His Excellency General le Duc Alain de Mylcandonai, His Majesty's Minister
of War, to
His Excellency Brigadier le Duc Axel von Fersen, His Majesty's Minister of
State,
Greetings!
Your Excellency,
Regarding your proposal for the more efficient utilisation of prisoners of
war.
I regret that my own opinion mirrors most closely that of the Commissioner,
though with some slight modification I believe that your proposal may have
considerable merit.
As Vicomte Zilvain has pointed out, the ransoming of captured members of the
foreign nobility is a welcome fillip for the state treasury - not to mention
the benefit to the local economies of those regions in which they are held
which results from their being sent monies from their homelands with which
to live in styles appropriate to their station whilst the invariably
protracted ransom terms are negotiated. Also, one must not forget that a
certain 'store' of these gentlemen is necessary in order to exchange them
for those few French gentlemen who are unfortunate enough to be captured by
enemy forces.
On the other hand, I have heard His Majesty himself state that each foreign
soldier in the armies of France is worth three men: one for France, one less
for our enemies, and one Frenchman freed for useful work in agriculture or
industry. Perhaps we could encourage the further use of such men by
purposely recruiting those who, for one reason or another, have been
compelled to leave their homelands into a sort of 'Legion d'Etrangers' ?
Such units should be officered by Frenchman, French should be the official
language of all such units (so as to minimise the possibility of confusion
on the battlefield) and discipline should be extremely harsh - martinets of
the stamp of the sadly missed Duc Senior would be ideal for such positions,
I think. Those foreign soliders who escape being flogged to death may indeed
prove useful to France and, after ten years service, such men could become
French subjects of the presumably false names under which they enlisted. I
would recommend that such units were purposely multi-national, rather than
being organised upon national lines, so as to prevent conflict within the
legion itself along partisan lines and increase their subjection to the will
of His Majesty. The fact that, whilst serving with units the soldiers will
_not_ be Frenchmen, could itself be of some benefit. Such men would be ideal
for putting down rebellion by misguided peasants for whom French units,
because of their shared culture, many bear some fellow feeling.
Higher quality prisoners of war without the means to provide ransoms might
be offered enlistment in such units as an alternative to penal employment -
but their enlistment should be voluntary rather than compulsary. One
volunteer is, after all, worth ten pressed men.
Your Most Obedient Servant,
Duc Alain de Mylcandonai,
His Majesty's MInister of War
