At the time I am writing (April 1882) the French hospital service leaves probably little to desire. This wholesome reformation at the eleventh hour cannot, however, with any show of reason, be pleaded as an excuse for gross mismanagement and crying abuses, which entailed a terrible and gratuitous loss of valuable lives, and which might easily have been avoided by the exercise of common sense and ordinary precautions on the part of General Farre, and common honesty and straightforwardness on the part of M. Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire. Public opinion has long since passed its judgment on both: M. Saint-Hilaire has returned to his cauliflowers and his Aristotle, while General Farre is represented in a popular cartoon as seated on a heap of skulls, and playing on the clarionet in the presence of the angel of death! Nine short months before it was no other than General Farre who announced the coming expedition to the Chamber of Deputies in the following words:— For three days past public opinion has been deeply moved by news from the Tunis frontier (applause). I will trace in few words from the official reports what has taken place. On March 30 the powerful tribe of Khamírs, which nominally belongs to the Regency, made an incursion into our territory, and attacked the Algerian tribes on the frontier. This incursion was repulsed, but on March 31, instead of coming 400 or 500 strong, they were far more numerous, and their aggression assumed a certain warlike importance. Two companies marched to succour the menaced tribes. The engagement lasted eleven hours. We had four killed and six wounded. The Algerian tribes who fought with us also suffered some loss. In presence of these events, which surpass any of the heretofore too frequent incursions, the Government has taken measures to prevent and repress such acts for the future (loud cheers). As soon as a sufficient force shall be concentrated we shall act against these robbers with all the vigour called for by the situation (prolonged applause). [Illustration: MAINTENANT, IL NOUS FAUDRAIT, POUR BIEN _FARRE_, UN PETIT COMMANDEMENT MILITAIRE. Reproduction by Maclure & Macdonald.] The speaker has now probably learned a bitter lesson as to the fickleness of public opinion, and the inexpediency of attempting to gain the laurels of war by “a military promenade of ten days, or a fortnight at the most.”