MILITARY SERVICE IN FRANCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 872, 25 August 1879, Page 2

MILITARY SERVICE IN FRANCE.

The horrors' of military sbrvice which now prevails m France aro strikingly illustrated by a case which has just been '\ heard before one of the Courts of appeal ' m that country. A man named, Pesquet was arraigned for having shot at his own son and deprived himot one arm, with the view of enabling him to escape conscription m the army. The trial took place m the first instant before the correctional tribunal of Rouen about six weeks ago, and an account of it appeared m the Gazette des Tribunaux. The inferior court was of opinion that the oharge had been maae out against theZ father and acquitted thb son ; although * it seems somewhat improbable that the act would or could have been committed, without , the connivance of the victinH > A sentence of two years' imprisonment having been pronounced, the prisoner appealed, and was fortunate enough to find that at $he second hearing the Public Prosecutor was inclined to be on his side. The grounds of the second decision, which reversed tho other, were that the wound was too severe to justijy the accusation. A much less terrible injury would have sufficed to save the youngman from conscription , whereas the loss of a right arm would inoapaci-' tate him not only from military service, but also from being of any use to his father m the trade which he carries on. •' Pesquet was accordingly convicted of the minor offence of wounding through imprudence, and sentenced to two., months' imprisonment and a fiti'e.of iOO '"' francs. The second judgment was not altogether satisfactory, inasmuch as it admitted that the wound, tras " absolutely inexplicable," while it went only so far as to declare that "it was impos-; sible to imagine it the result of accident." But the significance .ofe the whole story lies m the fact that the inferior court, upon very slender evidence, ap. proved the accusation. It shows, that the hatred of the industrial classes m the country for military ser vice/not only exists m a very strong form, but is well known and generally acknowledged to » exist. The "'most military nation of/ Europe," which is sometimes: supposed to be always longing for war, and at the present moment specially thirsting for revenge, is composed to a great extent of peaceable folk who may be seriously imagined ready to ■ shoot off! ' the right* arms of their sons rather than send them to serve their time under colours. " T

A man who got caught m one of the many rainstorms we have had lately, said that he had given up gruniblihg about being wet, because the wind had been blowing so hard, that it had torn the sky all to ribbons, and (of course it leaked like a worn out tent cover. His mate became lost m philosophical contemplation, this view of cause anct effect being quite, a new. one to him.