titutes a reinforcement
of the guarantees of peace, a reinforcement of the league of peace, that
is precisely as strong as if a fourth great power with an army of
700,000 men--and this was formerly the greatest strength that
existed--had joined the alliance. This powerful reinforcement will also,
I believe, have a quieting effect upon our own countrymen, and lessen in
some degree the nervousness of our public opinion, our stock-market, and
our press. I hope it will act upon them as a sedative when they clearly
comprehend that from the moment at which this law is signed and
published the men are there. The armament too may be said to be ready,
in the shape of what is absolutely necessary: but we must procure a
better, for if we form an army of triarians of the best human material
that we have,--of the men above thirty, the husbands and fathers,--we
must have for them the best weapons there are. We must not send them
into the fight with an outfit that we do not regard as good enough for
our young troops of the line. The solid men, the heads of families,
these stalwart figures that we can still remember from the time that
they held the bridge of Versailles,--these men must have the best rifles
on their shoulders, the completest armament, and the amplest clothing to
protect them from wind and weather. We ought not to economize
there.--But I hope it will tranquilize our fellow-citizens, if they are
really thinking of the contingency (which I do not expect to occur) of
our being attacked simultaneously on two sides,--of course, as I have
pointed out in reviewing the events of the last forty years, there is
always the possibility of any sort of coalition,--I hope it will
tranquillize them to remember that if this happens, we can have a
million good soldiers to defend each of our frontiers. At the same time
we can keep in the rear reserves of half a million and more, of a
million even, and we can push these forward as they are needed. I have
been told, "That will only result in the others going still higher." But
they cannot. They have long ago reached their limits.... In numbers they
have gone as high as we, but in quality they cannot compete with us.
Bravery, of course, is equal among all civilized nations; the Russian
and the Frenchman fight as bravely as the German: but our men, our
700,000 new men, have seen service; they are soldiers who have served
their time, and who have not yet forgotten their training. Besides--and
th