The Army of the July Monarchy
The main feature of the organization of the 19th Century Prussian Army was that it was an organization for war. That which General Gonvion St. Cyr devised for the French Army in 1818 was, as was pointed out in the prophetical Jeremiad of General Trochu, an organization for peace. Nominally the soldiers were to be recruited by voluntary enlistment, conscription was to supply deficiencies. Practically, almost the whole Army was taken by conscription.
The exhaustion of Europe, and especially of France, rendered war highly improbable, and it was not until 1832 that any new law was required for the Army. Then a fierce wordy controversy ended in the law framed by Marshal Soult, a compromise between the two opposite opinions. According to its provisions a conscript might himself find a substitute if he could. The State asked no questions so long as the number of men required were found, and all fit for service. Exchanges were made among friends, perhaps even brothers, but the principle that it was honorable to serve the State as a soldier was not lost sight of. The Officers were gentlemen of rank, accustomed to command, or men who had actually distinguished themselves in war.
But Louis Philippe introduced commercial ideas even into the Army, and the laws of 1834-36 made commissions of Officers no longer to be considered as honors held at the pleasure of the Crown, but as property which could not be taken away except for misconduct. Unfortunately for the country the men of good family, who adopted the profession of arms as a career after the Restoration, and worked hard to fit themselves for war, refused to serve under Louis Philippe, and left the Army in great numbers. It is impossible for a just historian not to hold them responsible for some of the commercial spirit which began to surge down upon the Army, and finally crushed all its grandeur and most of its manliness. For if the advocates of high principles break up their ranks and go home because they are defeated, who is there even to delay the onward march of selfish mediocrity?
The aristocracy of the country, the natural leaders in time of foreign strife, had left the service. The King discouraged the idea of war and encouraged commerce. Naturally, the best men of the middle classes adopted careers in which fortunes could be made. What could follow but a gradual lowering of the position of Officers. Commissions came to be looked upon not as honorable posts to be held for the good of king and country, but as first steps towards the attainment of decent incomes and social position. It was not long, however, before the Officer, sprung from the lower middle class, found himself and his ideas somewhat out of place in a profession which is nothing if it be not manly and noble in tone, while he saw his brother, the grocer, making a fortune.
Disappointed and jealous, seeing no prospect before him of advancement by war, he began to cast about him for some means of enriching himself by currying favor with men in power. He was not even a free shopkeeper, but a money grubber, who had learned to cringe for appointment to some better post or other, whence he would not be driven if servility could keep him there. Doubtless there were numerous exceptions; these must always be taken for granted in describing the manners of a large class. But on the whole the grand, bold, military spirit, with its unselfishness, exact truth, and nice sense of personal dignity and honour, qualities which go so well with the strictest military obedience, had given place to slavish self-seeking and a dog-like spirit, ready to lick the hand that strikes - but feeds. Not the bravest, the truest, and the best were placed in positions of trust and honour, but those who looked most sharply after their own interests, and knew best how to court favor.
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