testimony of their being never injurious, and always advantageous when a besieging force is exposed to attack from an enemy of nearly equal strength.

Bousmard, who was the engineer of Frederick the Great, says that such lines when ill constructed are useless and dangerous, and that an army of observation is necessary in addition to protect the siege; but that, when well constructed, they can effectually protect a besieging force and dispense with an army of observation. If however it be a question between the two, the army of observation is of infinitely greater value to a besieging force than lines of circumvallation; since without the first, the enemy becomes the undisputed master of the theatre of war and can intercept all the convoys of the besiegers, which must of itself prove fatal to the success of their designs unless they are actually furnished within their lines with the necessary provisions and supplies of all sorts sufficient for the duration of the siege; a very unlikely case. But where both exist, the army of observation can manœuvre at a distance from the siege for the protection of the convoys, &c., and if pressed, can fall back to the shelter of the lines, which will afford it a strong position in which to defeat all attempts of the enemy to interrupt the siege.

Examples of the truth of the preceding opinions are afforded by

The siege of Arras, in 1654, where lines of circumvallation enabled the Archduke John to carry on the siege for thirty-eight days, in spite of Turenne's efforts to interrupt it.

The siege of Laudrecy in 1712, where lines protected the besiegers under Prince Eugene from the attempts of Villars, who was obliged to resort to a circuitous method of relieving the place.

The siege of Lille by Marlborough and Eugene, in 1708, where the lines completely baffled the Dukes of Burgundy and Berwick. Marlborough manoeuvred at a distance from the siege with an army of observation, kept open his communications, and protected his convoys; and on the approach of the enemy towards the place, he withdrew to the shelter of the lines of circumvallation, which afforded too strong a position to be attacked by the French marshals, notwithstanding the peremptory orders of Louis the Fourteenth that they should risk an engagement for the relief of the place.

The siege of Mantua in 1797 by the French. When Provera appeared before Mantua, with the design of raising the siege and liberating the army of Wurmser, which was blockaded therein by an inferior force, he was held in check by the lines of St. George, until Napoleon arrived from Rivoli and forced him to capitulate.

Lines of circumvallation are subject to the same

We must

rules as lines of entrenchment in general. therefore conclude that to have made them continuous at Sebastopol was a mistake. It is conceivable that a belief in the great superiority of the Russian cavalry (which if it existed was effectually dispelled by the battle of Balaklava) might have led to the formation of a continuous barrier which could arrest its progress over the only ground where it was possible for that arm to attack the allied position with any prospect of success, especially where success would have cut off the English army from Balaklava, its base; but the same reasoning does not apply to the crest of the heights along which extended the rest of the allied position; and indeed the remarks on the great superiority of detached over continuous lines are equally applicable to both of these cases. Our own cavalry would have been much hampered both in advancing and retreating, by the continuous parapet. It must be remembered that the redoubts, for abandoning which the Turks were so unjustly blamed, were unfinished and unsupported.

CHAP. VI.

ON MORAL AGENTS IN WAR.

THE great Napoleon said that in war "the moral " is to "the physical" in the ratio of three to one. Under this head come:

No. 1. The personal qualities of a General-inChief. His knowledge of human nature; his power of influencing men through their hopes or fears, passions, interests, or prejudices; as well as of acquiring the love and confidence of his troops; his coolness, self-reliance, and readiness of resource in emergencies, &c., &c. Napoleon says: "The first quality of a general-in-chief is to have a cool head, which receives only a just impression of objects. He should not allow himself to be dazzled either by good or bad news. The sensations which he receives successively or simultaneously in the course of a day should be classed in his memory so as only to occupy the just place due to each; for reason and judgment are the resultant of the correct comparison of many sensations. There are some men who, on account of their physical and moral constitution, make a single picture for themselves out of every event;

whatever knowledge, wit, courage, and other qualities they may possess, nature has not called them to the command of armies and the direction of great military operations."

In every battle there is a decisive point and a decisive moment (which once let slip, never returns) on which and at which every disposable horse, man, and gun, must be brought into action. The qualities referred to in the above quotation are manifested in the highest degree by the faculty of correctly appreciating that point and time. The commander who, dazzled by false impressions of the importance of passing events, anticipates the decisive moment and engages his reserves too soon, is lost.

Great commanders have all possessed in a high degree the qualities above enumerated. A remarkable exception as regards the power of attaching his soldiers, is afforded by one of England's greatest and most fortunate generals, who never did acquire the love of his troops, although he possessed their unbounded confidence.

Great generals have always shared Napoleon's opinion on the value of moral agents in war, and have liberally employed them as enumerated under the succeeding items.

No. 2. Stratagems. The success of a stratagem depends mainly on the commander's knowledge of human nature in general and of his opponent's