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    freedom from offence , despite th absence of the degrading system of flogging , see ms to be—first , the much better materiel of which the army is composed , and the selfrespect which is always supported by the character of discipline . Where we degrade the French endeavour to elevate . A French soldier is usually a man of some education ; he has a character to support or lose . He is not recruited , as with us , from among either agricultural boors , or men whose vices reader civil life uneasy to them on the contrary , the French soldier constantly looks hopefully to the time when he may retire to the honours of citizenship , with the prestige of having been a brave man . Now , with us , such is the origin and training , the habits and vices of our ordinary soldiers , that , so far from the fact of a man's having served in the ranks being an advantage to Mm , should he desire employment , if obliged to leave the service it is the greatest difficulty he would have to overcome . To have been a soldier or a soldier ' s wife , is tacitl y to introduce the idea , that an individual has contracted such ft mass of disreputable habits , that to place him or her in positions where sobriety honesty tability is nedis out

    , or respec concer , quite of the question . The English , soldier fights , while in the army , with all the bravery of the Briton ; but it is as a machine . He is governed by force , and in habits and feelings is often little better than a mere animal . The French soldier is intelligent ; he has also great nationality and , as the Colonel of the Fifth " Leger" told me , who had himself risen from the ranks , " I can generally manage a man with the two words , ' La France , et la gloire . '" If , however , these two talismanic words fail in their power , and the soldier commits a great breach of discipline , such as striking his commanding officer ( a circumstance that occurred during my stay at Gallipoli ) , or any gross disobedience of orders , he is either shot , or , for offences of a character not so calculated to introduce disorganisation , he is sent to Algiers . Here , at a very considerable distance inland , the French have established a sort of Sanatorium for the recovery of debilitated military moralsand the offender is condemned to work either in chains on the highway , or in prison ' according , to his own character and that of his offences . The period required for his recovery may be shortened by good conduct ; and when at length he is morally convalescent , the soldier is not sent back to the sneers of his comrades , or the scene of his temptations and offences , but disposed of in a regiment serving in Franceso to be

    , brought under the good influences of family and social feeling , there to regain his own arnour-propre by cultivating the respect of others . The system is found to work well . Punishment in the French army is rare ; but when used , severe and prompt . Men are not hardened by punishments they learn to become indifferent to . Punishments that often depend on the humour of commanding officers , and being dealt forth capriciously , and sometimes in a manner incommensurate with the offence , tend only to irritate without reforming , and to increase rather than . subdue insubordination . Neither are men degraded to a condition of despair among their comrades ; but every means is taken to encourage them to good , to hold up a high standard of military emulation , and to stimulate them to imitation of glorious exploits . Again , they are not treated as mere machines by their superiors . The French soldiers learn to feel that their health , their comfort , even tlieir daily recreations , are subjects of interest to their officers ; this fact originates a strong degree of personal attachment , and tha men feel elevated by their knowledge of the existence of this sympathy . My voyage in the Thabor afforded me great opportunities for observing these facts , and the staff officers on board were good enough to afford me many interesting proofs connected with such matters .

    THE "FII ^ LE SU REGIMENT . " The wives of French soldiers generally are never permitted to accompany their husbands on service , unless in the case of the one or two cantvnieres , whose services to each regiment were likely to be useful . We had only one Frenchwoman among the troops on board the Thabor ; and she was a middle-aged N " orman , who , in a somewhat dirty cap , orange neckerchief , draggled chintz dress and . sabots , was anything but an attractive object . Having seea no other woman , however , except our pleasant little Marseilles stewardess , and a / eoime de chambre on her way to Constantinople , I was somewhat startled , the morning we anchored off Smyrna , at the sudden apparitiof brilliant

    on a cantiniere , who , in red trousers , short skirt , and tight jacket , came clanking her spurs down the companion ladder at breakfast , and , strutting with a most self-possessed air into the saloon , touched hercasquette to the colonel , and stated her intention of passing the day at Smyrna . Monsieur le Commandant smiled , bowed , addressed the individual as " Madame , " and requested she would have the goodness to be on board again at four . On this , she touched her cap a second time , wheeled round , and re-ascended the " companion" in most military style . Truly dress is a great improver of persons , for this dashing cantinidre was no other than tho Jady of tho sabots , whose chance of creating an impression was entirely the result of this grande tenuc .

    Notwithstanding the very gallant and respectful manner in which our cantinierd ' i announcement of intended absence had been received by the colonel , I yet found that she also was withheld from feminine folly by a system of excellent discipline . The original selection of a canCiniere is a matter of considerable care : she is neither required to bo very young nor very pretty , but of a carriage , figure , and constitution suitable both for the duo effect of her costume , and tho due performance of her required duties . Her husband must bo a man in the same company , in which she takes rank as a corporal , and ho becomes responsible for the conduct of his wife . Should she commit act « worthy of Algiers , the husband suffers with her . Tho soldier must accompany his wife to the scene of her punidhmout , and be identified with her . So that , on one hand , tho man has an object in maintaining a sense of duty nnd propriety in his wife ; and tho wife , on tho other hand , nuiy bo withhold from evil , by tho knowledge that ita punishment will involve her husband .

    Tko French ortlccra treat the cantinicres of their rcgimonta with marked respect and consideration . Their value is understood , not only , as I was told , as sutlers , but as nurses to tho sick , and assistants to the surgeons , in caao of accidents to the soldiers . Women of tho regiment without suoh specific duties would however , they consider , eiinply encumber tho army ; consequently tho French soldiers do for thomsolvos all that tho wives of tho English are supposed to be required for , as washerwomen and cooks . Tho arrangomont is doubtless a merciful one . Few French soldiers marry , because , being seldom in garrison , they fool indisposed for a condition which will only bring with it expenditure and anxiety . Tho few women who arc marrU-d are well cared for in France , when tho regiment murchos ; nnd , like tlio husband , enjoy a roputation which ia rather a security to their employers than a difficulty in tho possibility of employment , Tl » o cantinUres eujoy tho greatest possible reupcct and protection in tho discharge of tlioir duties . They become the euro of tho whole regiment ; exposure and fatigue « to spared thorn in cvory possible wiiy , and their health and privacy thoroughly regarded .

    Mrs . Yoiuur assures us with delightful gusto that ' * it > h quite a mistake to suppose that Turkish women , though slaves , have not their own way , " and that " the Turkiuh husband iB terribly henpecked at times . " " Poor man I " eho adds , with an accent of « onuuiuurutiou exq uisitely feminine . " Poor man , '" is we beliovo , nu English idiom . At nil events it is a charming concession .

    TURKISH LADIES . " ¦ It is quite a mistake to suppose that Turkish women , though slaves , liave not theirown way . They enjoy a great deal of liberty , as we have seen , in the bazaars , at the Sweet Waters , shopping at Pera , and on board steamers . They are quite ignorant ; but exercise authority not the less on that account . Their tempers are unchecked byeducational training ; and while their object is to preserve the beauty of their persons ^ and , as they suppose , increase it by artificial means , they are determined not to forego an iota of their own privileges , some of which , as part of the harem system , are veryconsiderable . In all these matters the ladies make common cause ; and the gossips , nurses , and female merchants , who make it their business to go from harem to harem , keep the ladies of each -well acquainted with what is going on in another ; and should the desire for any particular possession or indulgence be so excited , and the lord of the harem be disposed to raise objections , his life is not a happy one till the caprices of the ladies are satisfied ; and though a Turk may be a very dignified-looking individual mounted on a magnificently caparisoned horse in Stamboul , he cuts but a poor figure with his wives and slaves in the harem , where perhaps a hundred and fifty sharp-voiced ladies , with iron heels to their slippers , make common cause ; and he is glad to surrender at discretion , amidst a shower of abuse and morocco shoes .

    A Turkish husband is terribly henpecked at times , poor man ! as most men are when united to irrational , uneducated women , with vivacious tempers . Men have been known to shrink , and abandon their stronghold of independence even , before the steady , pertinacious attacks of even one lady of this description ; surely then , the poor Turk , even if only for this cause , deserves commiseration . What he may suffer too , as the ladies of the haretn gain the idea of " the rights of women , " it is fearful to think of ; one trusts he will at once see the necessity of teaching the ladies to use their liberties aright , with true modesty , kindliness , and a sense of due responsibility in the social circle . The Circassians have abundance of spirit , more so perhaps than the Georgian ladies . And people still in Constantinople remember the Circassian , slave , who , becoming to a certain degree educated and intelligent , and quailing from the degradation of her position , left her master ' s house , and commenced an honourable and useful career . And when the pasha , in a spirit of admiring generosity—for he had loved her well , and was a man of nature higher than usual—sent her the jewels he had presented to her , she ground the gems to powder , and so returned them . ;

    The price of a Circassian slave in Constantinople , when I was there , was about fifty pounds . The barter had been forbidden , till a Russian general again permitted the disgraceful practice . Ihe state in which the poor creatures arrive is generally fearful , and it is a profession in Stamboul to recover the beauty of these fair speculators ; for indeed many of them are so , and long for this condition of slavery in Turkey , as a means of acquiring wealth and influence , ambition "being one of their ruling passions . -A-woman ' s opinion is worth having on any subject , even when accompanied by perfect ignorance , for then it is intuition , a faculty unknown to the ruder sex . But in the present case , our authoress speaks as an eyewitness , and there is , after all , so much of shrewdness and good sense in her sayings , that we notice with respect Mrs . Young's opinion of the

    FUTURE OF TURRET . The period is come for great changes in the history and character of Turkey and its people . In past time no " Frank " could be a landholder there , but we may now look at no very distant epoch to the settlement of French and English as colonists in Turkey , and that , under their efforts and enterprise , her lands , rich and beautiful as they are , will develop to the full their long-treasured resources . Whatever good arises in Turkey will be forced upon it from without ; it will originate in what Dr . Chalmers called " the expulsive force of a new idea . " The elements of decay , not of greatness , are within ; and these must crumble and be lost , and the new life spring up from among their ruins . There is now an immense population from the West pouring into Turkey . INbt alone soldiery of every rank , and of varied faith and countries , but chaplains , men of science , nurses , and English ladies of high rank and tender nurture , of refined habits and warm womanly sympathies . It is impossible to fcelieve , that , war once over , and the integrity of Turkey secured , her shores will be left , and her cities vacated , without mighty changes having arisen there .

    Between the Turkish ladies and our generous-hearted Englishwomen intercourse -will arise , friendships commence . The Mussulmans and Circassians will see , wonder , at , and at length desire , not only to enjoy the freedom , but to imitate the habits of these Christian ladies . The Turks themselves may learn that a frock * coat and cloth troneers do not express civilisation , but that there is something more ; and mighty as he fancies himself , in bus apathy , stolidity , and indolence , the Turk may discover at length what a miserable mistake he is , and begin to think that , after all , ho lias wasted more time than has been exactly good for him in smoking and reading the Koran . Turner , in his amusing work , The Vindication of the British Bards , tells ub , that the three things that improve genius arc , " proper exertion , frequent exertion , and successful exertion . " Now this seems to strike at the very root of all hope as affects the character of the Turk ; because , though the Koran ofcliges him to bo honcat , forbids him to bo false either in word or in deed , it yet opposes all exertion ; and so , even if ho have any modicum of capability or " -genius , " its improvement ia out of tho question .

    What then can arise ? TheTurkhatos tho Greek , despises tho Englishman , abliora tho Christian and tho " Giaour" in any shape . Yet the Turk , as he now is , will soon become impossible . A few may " sit in sick misery , " nnd pine in fatneaa ; but tho majority will begin to escape from Uleinas and Imaums , and , while they sip their coffee , have their doubts of them . Self-interest will liave its weight . The Turks will Bee great and enriching matters going on in art and science , and will not allow a trumpery old prejudice to stand in tho way when they might share a few advantages Then will como tho love of pleasure , I have seen the Turks in Cairo in paroxysms of laughter in the parterre of the theatre , a clever French farco acting on tho stage and

    by degrees , the gentlemen of Stamboul will find that sitting upon a divan , with an amber mouthpieced pipe between their lips , ia but a < lull business . Lnds will begin to laugh at thoir ciders , and to cultivate science ; next they will laugh at tlio Ulcmas ; and thirdly , they will scoff at tho Muftis . Thooe will bo tho first » tages of progress . Tho next will show bettor things : learning , order in thought , inquiry . Meanwhile , amelioration will bo going on in the evils of tho social wystcm ; interoourflo with tho good , tho wise , tho gentle , will teach tho Moslem charity;—and bo , nnd so , gradually and progressively , wo hone tho force and procure from without will chango tho character of tho Turk , and not leave him an he is now , a wonder , a jest , and a stumblingblock to tho Eastern and Western -world .

    If such ia not tho caao , —if the Turk has not enough depth in hia nature to allovrtho seeds of improvement to fructify and bring forth good fruit , to tho equal benefit of hinveolf and hiii neighbour , then tho Turk must bocomo ji nonentity . It i » impossible that the allied forces am leave Turkey—Unit m « n <> f hcIciiuc , teachers of religion , noldiere , « ud groups of our kind and courageous country woiwen , can quit the shoroa of Marmoru , loaviug Turkey to oIoho up uguln , in « H »<¦« ft'Uyi darknoas , and degradation . That fair land haa letter things in store tor her than to bo crushed nnd blighted by the

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    December 9 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 1 X 39

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 9, 1854, page 1169, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2068/page/17/