66 MAJOfi-GEN'EBAL SIK GEOEGE K. SCOTT-MOXCEIEFP, OX THE 



leaders,, it is fair to take into account not only their characters 

 and their circumstances, but also the freedom of action, pohtical 

 as well as military, which they enjoyed. 



For the purposes of this paper, therefore, I venture to take for 

 consideration a comparison between the careers, character and 

 influence of two of the greatest mihtary leaders on the pages of 

 history, men of very similar personal qualities, both of them 

 possessed of supreme pi-Htical as well as niilitary authority in 

 their own country, both of them extraordinarily successful in 

 their campaigns, and therefore eh citing profound admiration 

 and respect from their contemporaries, both of them far in advance 

 of those contemporaries in their appreciation of mihtary and 

 pohtical science. These two leaders are Alexander of Macedon 

 and Gustavns Adolphu^ of Sweden- I do not forget that the 

 greater space of time which separates us from the former, as 

 compared with the latter, may lead us to a less favourable 

 appreciation of his life's work, but it is at least remarkable 

 that the records of his personahty and his exploits are as full 

 and clear, if not more so, than those of the great Swedish leader. 

 That the moral influence of the latter was greater than that of 

 the former is, I think, unquestionable, and that I venture to 

 think is due to the foundation of sincere ChristiaDity which 

 actuated him, whereas in Alexander's case that was inevitably 

 absent, though he had the advantage of the highest and noblest 

 of the Greek philosophers and moralists as his guide and to a 

 srreat extent lived up to their teaching. 



There is much that is similar in the characters of these two 

 crreat leaders. Both were, by accident of birth, rulers over 

 small countries, and were called in youth to take up their rule. 

 Both were sons of capable and strong fathers, both had energetic 

 and vigorous mothers, both were men of active, hardy nature, 

 dehghtiQg in exercise and in feats of skill. Both were in their 

 element in the fierce excitement of battle, reckless of wounds 

 and of danger, but both could be cautious and patient in their 

 preparation for a decisive blow. Both had the advantage of 

 the best education that their time afforded, and both had 

 benefited thereby to the fullest extcDt. The task that confronted 

 each seemed to their contemporaries beyond the power of human 

 skill to accomphsh, and though in the case of Alexander the 

 fulfilment of the task was complete before his death, in a sense 

 which was not so apparent in the case of Gustavus, yet the 

 work which the latter did when he fell at Liitzen was really 



