—I said that I would muster out the army, not that I would disarm the country. I intend, on the contrary, to give it invincible power.
—How do you harmonize this mass of contradictions?
—I call all the citizens to service.
—Is it worth while to relieve a portion from service in order to call out everybody?
—You did not make me Minister in order that I should leave things as they are. Thus, on my advent to power, I shall say with Richelieu, "the State maxims are changed." My first maxim, the one which will serve as a basis for my administration, is this: Every citizen must know two things—How to earn his own living, and defend his country.
—It seems to me, at the first glance, that there is a spark of good sense in this.
—Consequently, I base the national defense on a law consisting of two sections.
Section First. Every able-bodied citizen, without exception, shall be under arms for four years, from his twenty-first to his twenty-fifth year, in order to receive military instruction.—
—This is pretty economy! You send home four hundred thousand soldiers and call out ten millions.
—Listen to my second section: