3256 ([return])
[ Example afforded by one department. ("Statistics of Ain," by Rossi, prefect, 1808.) Number of soldiers on duty in the department, in 1789, 323; in 1801, 6,729; in 1806, 6,764.—"The department of Ain furnished nearly 30,000 men to the armies, conscripts and those under requisition."—It is noticeable, consequently, that in the population of 1801, there is a sensible diminution of persons between twenty and thirty and, in the population of 1806, of those between twenty-five and thirty-five years of age. The number between twenty and thirty is as follows: in 1789, 39,828; in 1801, 35,648; in 1806, 34,083.]
3257 ([return])
[ De Dampmartin. "Evénemens qui se sont passés sous mes yeux pendant la révolution française," V. II. (State of the French army, Jan. 1, 1789.) Total on a peace footing, 177,890 men.—This is the nominal force; the real force under arms was 154,000; in March 1791, it had fallen to 115,000, through the multitude of desertions and the scarcity of enlistments, (Yung, "Dubois-Crancé et la Révolution," I., 158. Speech by Dubois-Crancé.)]
3258 ([return])
[ "The Ancient Régime," P 390, 391.—"The Revolution," p. 328-330. (Ed. Laff. I. 289 and 290, pp. 542-543)—Albert Babeau, "le Recrutement militaire sous l'ancien Régime." (In "la Réforme sociale" of Sept. I, 1888, p. 229, 238.)—An officer says, "only the rabble are enlisted because it is cheaper."—Yung, ibid., I., 32. (Speech by M. de Liancourt in the tribune.) "The soldier is classed apart and is too little esteemed."—Ibid., p. 39. ("Vices et abus de la constitution actuelle française," memorial signed by officers in most of the regiments, Sept. 6, 1789.) "The majority of soldiers are derived from the offscourings of the large towns and are men without occupation.">[
3259 ([return])
[ Gebelin, p. 270. Almost all the cahiers of the third-estate in 1789 demand the abolition of drafting by lot, and nearly all of those of the three orders are for volunteer service, as opposed to obligatory service; most of these demand, for the army, a volunteer militia enlisted through a bounty; this bounty or security in money to be furnished by communities of inhabitants which, in fact, was already the case in several towns.]
3260 ([return])
[ Albert Babeau, ibid., 238. "Colonels were allowed only 100 francs per man; this sum, however, being insufficient, the balance was assessed on the pay of the officers.">[