MTI.IIAlv'Y AI'll IfDK liOIHlIN LEGOYT. 63 



nionniiuccs it "a \ci-\- ji rave error." After t'nniishino- some sti-ikiiii;- illuslratious to sus- 

 tain liis \iews, he eloses by saying that assuredly France has no pretension to vie with 

 tlie Scandinavian or Germanic nations in stature; yet of 1,U0() young' men, at '20 years 

 of a<i-e, there wt)uld l)e obtained 2Ho soldiers in Prussia, while from the same numl)er 

 ()S2 soldiers would be obtained in France.' The tables of Boudin and Legoyt exhibit this 

 ■<ur|irisiiiL:' diiferent-e in the military aptitude of the two nations, and the statements of 

 Wajtpaeus, an accomplished German statistician, do not much impair their accuracy."'' 



'Jyiill. ('!■ I'Jcad. lie mcil, t. xxxii, p. 403, Jamiiiry 22, 1H67. 



-Tlui Idllowiug is Bdiiilin's tabic of tlio iniliraiy aptitude of some Eiir(p|)eau nations: 

 XiiiiilHr found fit for service in every 1,000 men examined. 



Saxony 259 



Piiifsia 283 



Austria, (l)cfoii- lAVJ) iVl 



Di uniark -• Ji22 



Sardinia, (before 18591 598 



Belgium 630 



Kranw 682 



So that to obtain l.HOO soldier.s it would be uecessary to examine the following number of men : 



Fri-ncbmen 1,466 



Belgians 1,587 



Sardinians 1, 672 



Danes 1,915 



Austriaus 2,013 



Prussians 3, 533 



Saxons 3,861 



{Be Viiceroissement de la taille et des conditions d'aplitade miiitaireeii France, M6ui. de la Soo. d'antbro|>., t. ii, (i. 2."i7 

 Paris, 1865.) 



Legoyl's tables do not cover the same period as Boudiu's, and they show results differing froTn his to some extinl. 

 According to this writer, Sardinia is first in rank, with 810 men found capable in the thousand, and Prussia at the foot, 

 with only 248. The exemptions in the case of the latter |)Ower are made up of 28G men rejected as niider height, (this 

 was in 1854,) and 466 exempted for disease. Legoyt expresses doubt whether the conditions under which these state- 

 ments were ]nocured were sufliciently alike to warrant confidence in the result. The military aptitude of two other 

 nations is furnished by Legoyt, namely, Spain, (100; and Bavaria, 705, (La France et Veiruiiijer, etudes de slalistiqae eom- 

 ^layc')', par A. Legoyt, 8vo, Paris, 1865, p. 575.) Some records of recruiting in Corsica, prepared by M. Coste, of the 

 French army, show the military aptitude of the natives of that island, for the period from 1838 to 18fi4, to have attained 

 the very high rate of 77,5, {Le reenitement de la Corse, Recueil de m6m. do m(5d., chir. et pliarni. mil., 3 s(?r., t. xxix, p. 

 113, Paris, 1873.) 



Since Boudin wrote, the rise and cou.solidation of the formidable North German Empire, audthe overwhelming 

 catastrophe to France iu 1871, have furnished a pregnant commentary on the contrasted military aptitude of France 

 and Prussia. While it is true that out of a thousaud young men a much larger number of Freuchmeu is found capable 

 of healing arms thau is the case with the Prussians; yet, on the other hand, the rate of increa.sc of the population is 

 inimensely iu favor of the latter nation. In Prussia, the rate of annual increase is 1.30 for every 100 of the inhabitants, 

 while ill France it is only 0.35. The population of Prussia would, therefore, double itself in 54 years, but that of 

 France in a period of uot less thau 198 years. With an annual increase in numbers nearly four times as great .as that 

 of her rival, it is clear that Prussia could readily compensate, by an ampler supply of iiieu, for an inferior degree of 

 military aptitude. An element of superior strength was also, at that time, on thi; side of Prussia, in the provision that 

 forms a part of her coinprt^hcnsive military system, namely, that every citizen must himself jurforni the .soldier-service 

 due llie Siate. Obligatory and personal .service in the army, (active or reserved,) by the whole adult male jiopulation, 

 and not on the part of a jKution cho.sen by lot, furnishes a new factor in the calculation of a nation's military strength. 

 When it is remembered that this luovisiou, liy which, in time of war, the whole of Prussia becomes one vast camp, has 

 been applied, with vigorous uniformity, to all the .states forming the new empire, and that the constitution vests the 

 ab.solnte control of these nations of soldiers iu the King of Prussia, as generalissimo of the confederation, the rapidity 

 and completeness of the conquest of France become less surprising. The latter power, iu the re-organization of her 

 army in 1872, copied this, wilh other features of the system she had found to be so fatally eUiciei;t. It is probable that 

 ihis .system of universal and per.sonal service in the army will be adopted by all the continental [(owers of Europe. In 

 addition to the states of the Norlh German Empire, it is now iu force in thi' Kussian and Auslro-Hnngaiian empires, ■ 

 and in the kingdoms of Italy and Sweden ; and even Turkey is considering the question of its introduction. 



The nearly stagnant condition, as regards numb<>rs, of the popnlation in France, has awakened the gravest appre- 

 hensions among her public men, and the causes have been eagerly ilebatcd. ( Fide d scus.sion in the Academy of Modi 



