THE FUTURE OF MODERN ARMIES.
THE dispute now raging in France over the Govern-, ment proposal to reduce the term of compulsory service in barracks to two years is one, as we believe, of extreme significance. France being at once the most military of nations and the one most susceptible to new ideas, her example is almost sure. sooner or later to per- suade Europe; and it seems almost certain that she intends this example should be set. The older Generals, it is true, and probably a -majority of the officers, are bitterly against the scheme. They say that the French - character is inherently opposed to passive obedience, and that it takes at least three years to bring the conscript tó the necessary attitude of mind. He has not the German's reverence for superiors, or the German's habit of deference. towards all who are legally, entitled to give orders. They doubt if he will remain to be a non-commissioned officer, and ask, with a persistence that rather disconcerts the Treasury, where, if- the sous-oficier is to be retained by higher pay, the money is to come from. They see that. the. Socialist idea of substituting the Swiss system of trained militia for that of regular armies gams ground yearly among the peasantry, and they believe that it will be v promoted by the abolition of exemptions,- which will render the entire cultivated class, who–now-to the number of thirty-seven thousand serve only for one year, bitterly hostile to barrack life. The consequence, they predict, will be a further general reduction to one year, and then the adoption of the Swiss system of an armed militia trained as soldiers for six months only: and though excel- lent for defence, useless for conquest, or indeed for any work beyond the frontiers. The colonies, they assert, under such a system must be given up, and the foreign policy of France placed upon an entirely new basis and directed to ire- thought-of ends. They fear, too, we fancy, though they keep back this argument, that the soldiers, being less of a caste, will be less willing to put down rioters, and that the populace will regain that "right of revolt" which has been .so nearly extinguished by the adoption of scientific weapons.
These arguments, supported as they are by the tradition which in France ascribes all merit to "veterans," and put forward by those who lead opinion within the Army itself, have formidable weight ; but nevertheless the Government adheres to its proposal. The Germans, its advocates say, have adopted it, and "are French soldiers less capable of instruction than German ? " The abolition of exemp- tions, they affirm, is demanded by the principle of equality and by the temper of the French soldier, who murmurs with ever-increasing bitterness against these "privileged conscripts " ; while the difficulty of the non-commissioned officer which affects all Armies can be met, and will be met, by the grant of reasonable pensions. The defensive strength of the country will not, it is added, be impaired, for a Reservist is the best of soldiers ; and as to wars of con- quest, they always produce a rush of Reservists to the front. These arguments are at least as strong as those of the Generals, especially as they are supported by the whole history of the Boer War, which has been watched in France, it must be remembered, with keen sympathy for the half drilled side, and by the American victories in Cuba ; and there is one behind them which is stronger than them all. The French masses are not weary of war or of military life—a fact proved by the continued supply of officers—but they are sick to death of • compulsory life in barracks. They are all getting educated in a degree, they have all imbibed somathing of the modern thirst for comfortable life, and they all regard the three years of unpaid slavery in barracks with passionate resentment. It is believed that the one imperative mandate given by the poorer electors to the majority of Deputies is to vote for the reduction from three years to two ; and such mandates are in France rarely disobeyed.
The Bill, therefore, whatever its consequences, will in all probability pass, with this for its first result. The older officers, distrusting its effect, will insist, as the German officers have done, on " intensive " discipline, that is, more and harder work, more implicit, or, so to speak, automatic, obedience, and greater rigour of disciplinary punishments. This will produce a discontent which, as the educated will direct it, will speedily be manifested at every election in demands either for fur, her reduction, or for the abrogation, more or less complete, of the barrack system. The electors will begin by asking that all electors should be placed in the position now occupied by the privileged conscripts, and end with demanding .that France be defended, like Switzerland, by a trained militia.
It is at this point, as we seem to foresee, and under this pressure that the system of conseriPtion as now worked upon the Continent will break down. It rests in every country_ upon the consent of the People, for even) an autocracy cannot quarrel with the whole class.which fills its armies ; and if that consent is withdrawn owing to an incurable antipathy to barrack life, conscription as we have hitherto known it must end. It would, it is true, never be withdrawn if its withdrawal involved the sub- jugation of the country ; but then does it involve it ? As it seems to us, just at the moment when conscription is beginning, owing to the general diffusion of intelligence, to bite hardest, the belief in the necessity for the old mechanical discipline is beginning to give way. The Boers were not made fighters in barracks. The Colonials on our side fought as well as the Regulars. Our owri Volunteers could in combat be implicitly relied on. The Rough Riders were among the best American troops in the Spanish War. Allowing, of course, that artillery need a special education, it is in good riflemen that the strength of future armies will be found, and good riflemen can be made without the
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Idrawback of barrabk life, which of itself, especially when educated men are subjected to it, as they are now to be in France, produces nothing but weariness and disgust. It would not take three months practice in the open to make of the London Police as effective an infantry, division as any country, even Germany, could show. It is quite true that no country can rely exclusively upon Volunteers, and especially no country with large transmarine possessions ; but the disuse of barracks does not involve of itself the abolition of compulsory service in certain specified emergencies. If barracks and all that barracks entail are so indispensable, why do we use and trust Reservists ?
We are not of those who believe that war, and therefore preparation for war, will ever be discontinued. It has its roots too deep in human nature, its nobler as well as its baser instincts, in abhorrence of wrong as well as in fear of being wronged. Nor can we think it probable that minute armies can be trained to a perfection which would enable their Governments to dispense with the levy, of great forces. The fear of being hopelessly outnumbered is hard to eradicate, and, in fact, a regiment of Moltkes would wither away under a hail of bullets just as quickly as a regiment of average recruits. But we do believe that there are better methods of training armies than the present oppressive one, and we see in the dispute among soldiers in France, and its almost inevitable result, evidence that this truth is beginning to be accepted among the people whose ideas have a trick of finding all over the Continent rapid comprehension and acceptance. If we are right, universal military service will cease in a very few years to be uni- versal service in barracks, and will thus be deprived of its most oppressive and most repulsive feature. What France thinks sufficient for her defence other nations will soon find sufficient for theirs.
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