
the fTeest-Great Britain and Switzerland-this
natural repugnance TO arms has 20 be forcibly
overcome in wOrd the army Is created by con-
sCrptOn. In France, Russia, Austria, and Prus-
sia The system is carried out with extraordinary
rigOr; and even under the most favorable aus
pices is regarded with CONSERVATION by the pre-
destinated drawers of the Hl1'ero nor, or tue
black ticket, which consgns them for the next
decade Of their life to the hard fare and abnormal
existence of the barracks and the camp.
LET us watch for moment the career Of the
forced recruit first in France, and afterwards in
the other principal kingdoms of the continent.
In France wher lad arrives at the age of twenty
one, he is liable to be drafted in the army. To
the poor, fate is inexorable; to the wealthy she
affords loophole, chance Of escape, in the
shape of a substitute. Within four. r.andtwenty
hours of its BIRTH every infant is carried by the
nurse and its father, some other relation, to the
MaTie and there its name aud sex are duly
entered in a vast volume in the Registry Office.
If il be boy, It s followed about by the
police all over the country Jeannot's parents
cannot move from one place 10 another
without giving notice to the eommissalre
of his migration; and when, after years
of this civic persecution, he enters the
threshold OfmauhOOd the luckless lad finds him
self invited by the Minister OF War to present
himself at Il military bureau. Too well he knows
the meaning Of that ominOus invitation, aud with
beating heart and heavy step Obeys the summons
He knew that it must come; his mother knew
that IL must come his sister know that II mus
come; Jeanette knew that il must come; ye
none the less sorrowfully he goes and they accom-
pany him to the bureau, and none the less tear.
fully they behold him descending the steps, with
the gay colors pinned 10 his cap in mockery of hi
misfortune.
100000 youths arc thus annually torn from
their honestly an imperial decree of 1851 tht
number was fixed at this high figure. Previously
II was left 10 the discretion or caprice of the wa
minister, who raised ii or decreased it according
10 the supposed eXgences of the times WheI
hostilities are impending, the number Is aug
mented eOnsderably Us during the Crlmeal
campaign, when the annual cOnscrlption rose a
high as 100000. To this great evil there is, how
ever, some mitigation For example, although
the legal term of service extends 10 seven years
the actual term is more frequently six, and some
times less for, in consideration of good conduc
and ability the now apt-andready soldier Is per
mitted to join the army of reserve Again, /
does not always happen that the full complemen
drawn is required for immediate serylcei whei
this is the case only portion is drafted into th
regular army, the rest being sent to depots, ,wher
for six months they are drilled and taught tn
manual and platoon exercises. This last mod
hcaton, the necessary corollary or ike
yearly quota Is said to be the fruit Of the pre-
sent Emperor Napoleops experience and studio
in Switzerland. Substitution, moreover, Is, a
we have said allowed In the French army. Vi
aNaA NnW