or men-at-arms, have existed in France, with various modifications, since the days of chivalry. At that time they were furnished by the fiefs, and, armed cap-a-pie, marched in the train of the knights and esquires. When the English were driven out of France by Charles VII., companies of gendarmes were distributed throughout the whole extent of the kingdom, and contributed powerfully to the re-establishment of internal order and tranquility. At this time they enjoyed much consideration and many privileges, of which they were gradually deprived by the successive changes in the regular army, until in the time of the Grand Monarch they came to be looked upon as nothing but an unusually fine cavalry corps. Shortly before the French revolution, the gendarmerie had ceased to exist as a separate organization, having been merged in the maréchaussée. The Constituent Assembly again changed their name into "gendarmerie nationale." The history of the gendarmerie, which, up to this date, is a very difficult and complicated one, is fully treated by a French writer M. Tensaille-Champtom. In modern parlance the term is employed to denote a military police, whose duties are to watch over the public safety, maintain order, and enforce the execution of the laws. The gendarmes also furnish patrols, examine the passports of travellers, arrest criminals, and otherwise ensure the general tranquillity. They consist of two classes, horse and foot, which are called respectively gendarmes-à-cheval and gendarmes-à-pied. The men themselves consist for the most part of deserving soldiers of the regular army, who for good conduct have been drafted into this service, where they enjoy certain privileges, and a much higher rate of pay than the soldiers of the line. They are held, however, to form part of the army, and in cases of extreme necessity are liable to be called into active service. The gendarmerie have always been noted for their faithful adherence to the government under which they have served; and in the revolutions and tumults of which Paris has been the theatre during the last twenty-five years, they have always signalized themselves by their heroic devotion to the cause they had sworn to defend. During that period their numbers have varied from 12,000 to 25,000.