It is a remark in frequent use, that the efficiency of an army may be measured by the skill of the general; but the French soldiers have expanded the observation, and have exhibited the wonderful spectacle of skilful soldiers fighting under, and frequently enlarging the views and combinations of able generals. The animal organization of Frenchmen befits them for soldiers; their supple muscular form and height seldom exceeding five feet five or six inches, admit of great activity of movement, and the support of great fatigue: their minds quick, volatile, inquisitive, and fertile in expedients, enable them to see the intentions of their commanding officers in a movement, which, to the soldiers of many other countries would only be known by results. The French commanders knew how to gratify that national cast of intellect so useful to their operations, by frequently imparting to a soldier of a company, for the purpose of wider communication, the principal movements in contemplation previous to their engaging. The vanity of a French soldier is also another most valuable quality in his composition: he takes the deepest interest in the execution of every order, because he thoroughly believes that he is acquainted with all its objects; and upon the achievement of a victory, there is scarcely a French drummer who would hesitate endeavouring to make his hearer believe, that the fortune of the day was owing to some judicious idea of his own: to this vanity the military bulletins which announce successes in all the pomp of language, or convert a disaster into a retrograde victory, are addressed; for a Frenchman, even more than an Englishman, almost always believes what he is told, and is ever the last to confess a defeat. It is a rule with the French officers to give their troops as little trouble as possible when not actually in service, and to keep them perpetually upon the alert when the campaign has commenced; by this measure their troops, contrary to a received opposite notion, are generally fresher than other troops; and as they are mostly composed of young men, are capable of marching more rapidly and longer than soldiers of mixed seasons of life. The French have another great advantage in their plan of combat, which resembles the mode of engaging at sea, practised so gloriously by the late immortal Nelson, that of beating against the centre of an enemy’s line until they penetrate it; this they have several times successfully effected, by that almost endless reinforcement which the arbitrary levies furnish, and which in a moment supply the vacancy made by the bullet and the bayonet. To prevent any ill consequences from the impetuous temerity which might attend the first attack, a considerable corps of reserve is always formed of the more experienced troops, who are able to support their comrades in the front, when too severely pressed, or of forcing them to rally, should they discover any disposition to fly. To their flying artillery, which