exception. One short anecdote will fully
illustrate the French modus operand!. In
the year eighteen hundred and thirty-five a
young Greek, only two and twenty years of age,
was quartered at the small town of La Flèche,
as sergeant-major in an infantry regiment. He
was a dashing young man, of first-rate education.
Having published several sonnets and
fugitive pieces in the only journal of the
town, he attracted public attention, and
General Schramm— whose estates lie near the
town, hearing of him, and judging favourably
of his military efficiency— had him appointed
adjutant to the Royal Military College
then and still existing there. He remained
there for two years, when he obtained an
ensigncy in a regiment of the line. He joined,
and remained in his regiment for three years,
when he got his company in an African
regiment. He served in Algiers, at Bone and
Blidah for about four years more, and was
then drafted back, as chef-de-bataillon (major)
into the very same military school where he
had received his first officer promotion. Thus,
at the age of thirty, he had risen to be a
major, with the pay of three thousand six
hundred francs a-year, and two decorations of
honour besides. At the present moment, he
must be at least a general of brigade.

Reverse the picture. Once in the ranks,
always in the ranks, is the maxim in the
English army; and the man who accepts
the shilling from the recruiting-sergeant, and
fulfils an engagement made over his ale in a
pothouse, bids adieu to all hope of rising in
the military profession; he must give up all
ambition and seek what pleasure he can find
in transient indulgences.

A brief retrospect of what took place in
the two armies during the war in the East,
will not be out of time and place here.
When the allied troops first met at Gallipoli
and Varna, French and English privates
fraternised, as did also the non-commissioned
officers of both armies: sergeants and
sergeant-majors visiting each other with all
brotherly familiarity and equality of rank
and military attributions. The battle of
the Alma took place, and non-commissioned
officers passed to the higher grade, or
died gloriously on the field of battle.
Balaklava followed, and those who escaped
that treacherous and heroically repulsed
encounter, advanced another step and became
captains. Inkermann, with all its horrors
and obstinacy of sudden attack, came next,
and French captains rose to be majors;
and, at the close of the war had become
lieutenant-colonels; while, from the outset,
private French soldiers rose to be the equals
and even the superiors of our oldest and most
experienced sergeant-majors.

Such being promotion during the chances
of war, I will sum up the French service
regulations in times of peace.

Every subaltern must remain, according to
the military code, four years in his grade
before being promoted to a higher one.
Every captain must remain the same length
of time before being promoted to a majority;
every major must remain two years in
active service before he can obtain a
lieutenant-colonelcy; every lieutenant-colonel
must fill that rank for two years before
reaching a step higher; and so on, two
years before he becomes a brigade major-
general, and two years more before he can be
promoted to be a lieutenant-general. And
here the question of a fixed time ends, as
the head of the state alone promotes the
lieutenant-generals to be Marshals of France;
which, however, he cannot do, unless the
aspirants have commanded a corps d'armée—
that is, have proved themselves worthy of
being commander-in-chief. In the promotion
of officers, there are two modes of operation:
the first is au choix— by selection, as to merit,
&c.; the second, à l'ancienneté,— length of
service in the same grade. But all this is
arranged in the most impartial manner at the
Ministry-of-War. Surely the example thus
set us by our allies, might be followed, if not
altogether, at least in a modified degree; it
shows us that to be well-served we must
take the trouble and incur the responsibility
of selecting our servants; and that it is
absurd we should shrink from promotion by
selection, when it is the only mode of obtaining
the best men. Job and be corrupt, indeed,
and we have reason to fear it; act
honestly, and we have none. The evils under
which our military system at present labours,
are of so crying a nature, that common sense
prompts us to examine into the way in which
such matters are managed in other countries;
the French system, which is the parent of
the systems of Belgium, Holland, and Sardinia,
is full of useful suggestions at a moment
when the purchasing system is occupying so
much of public attention in this country.

It may be interesting to learn the pay in
time of peace, of an army where promotion
is open to all, and where, from the moment a
sub-officer receives his commission, he takes
rank among, and fraternises with his brother
officers, who all receive him as if he had issued
from one of the military schools, and had not
risen from the ranks. That pay is as follows:

Fr. per An.

Field-marshal of France . .                                  30,000

Lieutenant-general . .                                          15,000

Brigade-general . .                                              10,000

Infantry colonel, or commander of a chief town . . 5,000

Cavalry colonel . .                                                 5,500

Staff, Artillery, or Génie lieut.-colonel . .                6,250

Infantry lieutenant-colonel, or commander
of a chief-town . .                                                   4,300

Cavalry lieutenant-colonel . .                                 4,700

Staff, Artillery, or Génie lieut.-colonel  . .               5,300

Infantry major . .                                                    3,600

Cavalry major . .                                                    4,000

Staff, Artillery, or Génie major . .                           4,500

Infantry captain, first class . .                                 2,400

Infantry captain, second class . .                           2,000