THE FRENCH ARMY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11556, 18 April 1898, Page 6

THE FRENCH ARMY.

The > Army and * Navy Gazette gives a pessimistic account of the French army. Something of despondency, it says, sometimes seems to overtake those who have the welfare of the French army at heart. The nroposal to reduce the obligatory service to two years or even one year is taken ! as a sign of the times, biit the France | Militaire —which has just absorbed and suppressed our old friend the Avenir Militaire —informs us that there are not wanting some who maintain that the true need of tho country is a long-service army with a strong reserve, and. declares that the change of 1872 was a servile and disastrous imitation of Germany. Short obligatory service, say these, is right for nations possessed with the military spirit, but wilYnot suffice to impart this spirit to such as do not possess it. Frenchmen are open to generous enthusiasms, i-and 'are:.' moved- by. the march

past of a regiment or a gallant act, but they lack the submission, abnegation, and sentiment of duty which make steady and devoted soldiers, and finally constitute the 0,/TiWC. dc metier. To-day, concludes our contemporary, after twenty-six years of peace, the military spirit in France grows weaker and weaker. There are just sufficient volunteers to confirm the truth of the rule that those embodied have exhausted every means of escape. In three years such men receive sufficient instruction —it may be hoped in two or one, since half of each contingent already serves only the latter period—but they cannot acquire the “military soul.” Therefore, in view of shrinking population, and increased numbers in Germany, the France JKilit&ire expresses the opinion that France cannot depend upon anything but the quality of her troops.