rass the best for heavy cavalry. Some military men
of experience are inclined even to arm the cuirassiers with lances,
believing that such cavalry, resembling very much the men-at-arms of
former days, would bear down every thing before them. A lance would
certainly suit them better than the musketoon; and I do not see why they
should not have lances like those of the light cavalry.

Opinions will be always divided as to those amphibious animals called
dragoons. It is certainly an advantage to have several battalions of
mounted infantry, who can anticipate an enemy at a defile, defend it in
retreat, or scour a wood; but to make cavalry out of foot-soldiers, or a
soldier who is equally good on horse or on foot, is very difficult. This
might have been supposed settled by the fate of the French dragoons when
fighting on foot, had it not been seen that the Turkish cavalry fought
quite as well dismounted as mounted. It has been said that the greatest
inconvenience resulting from the use of dragoons consists in the fact of
being obliged at one moment to make them believe infantry squares cannot
resist their charges, and the next moment that a foot-soldier armed with
his musket is superior to any horseman in the world. This argument has
more plausibility than real force; for, instead of attempting to make
men believe such contradictory statements, it would be much more
reasonable to tell them that if brave cavalry may break a square, brave
foot-soldiers may resist such a charge; that victory does not always
depend upon the superiority of the arm, but upon a thousand other
things; that the courage of the troops, the presence of mind of the
commanders, the opportuneness of maneuvers, the effect of artillery and
musketry fire, rain,--mud, even,--have been the causes of repulses or of
victories; and, finally, that a brave man, whether on foot or mounted,
will always be more than a match for a coward. By impressing these
truths upon dragoons, they will believe themselves superior to their
adversaries whether they fight on foot or on horseback. This is the case
with the Turks and the Circassians, whose cavalry often dismount to
fight on foot in a wood or behind a cover, musket in hand, like
foot-soldiers.

It requires, however, fine material and fine commanders to bring
soldiers to such perfection in knowledge of their duties.

The conviction of what brave men can accomplish, whether on foot or
mounted, doubtless induced the Empero