84 
THE FRENCH MANOEUVRES OF 189.1. 
were circulated through the various channels with great rapidity and 
regularity. The staff appeared to be most efficient in the field, there 
was no fuss or hurry, and everything went on with mechanical precision, 
changes in the original plan and direction of an attack being made 
without any apparent difficulty, so as to suit unexpected contingen¬ 
cies. In cantonments, all messages for the staff were carried by 
bicyclists, a certain number being attached to the head-quarters of 
each brigade and division. The saving of horses thus effected was of 
great value, as even with this help, the Cavalry largely complained 
of the number of men they had to detach from their regiments for 
orderly duties and other employments. 
What is to be most admired in the French army is the spirit of the 
men. After a trying and fatiguing day's work, there was no sign of 
dejection, and the flow of chaff passing between the various messes as 
they sat on the roadside eating their evening meal was most inspiriting. 
The officers looked well to the comfort of their men, and there seemed 
to be a strong feeling of sympathy between all ranks. The discipline, 
as said before, is peculiar to the French army, to us it appears much 
too free and easy, but whatever may be the lines on which it is founded, 
it possesses the power of enabling men, who are carrying the heaviest 
of kits, to make long marches and to go through all kinds of fatigue 
without hardly a man falling, out from the ranks. The system appears 
slack, and it would never do for an army, constituted as is ours, but it 
suits the French, and through it an immense amount of work is got 
out of the men, without the semblance of grumbling or a murmur. 
Manoeuvres, as carried out in peace time, must always be of a very 
artificial nature, the really important point of the effect of losses from 
killed and wounded hardly entering into account, and the use of blank 
ammunition destroying much of the reality of the situations; but the 
great amount of physical and moral energy demanded from the officers 
and men is a very high training in itself, while the test put on the 
capabilities of the Commissariat and other departments very nearly 
approaches the actual demands of war. 
The manoeuvres have shown that France possesses Generals capable 
of commanding on service the immense armies, amounting on paper to 
over three millions, which, under the new regulations of service, she 
should be able to place in the field. General Saussier, the chief 
director of the operations, showed himself a man of great activity and 
energy, and his arrangements were thoroughly practical, his two 
subordinates, Generals de Gallifet and Davoust, gave him the most able 
support. In equipment there is but little wanting to render the French 
army perfect, money and science have both done their share, and if in 
wartime the men acquit themselves as well as they have done during 
the late manoeuvres, the French, nation should have the satisfaction of 
knowing that the millions they have expended on National insurance 
has not been wasted. 
