seized by four horsemen. Bayard, who was present, turned to Boutières, and said, 'Do you hear that? It is contrary to your statement; this concerns your honor.' Boutières, looking like a thunderbolt at his captive, exclaimed, 'You lie! and to prove that I alone have taken you, let us mount again, and I will kill you or make you cry mercy a second time.' The Albanian did not wish to fight again. Boutières,' then said Bayard, 'you have begun as splendidly as ever young man did; go on thus, and you will one day become a great personage!' This prophecy of the French hero was verified, and Guignes-Guiffray, Sieur de Boutières, became a famous chieftain." He was lieutenant-general under Francis I.

Furthermore, if the Estradiots did not wear defensive armor, it was not because they prized it little, but because they could not afford it; for, according to Warnery himself, in 1517 they commenced to put on cuirasses. And as to the comparative merit of heavy and light cavalry, the General expresses himself thus: "According to rule and the nature of this arm, cuirassiers, gendarmes, and other corps of cavalry mounted on large horses and protected by defensive armor, must fight in the first line, for which reason they are kept in reserve and rarely employed elsewhere. The height of both man and horse must naturally give the advantage in the shock, on the supposition that it occurs fairly, squadron against squadron, and for both sides with equal impetuosity." Respecting the capabilities of heavy cavalry, he remarks that "Seydlitz had put things on such a footing, that the cuirassier can act like the hussar, and the latter like the former; nimbleness, order, attack, rally, all are now the same for both." Surely, then, General Warnery is not very bitter against heavy cavalry, and indeed, as a personal friend and admirer of Seydlitz, that could hardly be expected of him. As his remarks on gendarmes, even were they correct, relate to an epoch some three centu

ries and a half past, they evidently can have no direct bearing on the subject.

After the war of the Empire with Russia, General Morand wrote a work on cavalry, in which he appeared as a champion of light horse. He had been struck with the indefatigable activity of the Cossacks, and the facility and suddenness with which their numerous bands made their attacks, quickly disappeared, and even more quickly returned as soon as danger had passed. They allowed their enemies not a moment's rest, and found abundance where the latter almost famished. In forward marches, they turned the columns, and their intrepid scouts braved the very lines of operations. In the retreat, they flitted in front of the vanquished, harassed them on every side, carried off the wounded and stragglers, and even whole trains and detachments. Carrying his imagination back to the times of Gengis-khan, General Morand asked himself whether such masses of fearless soldiers, finding everywhere a subsistence for men and horses, bearing with them all that belonged to them, could not again make similar conquests; and in his enthusiastic zeal he wished France also to have Cossacks. But his scheme was only a fond delusion. The Cossack exists in Russia alone, and both he and his horse are born and bred on the interminable steppes of his country. The Seine and the Loire are not the Don and the Volga, and the Norman horses cannot be taught to plough the snows for pasture.

More reasonable was the plan of Colonel de Noé, who, impressed with the recent exploits of the chasseurs d'Afrique, wished all the French cavalry to be organized and trained as the former, and, like them, mounted on Barb horses, which are now esteemed the best for war. After enumerating the splendid qualities of these African regiments, he says, " It is toward Africa that we must turn our eyes if we wish to know how such results have been obtained, and how they are to be kept

up. It is there that, even in the midst of peace, is maintained the habit of those arduous exercises that place the chasseurs d'Afrique on a level with the Arab horsemen." But here again the practical question arises, How long must a regiment be under training, to establish habits firmly enough to remain traditional with them after their return to France? Moreover, will they at home be favorably situated for the practice of the principles they have acquired among the Arabs? Besides, let us suppose that all the three hundred and eighty-five squadrons which France now possesses can be mounted on Barb or Arab horses, which is very doubtful: will these retain their native qualities in all the cavalry garrisons of the French empire? Suppose, further, that in order to train men and horses, all regiments in rotation must be sent to Africa: can this effect the purpose? France now keeps eighteen squadrons of chasseurs d'Afrique in Algeria. Let this number be increased to forty, fifty, or even sixty, and let them remain there three years, which certainly is not too long to acquire settled habits; then the turn of every regiment will occur once in twenty-one or twenty-four years. By that time, horses and men will all have disappeared, and everything will have to be commenced anew. We enter into these details to guard our readers against the specious arguments of certain reformers, who, though deserving credit for having stirred up some new ideas, are nevertheless blamable for not having tried the worth of their projected amendments by the test of practical common sense. We are confident that there is no government which would not rejoice to possess a cavalry such as Colonel de Noé proposes, though we are equally sure that none will ever see his ideal realized.

Another work on the same subject, and with similar tendencies, which has been more generally read in this country than Colonel de Noé's, is that of Captain Nolan. In order to understand the aim and object of his work, it should be known

that the English cavalry consists of twenty-eight regiments, divided into cuirassiers, heavy dragoons, light dragoons, lancers, and hussars; but that in reality all these regiments, by composition as well as by training, are to all intents and purposes heavy cavalry, and differing little in the size of men and horses. "More than one half of our lights," our author remarks," are really heavies, and would be considered so in every other European army." Now, with considerable experience in the late wars in India, and a more than cursory acquaintance with the cavalry of other nations, he saw England's shortcomings, and called loudly for reform. He was the first who fell in the disastrous charge at Balaklava, and his country lost in him a gallant officer. His efforts against hereditary routine are exceedingly creditable, and although we fear that enthusiasm urged him too far in some instances, yet as earnest suggestions in behalf of progress and improvement were needed in England, we have no doubt that his work will be productive of much good in that country.

The author is wholly in favor of light cavalry, and uncompromising in his dislike to cuirassiers; and since he had particularly in view the reform of the English, who are the heaviest of all heavies, it was perhaps his wisest course to make out a very strong case, considering all the difficulties he had to encounter. But before demanding the unconditional suppression of cuirassiers, he might first have tested their capacity for improvement, and ascertained whether steel or mail clad horsemen are of necessity devoid of that nimbleness and rapidity so essential in cavalry. The extract from a letter of General Sir Charles Shaw, which he quotes, and which gives some interesting details of the Circassian cavalry by a Prussian officer, contains valuable hints to this effect, and is worthy of an attentive perusal.

This officer tells us that "the Circassian wears a pointed

steel he met with a long horsetail pendent from it; a net of steelwork hangs down from the lower part of the helmet, protects the front and nape of the neck, and is looped together under the chin, underneath a short red vest, cut in the Polish fashion. He is clad in a species of coat of mail, consisting of small bright rings of steel intervened. His arms from the wrist to the elbow, and his legs from the foot of the shinbone to the knee, are guarded by thin plates of steel; he also wears close pantaloons and laced boots. Two long Turkish pistols, as well as a poniard, are stuck into his girdle. He has a leathern strap with a noose, like a Mexican lasso, hanging at his side, which he throws with great dexterity over the head of his enemy. A Turkish sabre and a Turkish musket are slung behind his back, and two cartridge holders across his breast.

"The skill with which the Circassians use their weapons is really beyond belief. I have seen them repeatedly fire at a piece of card lying on the ground, at full speed, without missing. They will pick up a piece of money from the ground while executing a charge, by bending themselves round below the horse's belly, and, after seizing the piece, suddenly throw themselves back into the saddle. They form the choicest body of cavalry in the Turkish service, and I have watched them, when charging, attack their opponents with a sabre in each hand, managing the reins with their mouths. They will spring out of their saddles, take aim and fire from behind their horses, then jump into their saddles again, wheel round, and reload their guns as they retreat in full career. They are perfect madmen in the attack, and few troops would withstand the utter recklessness of danger they evince."

Now, although it may be inconsistent with the dignity of the royal household troops to cut such wild capers, can they not, however, derive some very profitable hints from the doings