army, however, Hungarians, Croats, and Bohemians have retained their peculiar nationality, and it is still very prominent; still, recent events, railways, and the undeniable skill of the government will assuredly hasten that fusion which will be of material advantage to the entire population. The various nationalities, it is true, are ever prominent, but they are all connected by one name, that of the emperor the living palpable image of the great national unity. Thus, if Dalmatians, Bohemians, or Tyrolese are on terms of hostility toward each other, in the name of their emperor, king, duke, or count, they will unite for the benefit of their fatherland. The terrible events of 1848 furnish the most salient proof of this. Hungary in a state of insurrection, its capital in the power of insane revolutionaries, Italy triumphant, the monarchy almost overthrown, the monarch an exile, as it were, in his own states-such was Austria's position; but on the shout, "Long live the Emperor !" the army rose like one man, advanced on the foe, and all was saved.

In order to promote the fusion of all the various languages and components, the government has ordered German to be used as the military language. The officer may be a Servian, Italian, or Croat, but he must be acquainted with the German language, and the soldier understand it. For the same laudable end the emperor sedulously appointed many German officers to the non-German divisions, and vice versă. Though this produces numerous inconveniences and much discussion, at times even duels, it possesses, most undoubtedly, considerable advantages, and is of great service in promoting the fusion. For the same purpose the government also favours various customs: the officers, for instance, whatever nation they may belong to, address each other as "thou," and a species of freemasonry exists More than this, if any them. among unmerited misfortune has occurred to an officer, he need only apply to his nearest comrade in arms, even if unacquainted with him, and all the others will club together and find him the requisite funds to continue his journey, or to satisfy any other necessity. By a variety of means of a similar nature the government have succeeded in forming one compact whole out of heterogeneous, and frequently hostile, elements.

The recruiting of the army is effected by districts or provinces. At the head-quarters of each recruiting district an infantry officer is attached to keep the lists. The several regiments send an officer there, at the period of making up their strength, who selects the persons best suited for his arm, and takes them to the regiment. They enter the service at twenty years of age, and remain ten years in service-eight active, and two reserve. The re-engagements after the time of service has expired is promoted by the government by good pay, and is of frequent occurrence, especially among the Hungarians. Substitution is not known in Austria. The recruit who does not wish to serve pays in to the state treasury 600 florins (507.) in the hereditary countries; 700 florins (581.) in Italy. This fiscal measure is unjust, as the district has still to provide the regular number of men. It is really favouring the rich at the expense of the poor, as a greater number of the latter is entered in out of their turn. The French system of conscription, which is far from being perfect, has this advantage at least, that the rich classes purchase liberty to the profit of the poor, into whose pockets nearly a million of money is annually poured.

The system of promotion is perfectly free from any aristocratic privileges. Without regard to birth, the government select the right men for the right places; the only persons at all favoured are the sons of soldiers of all grades. So that nothing prevents the son of a private, at a later date, from becoming a field-marshal. The children of the regiment (les enfants de troupe of the French system) are not recognised in Austria officially; but the emperor provides most liberally for their education. They are sent at his expense to the schools of the third and fourth rank: those who distinguish themselves are removed to higher schools, and thence several of them are transferred to the academies, which they quit to become officers in scientific corps. It is impossible to devise a scheme less aristocratical than this; for it would be equally bad policy to promote men of moderate abilities, because they are soldiers? sons, as it is wise to render their path to promotion dependent on their actual or remarkable merit. The greater portion of the second-lieutenants is appointed, after passing an examination, from one of the imperial military academies. These establishments are most excellent: they furnish officers to the engineers, the état-major, the artillery, without possessing any exclusive monopoly: for every Austrian subject, no matter where he has been educated, can subject himself to the examination, which alone gives a claim for a commission. There is also another method by which officers are appointed. The sons of military men are attached to the regiments as cadets. Some of them are appointed. supernumerary lieutenants, but the majority serve like privates. Lastly, the sergeants furnish their quota to the commissioned officers, and it is generally a large one in war times. Thus, during the last campaign as many as fifteen sergeants were promoted in several regiments.

The colonel-possessor of the regiment (Oberst inhaber) had only the right to nominate cadets and sergeants. He rarely takes advantage of it, but generally promotes those persons who are recommended by the colonel commanding. But though the colonel en chef generally exercises his privilege with great justice, this system of a merely nominal possession has great inconveniences, for a regiment frequently bears the name. of its owner without having ever seen him. At his death it also loses his name, and perchance the renown it acquired. is buried and forgotten with him. With the change of name the regiment loses in its own eyes a portion of its moral strength and self-confidence, and is at the same time depreciated by the enemy. As a proof of this, we will quote an instance. Archduke Charles, at the battle of Esslingen, saw the old dragoon regiment Latour, afterwards Vincent, repeatedly repulsed by a French battalion. He galloped up to them, and addressed them in the simple words: "Ah, Vincent, Vincent! you are no longer Latours," and the abashed regiment, excited and aroused by the recollection of the name under which it had been so glorious, rushed on the foe, and did its duty. This system is only applicable to the names of provinces, or great men, and they should be retained for ever, unless mutiny or any grave offence necessitated their withdrawal.

This statement, we fancy, will show that in the Austrian army there is no favour shown a separate class, and that. talent and merit can force their way there as well as in the most democratic states. The govern ment placed education above every other standard, and it cannot be justly

reproached for doing so. In Austria, education is not so disseminated among the lower classes as it is elsewhere. It is only general among the rich; it must, therefore, be sought where it can be found; and so, we repeat, that only soldiers' sons are favoured in this system, and this is certainly the best thing the government could do.

After describing the mode in which the sub-lieutenancies are filled up, we come naturally to the promotion of the officers of all grades. That of the first-lieutenant and captain is effected by seniority in every regiment. To fill up the higher charges, a list of the most deserving captains is kept in the chancellerie of the emperor, and from this list he selects the majors. All the higher charges depend on election.

The Austrian soldier receives daily 1 pounds of ammunition-bread, which, if not so good as ours, is of decent quality, and better than the bread eaten by the lower classes. The soldier, however, is not sufficiently fed. He has only one meal a day, and this one is scarcely equal to one of the two given the French soldier. He generally pays 4 kreuzers, or lid. to the mess, and the remainder of his pay is expended in cleaning his accoutrements, or in fruit and other provisions, which are certainly not so good for him as another meal. The soldiers dine in parties of seven to nine men; they cook by means of portable stoves, something like the Russian tea-machines: charcoal alone is used to heat them. This way of living may possibly cost the state and the soldier more than our method, but at the same time possesses indubitable advantages. Those persons, intimate with each other, share the burden of duty more easily; the food is prepared in a more cleanly fashion, and is eaten while warm; in short, this mode of life more resembles a family circle than the usual barrack monotony. The Austrian soldier is excellently lodged; he lives in well-ventilated rooms, but does not sleep on mattresses, except in hospital and certain quarters in Italy, when this article of furniture is provided by the parochial authorities.

The Austrian officers do not mess together. Each lives separate, or with a few chums selected by himself; it is rare, however, to see four of them dining together. They only meet in larger numbers at coffeehouses or places of public resort. Undoubtedly this mode of life is more convenient for the individual, but the esprit de corps and the military feeling must suffer considerably by it. On one hand, the officers are not so intimately connected; and, on the other, they have not such opportunities for mutual instruction. Very few subalterns are married, for the Austrian government gives widows no pensions except when the husband has been killed in action; but to secure the widow from starvation, the sum of 6007. must be paid into the treasury, or the amount made a permanent charge on the estates of one of the couple before permission to marry is conceded. This prevents the trick so frequently played in France, of borrowing the money for a few days to show to the representative of the law, and then returning it.

The Austrian armies are under the supreme command of the emperor, and the generals receive their orders from his majesty through the warminister. The staff consists of 5 field-marshals, 15 generals of cavalry, or quarter-masters, 87 lieutenant-field-marshals, and 123 major-generals. The army is composed of four great corps d'armée, subdivided into divi

sions, brigades, &c. The troops are always ready to march; the staff, ambulances, and various branches are prepared, and can go directly into

the field.

The first army is in Austria, and has its head-quarters at Vienna, under the command of Count Wratislaw, general of cavalry.

The second army is in Italy, head-quarters Verona, general-in-chief Field-Marshal Radetzky.

The third army is in occupation of Hungary, head-quarters Ofen, general-in-chief Archduke Albert, general of cavalry.

The fourth army is in Gallicia and the Bukovina, commander-in-chief Prince Edmund Schwartzenberg, lieutenant-field-marshal, head-quarters Lemberg. It is composed of only one corps-the 14th.

We might add to these four armies that in Croatia, which holds the military frontier, the Banate and Servia, under the separate command of the Ban Jellachich, but this is such a peculiar, confused, and elastic organisation, that, in order to give an idea of it, we need only to mention a single fact. These provinces, which in ordinary times are only bound to supply the active army with a contingent of from 12,000 to 15,000 men, in 1848 sent above 120,000 combatants to Vienna.

The Austrian army has an état-major corps, composed of very distinguished officers, who before the commencement of their career passed a first-rate examination. This corps is less numerous than in France: it consists of a lieutenant-field-marshal as quartermaster-general, 2 majorgenerals, 13 lieutenant-colonels, 20 majors, 81 captains, and 5 firstlieutenants. These officers are rarely employed as adjutants, for the generals generally select their own from officers of all arms. The officers of the état-major generally restrict themselves to military operations, drawing up plans, &c. We may mention a fact which will show better than any argument the reservation in the employment of the officers of this corps, and the simplicity of the machinery of the supreme command and the administration. Marshal Radetzky, at the head of an army of 100,000 men, and viceroy of a kingdom containing five millions of inhabitants, has only one chief of the état-major for the management of this immense and difficult machine-certainly one of the most distinguished officers in Europe, General von Benedek-a colonel of the staff as sous chef, 4 captains, and 8 non-commissioned officers as clerks; and it must be borne in mind that the majority of the official documents are written in two languages.

All the articles the troops require are furnished by the state in Austria, and for this purpose it has large establishments, which are at the same time manufactories and central magazines. Some of them are so extensive that they rather resemble fortresses than a magazine. The one at Stockerau contains thousands of civil and military workmen and a numerous garrison. Immense quantities of raw material may be seen there-leather, cloth, felt, steel, &c., and the articles already made are stored in such large quantities, that if an entire army entered this building in a state of nudity, it could be turned out again in a few hours, fully equipped. This old system will explain the rapidity with which the Austrian armies were able to cover the most considerable losses; for, most assuredly, the greatest difficulty in forming an army is removed

when the government has the means at hand to equip and arm it: consequently, the Austrian arrangements in this respect cannot be too strongly recommended to the notice of our clothing-boards. The Austrian armies possess within themselves all the elements of existence, maintenance, and success. The state is contractor and manufacturer en gros. Arms and ammunition are furnished by the Ordnance: the military clothing-board provides for all the requirements of the soldier: it makes its own bread, and distributes forage through its own Imperial agents. It has always a stock on hand of every possible description, and administers and keeps it up at a remarkably small expense.

In all ages the uniform has been an object of great attention in all regular armies. An ornament, a strip of cloth, as a mark of distinction, has produced many a hero. After any military error or misfortune, the withdrawal of any mark of distinction impresses on a regiment the terrible necessity of recovering from this moral overthrow; and history tells us that no troops ever neglected it. In the Italian campaign, Marshal Radetzky deprived a battalion, which suffered the enemy to capture its colours, of the rose on the czako;-the battalion is now passionately awaiting the moment to retrieve its character. But, apart from this moral view of the subject, the uniform must be a subject of earnest thought to every commander, that it may not only please the eye, but be at the same time comfortable, not in any way impede the free movements of the soldier, protect him against the severity of the weather, cost as little as possible, and give all the various branches of the army a certain degree of resemblance. In all these points the Austrian army has nearly attained perfection. The only thing that may be criticised, perhaps, is the tightly-fitting costume of the Croats and Hungarians, who, however, wear their national garb. The whole army, with the exception of the light troops, wears the same light-blue trousers and a very convenient and elegant white tunic. The Croats and artillery are brown. The light infantry are all dressed in pearl-grey tunics, and wear a turned-up hat with cocks' feathers. The coat of the light.cavalry varies according to the purpose to which they are applied, but in shape very much resembles the infantry pattern. With the exception of the German cavalry, who wear a helmet of black leather, with brass ornaments, and the Hulans, who wear the czapka, a most elegant and very light czako has been given to the whole army. The infantry cloak is of. good dark grey cloth, very wide, and so made that it can be worn over the knapsack it is usually drawn in by a buckle behind. The cavalry cloak has no sleeves; it is very wide and all white, but the cloth is rather thin. The officer wears precisely the same dress as the rank and file; the only distinction is on the front of his czako, and, according to his rank, consists of a single or double lace, with the gilded Austrian arms, and a gold embroidered peak. In the cavalry regiments the officer's: helmet is almost entirely composed of gilded metal. Among the subaltern officers the mark of distinction through the whole army is the scarf. It is of silk, and is made of the two Austrian colours, black and yellow :: without being expensive it is excessively pleasing to the eye. The dif ference of grade is marked on the collar. The second-lieutenant has one embroidered star, the first-lieutenant two, the captains three; staff