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    the field . Algeria can always be held . by 25 , 000 men 7 and , deducting 120 , 000 men jor depots , tie * £ t of the army is at the free disposal of the Emperor , besides a reserve of 150 , 000 men , drawn from old hou-commissioned officers who have served their time , and conscripts whom it has not been considered necessary to . call out . This army is drawn from a population of 36 , 000 , 000 , speaking the same language and imbued with . the- same national feelings . Ihe empire of France is centralised in Paris , a fact decidedly advantageous to perfect military government . In no other European army are the troops influenced by the . same universal spirit . A trench regiment does not bear the name of a varying possessor , nor the appellation of a province or a town , but merely a simple number . 1 his number , however , is permanent , and has its appointed place in the history of the army . The gi-eat strength of the French army lies in its promotion from the ranks . .

    The French soldier is rendered intelligent , active , and independent ; lie is treated very strictly , and is obliged to exercise—no matter the state of the weather- —for six or eight hours in the barrackyard . The greatest possible variety is sought after , and he is even taught to dance and fence . According to law he is ol Jliged to serve seven years ; and even in times of the deepest peace he must serve continuously at least fpiir years and a half . The discipline he is placed under is very strict , arid the punishments for offences are very severe . A French court-martial orders the punishment of death where we should order penal servitude ; and imprisonment for three days is very common in cases where an English soldier would get off with a reprimand .

    " It cannot be denied , however , that this severe . discipline of the French troops , which depends more on their militarv intelligence'than on their mechanical obedience to" their officers , possesses its dangerous aspect . This is more especially the case when the army has , through-unexpected reverses , lost / all con- ^ jBdence in the leaders , and the soldiers themselves have yielded up the hope that their bravery can give a successful turn to affairs . The history of the French army supplies iis with repeated instances that , after the loss of a campaign , it becomes more demoralised , and the bands of discipline and military order are more thoroughly dissolved , than was ever Austrian armiesLike

    the case in the Russian or . every man of sanguine temperament ,. the Frenchman soon grows desponding , and when this has once occurred , and the ambition which urges him on has lost its elasticity , he becomes the very worst soldier in the world . AH the difficulties which he endured with a smile when advancing appear , to him doubly heavy on a retreat , and as he feels no fear of his Superiors , he no longer obeys their orders with such precision as is found , in those armies where discipline . founded on severity is maintained . Hence we are firmly convinced that , although French tropps would always defeat an equal number of Russians , unless the accidents of terrain -were too unfavourable , and

    that a French officer "ivliQ allowed himself to be beaten would deserve to bo tried by courtrinartial , still we hardly fancy that Frenchmen would have defended Hebastopol with that admirable perseverance which the troops under 1 ' rince GortschakofF undoubtedly displayed . " One very excellent regulation is , that all brigar dier-generals above sixty-two years of age , and generals of division over nixty-fivo , are-, transferred to what is called the 2 nd Section , ' or reserve force , and cm only bo ' employed , on active service within the frontiers upon half-pay . The- French army happily knows nothing , of aged officers who cannot mount their horses without assistance .

    Next follows the Russian airmy ; and here our author confesses himself to be stranded for want of authentic figures . The million of armed men which the autocrat is said to have at his disposal must bo looked upon us n fable , in the absence of reliable information ; though , at tho battle of Waterloo , ( 500 , 000 Russians wore on the march to the Rhine , and must have crushed Napoloon had ¦ not Wellington saved thorn tho trouble .

    Tho grout animating features of tho Russian nrnvy are passive obedience and religious fervour . They fight for their God and their Czaiv The worst feature of tho private soldier ' s lift ) is the arbitrary manner in wliioU ho its treated . Every man ' s hand jh raisod against him ,, and ho- has no chance of redress ! Nothing but a medal , gained « n a campai gn will keep him inviolate from a blow , and proouro him tho protection of the law . " Anotherpeoultor organization in Russia is that

    of the Military Colonies , fo ' sitdecL by the Emperor Alexander I ., on the termination of the war with France . Count Arafctschiyeff drew up the original scheme Tvhich immediately received the Imperial assent . The objects proposed were—that the soldier should partly support himself by cultivating the land increasing the reserve by means of the Crown peasants : providing a house for the soldier s family in the event of war ; and , lastly , populating districts where a Want of hands was perceptible . These colonies were founded on the frontiers of Poland , Austria , and Turkey , thus enabling Russia to assemble a numerous corns d ' armde in the south-west chosen for the

    in a very short time . The villages experiment were inhabited by crown serfs , who were freed from all taxation , but in return had to receive the colonists . Their cabins were pulled down , and houses were built in regular streets . All the serfs above fifty years of age were chosen as master colonists , each receiving about forty acres of land , on which to support a soldier and his family and a horse , if the village was occupied by a cavalry regiment . The soldier , in return , assisted the colonist in cultivating his land , whenever his military duties did ot occupy his time . The commandant had the Option of selecting the soldiers to be quartered on If he had several the

    the master colonists . sons , eldest became his assistant ; the second belonged to the reserve ; the third could become a military peasant while the others were regarded as military pupils . The colonists of Southern Russia , at the present time , occupy 380 villages in the governments of Kherson , Charcov , and Yekaterinoslav , and amount to 80 , 000 men . These military districts are watched so jealously , that no person can enter them without a special pass from the military , . authorities . The great . advantage Russia derives from this institution is , that she possesses in these colonies an inexhaustible resource . for strengthening her army , which is constantl y supplied with recruits accustomed to the use of arms from their earliest youth . "

    The Russian army suffers , like the Austrian , from being eom 2 > osed of heterogeneous elements . There are G ermans and Great Russians , "White Russians , Lettonians , Sarmatiaris , Tartars , Cossacks , and Finns . Jews arc compelled to serve , but are only used-as workmen . Out ot ' c £ 5 or 70 millions of men subject to the Czar , 40 millions to 45 millions ( of whom 34 millions are Great Russians ) are liable to the conscription . All the Great Russians are most peaceable men , and unanimous in their honour of the military profession . The great defect of the Russian army is , that it is composed of tyro classes , —men who are naturally pacific , and men who are forced into the ranks , and take no pleasure in doing their duty .

    The present available force is 637 , 000 men , with 1 , 436 guns , and 316 pontoons . We wind up with the British army , upon which little need be said . The systems of purchase , and army clothing ; the force of tradition and official obstinacy ; the spasmodic attempts at reform , and the establishment of amateur Camps , like Aldershott and Ohobham , where the officers play at soldiers in the morning and run up to the Opera at night ; the lavish expenditure of money , and the unsatisfactory results ; to say nothing of our lamentable mistakes in the Crimea , are all familiar —too sadly familiar—to the public mind . In no European state is so much wealth bestowed upon this branch of the ' national service , with so little

    return of . which we may be proud . ^ The old courage , endurance , and physical stamina of the soldier win our battles , and not our military organisation . The greatest enemy he has to fight against is tlic system under which he works . Our present disposable establishment , in any ofi ' ensive wnr , may be taken at 120 , 000 infantry , 12 , 000 cavalry , 300 guns , and 2 , 000 engineers . Our defensive army consists of 120 , 000 meii in tho militia ; 12 , 000 volunteer cavalry ; tlijo Royal Dockyard Battalion , consisting of 10 , 000 powerful workmen trained to the use of arms ; and G 0 , 000 pensioners , one half of whom would bo available for home sorvioo ; besides nine infantry regiments in tho Channel Islands' Militia ; several artillery companies , and the Honorable Artillory ' of London . The booU concludes with an appendix concerning tho Turkish and Sardinian armies , tho latter of which shows a disposable force of 120 , 600 men .

    Tho information that our author is enabled to lay before liia readers , though only perhaps an approximation to tho truth , is particularly valuable at tho prosont time ,

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    OC 1 SOLA . ' Ofeola . By Captain Mayne Bold . 3 vols . Hurst and Blackett . Captain limn is . not of tho broad « und-buttur

    school of novelists . He spices Ids lucubrations highly , and uses the literary cayenne so unsparingly , that none but the strongest stomachs can do full homage to his specialty . OLn this threevplume banquet the condiments are all of the highest and most pungent flavor . Murders , battles , . and duels are mere entre e ; the pieces de resistance are concatenations of three-piled horrors ^ -the wind-up being a climax to be worked out only by calling in the aid of a rattlesnake of the largest dimensions . The story—as may be antici-Indiansof Indiawarfare ¦'_"' - L- — ¦ ' — - . * A '» « ¦ * V . . A _ M' .

    pated—is one of , n , Indian oppression , Indian heroism , and Indian vengeance , interspersed with pale-faced villany and virtue . This field , one would think , was pretty well exhausted ; but Captain Reid has shown that some unnoticed gleanings were yet unappropr ated , and , to do him justice , he has made the most of his materials . There is one noticeable circumstance , that the interest rises as the tale proceeds , and that the closing scene is the fitting ape " x to a pyramid of literary wonders .

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    RUSSIA . Russia By a recent traveller : a series of letters , originally published in " The Continental Review . " William Francis Graham . There is so much that is valuable in this work— -r so much that strictly concerns the present and ' future of Russia—that it would be very unfair to pass it over with a merely cursory notice . A correspondent of " The Continental Review ,. ' the author is a man of extraordinary intelligence , who has recently visited Russia , and in these pages presents us with a record of his actual experience .

    He visited Russia in a moment of transition—m . a moment when old traditions are vanishing , and a new era of liberty of thought and discussion is commencing . Such is the author s statement , and it obviously " adds interest and value to his book . The press " was comparatively free ; the Sovereign was engaged in the task of reformation ; and the country * was in an-attitude-of visibl y progression . Much seems to have dietl with the Emperor JSTicholas ; and much that existed as the " the hidden life " of his epoch , awakened and i-evealecl itself since his death . The gossip of St .

    Petersburg , which is the commonest sotirce of inforinatioifto the English papers , is not at all to be relied on ; notwithstanding all it " may assert , serf-eniau ^ cipation is a fact , and Austria dreads the growth of a liberty which already threatens to revolutionise her Slavonic provinces : "It in possible , " continues our author , " that the present Emperor mav not have inherited the iron will of Ins father ; but it is certain that lie has never wavered hitherto in his main purpose , and that all his intentions are o-ood . " It is also " important to observe that the movement does not depend on a single life .

    Not only is the Grand Duke his brother ' s zealous and efficient supporter , but the necessity of a total reform has become a . conviction with the nation at lar <* e . That conviction- —they begin to admit itis chielly the result of the hint war . The experiment of isolation has been tried for thirty years ; in compensation for many evils it was-thought to have given Russia an invincible army , and m one year that army had been three times beaten , and its stronghold taken . If we did not restore the fallen throne of the East , or secure tho sympathies of believers in Delhi and Jeddah , we have at least conquered freedom for the Russian serf , and free thought and speech for generations yet unborn . Our soldiers did . not die for nothing at

    bebastopol . " That the serft arc not fit for freedom our authoi regards as an idle objection . If the argument applies to natural , capacity , it is refuted by tho numerous instances of natives who have rh- < on from tho ranks , under the worst circuniHtancOH , to become tradesmen and merchants . Tho ease with which the Russian adapts hinwulf . t » ft . change ot position is , in fact , one of hfn most sinking tiJuirau-; oristics . Also , with tho same blood in thou- veins , hlcivilised

    tho middle classes nro now as higy as tho nobles were under rotor the Great , or oven under Catherine . They are , it is soundly wwertcd by our intolliiruiifc traveller , im fit for freedom as the Pnliiw . and Dnlgoroukis wore for government . Among them , moreover , a few may not desire to bo freed , for certain obvioua reasons \ but for the mass , tho general enthusiasm with which they look up to tho Czar , i » proof sufliclont that they wish for liborty . A now system has , in fact , gradually grown up .

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    TSfo , 466 Febbdarv 26 , 1859 . 1 THE LEADER . 269 . ¦—_^^^^^^^ , ^^^^^^ m ^^ J^^^^^^^^»^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^—^ . —^—^^ . —^ . ^^^^^^^^ i ^^ M ^^ M ^^ Mj ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ti " . ' "

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 26, 1859, page 269, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2283/page/13/