The Winslow mail., 1899-02-18
FRANCES SOLDIERS.
The Military Commanders Are All
Too Old.
A Saving Feature of the Army Is the
Efficiency of the Young and
Ambitious NOncOmmis-
stoned Officers.

One of the features which make the
French army corps so terrible weapon
of attack, when properly handled, is the
large number of noncommissioned Off
GERS who have won minor commissions,
such as sous-lieutenant and captain,
and if their education is faulty they
more than atone for it by superb cour-
4ge. They hope to win their promotion
" the sword and not by the book. L.
s this very class of whom Won Moltit
aid, in 1870, that while they possess no
other instruction than that of the bad
primary French instruction, and give
evidence of gross ignorance, it was pre-
cisely these officers who, for the great
er part, strove on the battlefelds OF
France to wash out, at the cost of their
blood, faults for which they were in Il q
way responsible" AS class, til:
French officers are equal to any officer
on the continent up to certain point.
The advanced age of the french mill
tary chiefs makes it impossible for then
to cope with hardship and fatigue. Tha
officers between % and so are at their
very best, and any young man who has
thoroughly understood the teaching f.
st. Cyr might mount horse and lead
an army corps, but the absurd reve1-
ence for age makes this an impossibi
ity. In our own day we have seen th>
magnificent clear-headedness of youth
in three departments = Kitchener IL
war, Harmsworth in journalism. anG
Lasker in chess, all of whom seek to
emphasize the great lesson that the
coming general must be between the
thirties and forties. The statement thai
Frances commanding generals are be-
tween 50 and G5 is almost a confession OF
coming defeat.
Another fault lies in the tendency of
the French officer stationed in Paris to
grow fat. The English officer. never has
his ridiculous leaning toward en-
batch of officers enter the Cercle Mill
jaire-those in the forties and fifties-
one might easily mistake them for al
dermen in uniform. This argues lack
of exercise, and would augur badly for
the drill of the troops were it not that
in France, as in England. the bulk Of
this work depends upon a noncom-
missioned officers. Luckily for France.
her young army officers are in the pink
of condition, ready for any emergency.
and equal to any demands on their
physical and mental systems. The new
rules laid down at ST. Cyr in 1897 must
result in an improvement in the morale
- ~ oh Il Jarc IF Tho f1I-
ture. The tyranny of mathematics is
abolished, and every effort is to be made
80 irstiII into the minds of the students
tha war is OF so much science
art, which can be best achieved by good
]. ,"G"
sense and Inspiration
Gen. Maillard, one of the professors
of tactics at the Ecole Superieure de
Cuerre, says very wisely: "Under the
preteXt that the progress of science and
industry will be used in the coming
.ight between the nations, it is pro
claimed that the conducting Of wal
must be scientific, and that it will de-
nand high mathematical knowledge
'othing is more opposed to the spiri
If war. The Rule Of Three alone, up +
he present, has sufficed, and wi!
uf1ice, for all problems depending o.
alculation, but to conduct war mean
hat the chiefs must have high natura
qualities. professional knowledg
which must be constantly advancing.
strong. cultured intelligence, bu'
above all, the spirit of reflection, OF ca
culation-in a word, the philosophica