The Corps Legislatif has been principally occupied with the Army
Reorganization Bill, which is extremely disliked, but which, it is said, will pass. Marshal Niel says plainly that its object is to raise the regular French Army to 750,000 men, which can be accomplished by taking 100,000 conscripts every year to serve for nine years. There is, however, to be a mobilized National Guard of 460,000 men, and it is calculated that with this addition the ballot will fall to five-sixths of the able-bodied youth of France. The Opposition are trying hard to relax the laws which prohibit soldiers from marrying, but Marshal Niel says openly a married soldier is useless, and will not give way. The peasantry, it is said, are bitterly opposed to the Bill, which continues the exemption of the rich, but increases their own liabilities.
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