France is the most strik-ing example of the first, Prussia of the second system. Even in England, where both line and militia are generally recruited by voluntary enlistment, the conscription (or ballot) is by law established for the militia should volunteers be wanting. In Switzerland, no standing army exists; the whole force consists of militia drill-ed for a short time only. The enlistment of . foreign mercenaries is still the rule in some countries; the French still have their foreign legion; and England, in case of serious war, is regularly compelled to resort to this expedient. The time of actual service varies very much: from a couple of weeks with the Swiss, 18 months to 2 years with the smaller German states, and 3 years with the Prussians, to 5 or 6 years in France, 12 years in England, and 15 years in Russia. The officers are recruited in various ways. In most armies there are now no legal impediments to advancement from the ranks, but the practical impediments widely vary. In France and Austria a portion of the officers must be taken from the sergeants; in Russia the insufficient number of educated candidates makes this a necessity. In Prussia the examination for officers' commissions in peace is a bar to uneducated men; in England advancement from the ranks is a rare exception.

For the remainder of the officers there are in most countries military schools, though, with the exception of France, it is not necessary to pass through them. In military and general education the Prussian officers are ahead; the English and the Russians stand lowest in both. With the exceptions named above, the equip-ment and armament of modern armies are now everywhere nearly the same. There is, of course, a great difference in the quality and workmanship of the material. In this respect the Russians stand lowest, and the English and Americans, where the industrial advantages at their command are really made use of, stand highest. The infantry of all armies is divided into line and light infantry. The first is the rule, and composes the mass of all infantry; real light infantry has become much more popular since the American civil war, and the late wars between Prussia, Austria, and France, and the tendency in all armies is to the numerical increase of this force. Cavalry is divided into heavy and light everywhere except in America, where it is all light. Cuirassiers are always heavy; hussars and chasseurs, always light horse.

Dragoons and lancers are in some armies light, in others heavy cavalry; and the Russians would also be without light cavalry were it not for the Cossacks. The best light cavalry in Europe is undoubtedly that of the Austri-ans, the national Hungarian hussars, and Polish uhlans. The same division holds good with reference to artillery. Light artillery is still subdivided into horse and foot, the first especially intended to act in company with cavalry. The Austrians have no horse artillery; the English and French have no proper foot artillery, the men being carried on the limbers and ammunition wagons. - The infantry is formed into companies, battalions, and regiments. The battalion is the tactical unit; it is the form in which the troops tight, save in a few exceptional cases. A battalion must not be too strong to be commanded by the voice and eye of its chief, nor too weak to act as an independent body in battle, even after the losses of a campaign. The strength, therefore, varies from 6OO to 1,400 men; 800 to 1,000 forms the average. The division of a battalion into companies has for its object the fixing of its evolutionary subdivisions, the efficiency of the men in the details of the drill, and the more commodious economical administration.

The number of companies in a battalion varies as much as their strength. The English have ten of from 90 to 120 men, the Russians and Prussians four of 250 men, the French and Austrians six of varying strength. Battalions are formed into regiments, more for administrative and disciplinary purposes and to insure uniformity of drill, than for any tactical object; in formations for war, therefore, the battalions of one regiment are often separated. In Russia and Austria there are four, in Prussia three, in France two service battalions, besides depots, to every regiment; in England, most regiments are formed, in peace, of but one battalion. Cavalry is divided into squadrons and regiments. • The squadron, from 100 to 200 men, forms the tactical and administrative unit; the English alone subdivide the squadron, for administrative purposes, into two troops. There are from three to ten service squadrons to a regiment; the British have in peace but three squadrons, of about 120 horse; the Prussians four, of 150 horse; the French five, of 180 to 200 horse; the Austrians six or eight, of 200 horse; the Russians six to ten, of 150 to 170 horse.

With cavalry the regiment is a body of tactical significance, as a regiment offers the means to make an independent charge, the squadrons mutually supporting each other, and is for this purpose formed of sufficient strength, viz., between 500 and 1,(500 horse. The British alone have such weak regiments that they are obliged to put four or five of them to one brigade; on the other hand, the Austrian and Russian regiments in many cases are as strong as an average brigade. The French have nominally very strong regiments, but have hitherto appeared in the field in considerably reduced numbers, owing to their poverty in horses. Artillery is formed in batteries; the formation in regiments or brigades in this arm is only for peace purposes, except in America, where it is used exclusively during Avar. Four guns is the least number in a battery; the Austrians have eight, and the French, Prussians, English, and Americans six guns for each battery. Rifle-men or other real light infantry are generally organized in battalions and companies only, not in regiments; the nature of the arm forbids its union in large masses. The same is the case with sappers and miners, they being besides but a very small portion of the army. The French alone make an exception in this latter case.