BRITISH OFFICERS.— A FRENCH VIEW.

Evening Post, Volume LXI, Issue 86, 13 April 1901, Page 7 (Supplement)

BRITISH OFFICERS.— A FRENCH VIEW.

A Frenchman who fought with the Boers under Villebois-M&reuil, and has published a book on tho war, views the British ofk'cei with a curious mixture of admiration and mali«e. There is pro : babiy a vein of truth even in his malice, and he. puts it amusingly. " The profession ot aims in England," he Temarks, a au occupation not at all, absorbing, but very fashionable, very ' 'sporting.' War itself is, ' a sport, which has its special costume, its accidents propsr to the soldier, but which is not supposed to engross the man. The fact that a great many officers brought with them, in addition to tker khaka uniforms and braided tunics, tehuis, football, and polo coslumes, dresbcoate, and smoking - jackets, is significant of this state of mind. The programme they had mentally drawn up was souriothiHg of this sort: — 'From 7 to 8 a.m., football, breakfast; from 9 to 10, lawn tennis ; from 10 to 11, a battle ; then a rest, a tub, massage, lurich! %& English officer' is a gentleman, always perfectly well bred, often very well educated, and extrenjely affable ; but h» is a gentleman, and not on officer." The Frenchman gives a very generous estimate of Tommy Atkins, whom h» describes as marching into action under a hail of projectiles, steadily as if on parade, lria head held high, and seeming to say, "Make way! I am an Englishman !"