The Paris correspondent of the Times, in a letter published
on Thursday, intimates, in a curiously involved and obscure way, but still unmistakeably, that M. de Freycinet will not be able to keep General Boulanger as Minister for War. That General, he says, is M. 016mencean's man, and his ideas, though firm and definite, are inconsistent with the traditional discipline of a French standing army. He makes revolutionary changes, and introduces politics into the barracks. General Boulanger has done nothing- visible to foreigners except remove two regiments for reactionary proclivities, and place a General on half-pay for objecting to his action. The latter act was, perhaps, ill-judged, the first rule of the French Army being that "an officer's commission is his property ;" but we take the meaning of the whole letter to be that the Army is seriously annoyed with its chief, and that representations have been made to the Premier before which he must give way. The incident may prove of no importance; but the Times' correspondent, though he overrates his place in Europe, is really well informed, and there have been signs for some time past of irritation in the Army.
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