The Progress., 1896-06-27
"yOU" AND "THOC.'
r,, Curious Order OF the Ne" ''''>"
Hi,,ster of War.

v;,, Curious Order o! l!'" WV
Minister of war
\ aacr.s has lust been issued d, F"T''
nv the new minister OF war loiO'"N'n7
oticors 70 address the soldiers unae.
their orders by the familiar pronoun u ,
"thou," says the New York IflouN7,
Hepceforth the more formal you 10
alone to be employed. 1t is needless "
explain that the minister OF war 10
civilian. for a soldier would never na''
made the mistake of imagining 1o' ono
moment that the feelings Of self-respec'
of a. private or on-commlssloheu jim
Ger would be affected BY the use " .no
familiar nronoun "tu." "Tu' and "uu
and thou" are terms not OF cohVenip,
but of familiarity and intimacy 'Ao
their use implies no lack OF consiuel''-
tion for the Derson to whom they are
applied, but, on the contrary. leeilhs
of affectionate regard. In monarcnlca'
countries the sovereigns nave always
made point OF addressing their troops
with the pronoun thou" in the same
way that they apply the word chN-
dren" to even griZzled and BATTLE
SCARED veterans twice their age Ahe
men like TO be addressed thus ana feel
a sort Of sympathy for those whom Lhe'
regard as displaying in this way aitec-
ton and interest in their welfare. by
fOrtidding the use Of the word III
the new French minister OF wa: nas
done far more harm than good. since
he has rendered the relation between
Frer~h officers and men more dlStah.
and Ormal, and has, in fact, raised
new barrier between those VINO nolu
commissions in the army and those "hc
do not. Of course, this new departure
has been prompted by tina spirit OF re-
pubicanism, the ministers Idea oelhs
that a soldier is Just as much krencE
citizen and entitled to as much reeVec'
m an officer.
In the German, Austrian, Italian an'
Russian armies, the officers not only
, use the word thou" to their men, bu
; among themselves as we'll anu tn
Youngest lieutenant may use 1t 70 al
colonel, or even to his general when OF
: duty, the idea being they are DrotAef
and comrades in arms. Officers meetlh'
for the first time use thou ever
though one be prince and the othe
-. the son of petty shopkeeper, one tn
colonel of some crack cavalry regimen
$ and the other a subaltern in mere I'm
7 OF regiment. In the aristocracy, tina
j. is to say, among the old NOBILITY
0 whence the parvenue Of the nouvea
!, richie element is severely excluded
n every one calls the other thou, eve
i, Young girls styling old dowagers thu
e Mo&archs and royal personages in the
II intimate intercourse with one anothe
l. invariably use the prOnOun thou
u The prince of Wales addresses the en-
. peror of Austria as ''du,' and the Ell
" perOr of Germany makes use OF Il
;e same pronoun when writing or spea!
is ing to King Oscar or any other MOI
s. arch. "Tu" and "du' and thou imp
y social equality among the persons WI
a use them to one another and il Il
d French minister of war had been le
h. hasty, and had taken the trouble
7e studying the history Of his country,
y would have found that during the ear
~, years of the great revolution at the el
h of the last century, when the doctrin
of equality were really enforced, ever
m body made use of the word "citoye
lis and of thou" in addressing one a
at other, no matter what might be the d
et ference of age or official rank.