The reductions in the French Army are much less than
was supposed. It was believed that, in the corps selected, officers and men were to disappear together, but it appears that the men are to be absorbed in other battalions, and the, cadres only abolished. The reduction therefore is only 10,000 men, or one-fifth of the number who must shortly return from Rome and Mexico, and the saving will be barely half a million sterling. It is more than possible that the original design has been modified since the issue of the order, for it was received by the troops at Versailles with strong expressions of annoyance. Reductions, though they do not injure the privates, affect the interests of the officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, by checking promotion, and are supposed, too, to imply concessions to " pain" ideas.
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