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Mount Ida Chronicle, 22 June 1900, Page 5

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(From the " Spectator.") VOne cannot speak or think of the French Army without at once comparm S it with the German. If we strip off the coverings and come to. the naked " ' fact, the two armies exist for the purpose of fighting: each otherj and, therefore, the prime question ss, "Which will wan, which will be the best able to ■ stand the strain of war ?" No doubt the fact that the French Army is popular is a great gain in peace, and, to a certain extent, a gain in war. The light-hearted, enthusiastic soldier will do wonders when he is on the rising wave. If, however, the popularity of the army .has been bought by a sacrifice of the essentials of discipline, it ilias been bought far too dearly. When once nations are at war the popularity or unpopularity of military service matters, in truth, very little. All that the soldier thinks a f is winning, for he koowa that, in the long run, winning is -the road of safety and of life, and soldiers, like other men, think of their lives. The grievances of the barracks are all sunk in the justant need for standing shoulder to shoulder ; and if these grievances were only .the phenomena of rigid discipline, men in the field might easily come to regard them as a source of safety. The unhappy conscript,' if his unhappiness be due not to a weak spirit, but to the iron str.ictne-.w5 of the discipline under which he is drilled may fight quite as well, nay better than he whose barrack life has been so pleasant that .it has failed to make him feel the awful seriousness of war. The men who set their teeth, and fire in dour, stubborn, gloomy earnestness are often . better soldiers than those to whom a campaign seems a kind of picnic. At the same time it must not be forgotten ' that the martinet style of discipline may conceivably be carried too far, and may~\ result in breaking the spirit of the soldier, and turning him into a mere machine. What .is wanted is a discipline which produces perfect loyalty to the officer, and perfect obedience, but whieh at the same time leaves the soldier his independence and his power of initiative when initiative Is reauired. The soldiers of Grant and Sherman, toward the end of the war, had these qualities to perfection, and, if we mistake not, our own soldiers at the present day have them as largely developed as they can be developed in time of peace. Possibly the French private has them, too. But be that as it may, the French Army is one of the most formidable en-: gines of war that the world has ever seen, and is far less of a national bur- » den than might have been imagined. It' is, morally as well as physically, the nation in arms, and exactly reflects tho characteristics of the French people.