Under the old purchase system English officers formed a caste, and were looked upon with great respect, not because they were ready to sacrifice their lives for their country, since the privates were equally ready to do that, and the privates were not respected. Officers in those days were respected for being rich and fashionable, or because they were supposed to be the sons of rich men, and the more expensive the habits of the regiment, the deeper was the sentiment of respect. In a word, it was social distinction that was respected in them. The privates were looked upon as a low caste, and the fact that they might have to die for their country did not suffice to elevate them.[20] [Sidenote: Former Feeling about the French Army.] I well remember the old feeling about the army in France under the Second Empire. It was national in the sense of being raised by conscription, but it was not regarded as national by the people. It was looked upon as an instrument of oppression in the hands of Louis Napoleon. In those days the rich avoided military service by paying substitutes. The common word for that transaction was not “paying” as you pay a servant, but “buying” as one buys a slave. The substitute was considered to have sold himself, and was specially despised, instead of being honoured as a man willing to serve his country, whilst no contempt whatever attached to the rich man who paid money to shirk an unpleasant and dangerous patriotic duty. [Sidenote: Present State of French Feeling about the Army.] [Sidenote: The real Dignity of all Military Service however Humble.]