Evening star., 1914-10-25

augmented prOportionately In times OF
war. the gendarmerie and the .garde
civique. The former is a semi-milttary
corps, which includes about $500 of
all ranks, nearly one-half of whom are
horsemen. The garde civiQue is COM
posed of some $4,000 officers and men.
1t is organized on a military basis. and
has, like the army, large reserve. In
war it is used for garrisoning fortffi-
cations and guarding lines OF commu.
nication. and has. in the present great
struggle, already proven its value, Tor
it relieves the regular fighting men OF
routine duties to a very great extent,
and permits them to be largely in the
actual zone of the struggle.
4 +
Since the outbreak of the great war
the daily press has made the stocky
figure of the Belgian linesman a famil-
lar one to the public. His uniform.
which is of a dark gray hue. with
facings and trimmings of various col
ors, is modelled largely on the garb
worn by his French brother-in-arms.
His cap, or "kepi," is of the same gen.
eral patterns, and SO is his double
breasted greatcoat. Loose trousers.
tucked into heavy laced boots coming
to mid-calf, form the footgear, and his
arm is magazine rifle with a sword
in the capital city are clad on gala oc-
casions in a bearskin shake of the style
affected by the British footguards. and
a small cap something like a High
lander's "Glengarry' bonnet Is also
common head-covering on fatigue duty.
Belgian cavalrymen are divided into
lancers. dragons and chasseurs. The
lancers wear the characteristic uhlan
<ha in oui.
ments of French chasseurs a cheval,
and the dDagoons helmet and, in some
corps, a bearskin shake. Their tunics
are of various colors and the whole
garb presents more colorful picture
than the plain clothes Of the infantry
men.
Charles S. Jerram. an Englishman, in
discussing the armed forces of this
little kingdom in a publication dated a
decade and a half ago has the follow
ing rather prophetic statement to make
in regard to a possible war between
Belgium's two powerful and envious
neighbors, France and Germany:
"It is Interesting to note that, while
by the conventions of 1881 the per-
petual neutrality of Belgium is guar
anteed, these conventions state that
such neutrality would be OF little use
to those neighboring states if the Bel
gian kingdom fails in its military force
to make it respected. In case of a war
between Germany and France 1t is con-
sidered probable that, with the enor-
nous armies that would be brought
into the field, use would be made of
Belgian territory, since the available
counterminious frontier of those two
states would not afford space enough
for the efficient employment of the
vast hosts concerned
When this was written the treaty
contemptuously referred to by the Ger
man chancellor as "a scrap of paper"
was, Of course, in existence.
Servia has a population of slightly
less than 100000 people, Of which
about 80 per cent are Servians.
and in case of war it is estimated that
she can put into the field between three
and four hundred thousand armed men.
or more than 10 per cent of the total
inhabitants This is staggering per-
centage, but 1t seems to be borne out
by the facts. Military service Is both
compulsory and universal, and liability
for such extends from the age of
eighteen to that of fifty. Recruits do
not join, however, until they are twen-
ty-one, as a rule, and complete their
whole term of service by the time they
are forty-fve.
The army of Servia is divided into
three lines or bans" The first is the
active army and it's reserve. The sec
ond ban consists of reservists OF more
advanced years. and the third is the
territorial army. This last force Is not
regularly organized and Is INTENDED.
except in a very great emergency, for