[The yearly charge] for paying pupils is 850 francs, and the cost of outfit about 500 francs; but there are 400 free and 100 half-free places (400 bourses and 100 demi-bourses) granted by the state in favor of the sons of officers, the order of preference being regulated as follows, those who are orphans on both sides having the first claim, and those who have lost their father, the next:—
1. Those whose fathers have been killed, or have died of wounds received in action.
2. Those whose fathers have died in the service, or after retiring on a pension.
3. Sons of fathers who have been disabled in consequence of wounds received in action.
Sons of non-commissioned officers or of private soldiers who have been killed or have been disabled in action, who have been placed on the retired list, or have been discharged after twenty years’ service, may also be admitted, as a special mark of favor.
[The candidates undergo an examination], not, however, for the purpose of competition, but merely to show that they are qualified to enter the classes.
[The school is inspected] annually by a general officer sent by the war department, as also by an officer of the commissariat. There is no sort of engagement or expectation that the pupils should enter the military service. The nature of the studies holds out some inducement to them to compete for admission at St. Cyr or the Polytechnic; and in the examination for entrance at St. Cyr, it is stated that the sons of military men have the privilege of being raised fifteen places in the list of the order of merit. An officer’s or soldier’s son from La Flèche would, in case of 300 candidates being admitted to St. Cyr, be able to claim admission, if he came 315th on the list, to the exclusion of the candidate who stood 300th.