SCHOOLS FOR PUBLIC SERVICES.
They are comprised under the following denominations.
| POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL. | |
| SCHOOL OF | ARTILLERY. |
| MILITARY ENGINEERS. | |
| BRIDGES AND HIGHWAYS. | |
| MINES. | |
| NAVAL ENGINEERS. | |
| NAVIGATION. | |
In order to be admitted into any of the above schools, the candidates must prove themselves qualified by the preliminary instruction required the examinations at the competition prescribed for each of them. The pupils of these schools receive a salary from the nation. At the head of them is the Polytechnic School, of which I have already spoken. This is the grand nursery, whence the pupils, when they have attained a sufficient degree of perfection, are transplanted into the other Schools for Public Services. Next come the
SCHOOLS OF ARTILLERY.
There are eight of these in the places where the regiments of artillery are garrisoned. The pupils who are sent thither as officers, after having been examined, apply their knowledge to the arts, to the construction of works, and to the manœuvres of war dependent on artillery. Each school, in which the pupils must remain two years longer, is under the superintendance of a general of brigade of the corps.
SCHOOL OF MILITARY ENGINEERS.
This school, united to that of Miners, is established at Metz. Its labours relate to the application of the theoretical knowledge which the pupils have imbibed at the Polytechnic School. The objects of these labours is the construction of all sorts of works of fortification, mines and counter-mines, mock-representations of sieges, attack, and defence, the drawing of plans and military surveys, in a word, all the details of the duty of engineers in fortified places and in the field.
The number of pupils is limited to twenty. They have the rank and pay of second lieutenant. The School of Engineers, as well as the Schools of Artillery, is under the authority of the Minister at War.
Much as I wish to compress my subject, I must observe that, previously to leaving the school, the pupils undergo a strict examination respecting the objects of instruction before-enumerated. This examination is intrusted to a jury (as the French term it) composed of the commander in chief of the school, a general or field-officer of the corps, appointed every year by the Minister at War, and one of the permanent examiners of the Polytechnic School. This jury forms the list of merit, which regulates the order of promotion. Can we then wonder that the French have the first military engineers in Europe?