SECTION III.

ENLISTING SOLDIERS.

CHAPTER I.

METHODS OF RECRUITING AN ARMY.

In the United States service there are but two methods employed in raising an army,voluntary enlistment of individuals, or a compulsory draft from the whole body of citizens.

The Romans, who were a nation of warriors, required every citizen to enlist as a soldier when the public service required it, from the age of seventeen to forty-six; nor at first could any one enjoy office in the city who had not served ten campaigns.* In certain wars and under certain commanders there was the

* Polybius vi. 17; Liv. x. 25, xlii. 32.

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greatest alacrity to enlist; but this was not always the case. Sometimes compulsion was requisite, and those who refused were forced to enlist by fines and corporal punishment.* Mutilations were sometimes practiced to escape service: hence pollice trunci, "poltroons." Ordinarily, several causes of exemption from military service were permitted:-as age, if above fifty; disease or infirmity; office, being a magistrate or a priest; favor or indulgence granted by the Senate or people; and, finally, for serving out the period of military tenure.† In sudden emergencies, or in great wars, none of these excuses were held to be sufficient. When the states of Italy were admitted into alliance, they were required to furnish a certain quota, and the Consuls, when about to make a levy, sent them notice of the number of men they were expected to furnish.

Under the feudal system, levies of troops were involuntary. Every chieftain called out his retainers whenever it suited his interests or his ambition to do so, or when the king or emperor required an army; but armies were in those times less an institution of the state than the followers and retainers of a number of independent chieftains, who, whilst they

* Liv. iv. 53.

† Ibid. xxxix. 19.

flocked to one general standard, yet held allegiance to their immediate chief.

*

The French were the first in modern times to organize an official body to direct the civil administration of an army. Francis I., having experienced the signal inconvenience of mercenary troops, essayed the formation of a national army. This innovation on the military feudal system was much improved during the reign of Henry IV. During the reign of Louis XIV. the military institutions rapidly approached perfection. The Revolution availed itself largely of all the improvements adopted or prepared in the last years of the monarchy, and substituted for the militia and voluntary enrolment the levy en masse and the military conscription. The law of 18 Fructidor, year 6, declared that the services of all citizens were due to the state. By the law of 1882, explained and illustrated by the laws and ministerial instructions of 1840 and 1857, numerous causes of exemption were admitted, substitutes authorized, and the bounty to volunteers withdrawn. At present the French army is recruited by conscription and by voluntary engagement. The council of revision is the

* Didiot, Code, &c. op. cit. p. 414.

† Ibid. p. 439.

tribunal charged with the supervision of the recruiting service, to hear excuses, and to judge in public session the causes of exemption. The council is composed, 1st, of the prefect, or the councillor of the prefecture, as president; 2d, of a councillor of the prefecture; 3d, a member of the general council of the department; 4th, a member of the council of the district,—all of whom are named by the prefect; and, 5th, a general or superior officer designated by the Emperor. Besides these, a member of the intendance militaire, who represents the Government, has a consultative voice; the sous-préfet of the district, who keeps the reckoning of the young conscripts; and, lastly, the physician who makes the examination and ascertains the case of infirmity. The commandant of the depot of recruits attends the council of revision at their circuit; he takes note concurrently with the general officer and the sous-intendant of the aptitude, the height, profession, and physical constitution, of the conscripts.

The military surgeons who accompany the council of revision are chosen by the prefect, upon the indication of the division intendants, from among the physicians of corps or military

hospitals, who can be diverted habitually for this service.*

The decisions of the council of revision are fixed and irrevocable. The conscripts who are proclaimed free by the president are definitely liberated from that contingent, but may become the object of another decision by the council.

The strength of the Prussian army is maintained exclusively by involuntary levies. Every Prussian who has passed the age of twenty has been a soldier, or he is furnished with a medical certificate showing that he labors under an infirmity which disqualifies him for military duty. After a man has served three years in the standing army, he is transferred to the militia, a branch of the military force which is called out annually for a period of fourteen days. On reaching thirtytwo years of age, he is transferred to another class of militia (the landwehr), a branch of the militia which is never embodied except in case of emergency. The physical defects which disqualify for service in the Prussian army are in almost all respects the same as those given in that part of this work describing the disqualifications for service in our army.

* Didiot, Code, &c. op. cit. p. 440 et seq.