Daily camera., 1899-02-13
FRANCES SOLDIERS.
The Military Commanders Are All
Too Old.
A Saving Feature of the Army Ii tn .
Efficiency of the Young and
Ambitious NOncOmmis-
stoned Otiicera.

One Of the features which make the
French army corps so terrible weapon
of attack, when properly handled, is the
large number of noncommlssionedo otfi-
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-
age. They hope to win their promotion
by the sword and not by the book. 1t
is this very class of whom Won Moltke
said, 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 battletields of
France to WASH OUT, at the cost OF their
blood, faults for which they were in no
way responsible" AS class, the
French officers are equal to any officers
on the continent up to a certain point.
The advanced age of the French mill
tary chiefs makes it impossible for them
to cope with hardship and fatigue. The
officers between 2S and so are at their
very best, and any young man who has
thoroughly understood the teaching at
st. Cyr might mount horse and lead
an army corps, but the absurd rever-
ence for age makes this an impossible
ity. In our own day we have seen the
magnificent clear-headedness of youth
in three departments - Kitchener in
tt, -orth II, Ii and
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 that
Frances commanding generals are be-
tween 5S and 65 is almosta 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
this ridiculous leaning toward en-
bonpoint, but if one were to watch a
batch of officers enter the Cercle Mill
taire-those in the forties and tfties-
one might easily mistake them for al
Germen 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
of the French commanders of the fu
ture. The tyranny of mathematics is
abolished, and every effort is to be made
to instill into the minds of the students
that war is not so much a science as an
art, which can be best achieved by good
sense and inspiration.
Gen. Maillard. one of the professors
of tactics at the Ecole Superieure de
Guerre, says very wisely: "Under the
preteXt that the progress OF science and
industry will be used in the coming
fight between the nations, it is pro-
claimed that the conducting Of war
must be scientific. and that it will de-
mand high mathematical knowledge.
Nothing is more opposed to the spirit
Of war. The Rule of Three alone, up to
The present has sufiiced, and will
suffice, for all problems depending on
calculation, but to conduct a war means
hat the chiefs must have nigh natural
qualities. pIOIesSlonal knowledge
which must be constantly advancing, a
strong, cultured intelligence, but.
above all, the spirit of reflection, of cal
culation-in a word, the philosophical
spirit. New Century Review.