produces mutinies ; too much indulgence on 
:he other, hand sinks him into indolence, and 
induces him to neglect his duty; licentious- 
ness makes good order appear burthensome ; 
with his respect fo 1 ', he also loses all his confi- 
dence in, his superior officer, so that the most 
fatal resuits are at length unavoidable. 
Besides the above qualities, which are so 
essential, and even necessary, in a command- 
er, a general who would aspire to the title of 
a hero, ought to unite in himself, not only 
all military, but all civil and political excel- 
lence. It is by a knowledge of the laws, cus- 
toms, constitutions, produce, and nature of 
different states, that he is to regulate his ope- 
rations, and make war with success. No- 
thing will escape him, because every thing is 
5 essential to his projects ; the genius of the 
L country points out the manner of his marches 
and his movements, and the knowledge of 
.the inhabitants will lead him to anticipate 
whatever may be expected on their part. 
One nation is vehement, liery, and formi- 
dable, at the first onset ; another is not so 
hasty, but possesses more perseverance; 
with the former, a single instant determines 
success ; with the latter, the action is not so 
rapid, but the event is less doubtful. 
In former .times, the art of war was differ- 
ent from what it is at present, although the 
grand principles are still the same. After the 
! darts, javelins, and arrows, had been expend- 
ed, the combat took place between oppo- 
nents who engaged hand to hand; and as they 
advanced in deep order, with a view of over- 
’! coming all opposition by means of the im- 
petus, the action was generally long and 
• bloody. Some of the plans of battle were 
exactly the same then as now ; and it is not 
a little remarkable, that Caesar, at Pharsalia, 
drew' up his troops according to the oblique 
order, while Epaminondas at Leuctra adopt- 
ed that figure which, on account of its par- 
ticular form, is called an echellon attack. 
In the middle ages, w r ar appears to have 
degenerated into a system of marauding, 
being carried on nearly in the same manner 
as among the Mahrattas at the present day. 
The troops, if troops they might be termed, 
Were mounted on horseback; and the men 
at arms, as they were called, being cased in 
armour, placed their glory in standing erect 
in their stirrups, so as to resist the shock of 
an adversary. At length, during the cru- 
sades, a more regular system began to pre- 
vail; and the Christians on the plains of Pales- 
tine, met with a master in the art of war, 
in the person of Saladin. 
At the battle of Hastings, the Norman 
cross-bows appear to have galled and even to 
have surprised the English, whose ranks were 
close, and whose line could not be pierced. 
On perceiving this, William had recourse to 
stratagem, and conquered by pretending to 
fly, for he knew that regular order could not 
be preserved ini pursuit, and he was thus 
enabled to overcome an enemy which had 
been thrown into disorder. 
At Cressy, the English army was formed 
in a masterly manner, having been posted to 
great advantage on a gentle ascent, near the 
village of that name, and drawn up so as to 
form three lines expressly according to the 
4node prevalent at the present day ; while 
Edward III. was stationed with the reserve, 
so as to be able to see and to succour his 
troops, if occasion should require. The long 
Vol. II. 
WAR. 
bows of the English, at this memorable con-' 
flict, -see# to* have exhibited a marked su- 
periority over the cross-bows of the Geno- 
ese, who had been many years considered as 
the best light troops in Europe. Since that 
period, the English, more especially when 
opposed hand to hand with the French, 
have uniformly maintained their superiority 
in the field, whenever equal numbers were 
engaged. We accordingly find, that whether 
with infantry or cavalry, the pike, the screw- 
ed bayonet, or sword, have in turn, while in 
their hands, been managed to advantage. 
The introduction of gunpowder has made 
a great change in the art, without altering, 
however, any of its grand principles, which 
were exactly the same at the battles of Can- 
rise and of Austerlitz. This invention, how- 
ever, has made modern wars infinitely more 
expensive, and modern armies far mote diffi- 
cult, in respect to their management. An 
immense quantity of baggage, ammunition, 
and artillery, has now become necessary, 
while the specific number rather than the in- 
dividual excellence of the soldiers, is attended 
to. As much depends in the new system, 
on the regular supply of provisions, for men 
and horses, a plan of the campaign is formed 
beforehand, fortresses are considered as so 
many fundamental points, and the magazines 
being filled under their protection, they are 
termed the base whence the lines of operation 
are to be traced. It is thus, that strong 
places serve equally to protect retreats, and 
to favour attacks. 
In ancient times, it was visual to assault 
the enemy in front, but it is now customary 
to act on the flank and the rear, to cutoff con- 
voys, and by annihilating his supplies, to de- 
stroy the resources on which he depends. 
It is usual, therefore, instead of assuming a 
position directly in front, to occupy a camp 
either to the right or left ; for the centre, 
which is the strongest part of the line, is thus 
happily eluded, while on the contrary, the 
wings, u'hich are necessarily the weakest por- 
tion, thus became exposed to insult. 
Notwithstanding gunpowder is supposed by 
some to have been first used at the battle of 
Cressy, where two field-pieces are said to 
have been employed, yet it was not until the 
reign of Louis XIV. that towns began to be 
fortified according to the modern manner. 
Vauban, under the auspices of that monarch, 
rendered sieges long and expensive. During 
the war of the succession, Marlborough and 
Eugene perceived the necessity of obtaining 
possession of the fortresses on their llanks 
before they thought of advancing, while 
Charles XII. carried on war like a knight- 
errant, rather than a great general ; for al- 
though the passage of the Dwina, the battle 
of Narva, and the actions in Poland display- 
ed the talents of a master, yet his march into 
the Ukraine, at the solicitation of a Cossack 
chief, and his brilliant but delusive career, 
considered as one great whole, savour more 
of the ad’/enturer than the hero. 
It was about this period, that, in conse- 
quence of the frequency of sieges, the pike 
began to be entirely laid aside, and the bayo- 
net adopted. The prince de Dessau soon 
after introduced three important changes, to 
turn of which the Prussians were indebted for 
the battle of Molvitz. The first of these, 
the iron ramrod, by accelerating, tended not 
a little to render the fire of musquetry more 
5T 
W81 
fatal, and thus served to exempt it from the 
contempt in which it was held by the cheva- 
lier Folard and marshal Sa-xe. The second 
was the equal step, which enabled the whole 
line to advance in regular time, and thus pro- 
duced one grand and uniform movement. 
The third, was the change effected in the 
order of battle, which was altered to consist 
of three instead of four lines. 
It was on these foundations that Frederic 
II. erected a grand superstructure. It was 
he who, in addition to the practice of these 
improvements, introduced celerity into the 
motions of the infantry, and effected an en- 
tire change in the charge of the cavalry ; 
before his time the squadrons never advan- 
ced w ith a quicker pace than a trot, and had 
recourse to fire-arms instead of the sabre. 
At the action of Sorr, his majesty Was saved 
from destruction by the conduct of his horse \ 
and he is supposed to have gained the battle 
of Friedburg by the able disposition of his 
infantry, on which occasion, he, for the first 
time, developed the system of the oblique line. 
The dispute that arose out of the succes- 
sion of Bavaria w ! as too short to produce any 
grand changes, although the king of Prussia 
and prince Henry on the one hand, and the 
emperor Joseph and marshal Laudohn on the 
other, were in the field. The war was con- 
fined entirely to manoeuvres, to marches, and 
countermarches, and ended without a battle. 
The American contest produced a grand 
change in military tactics, the introduction- 
of the tiralleurs" or rifle-men. It is re- 
markable for the singular circumstance of the 
English gaining every general action, with- 
out being able to achieve a permanent con- 
quest. But no sooner did the war arising 
out of the French revolution take place, than 
great and important changes were produced. 
At the battle of Jemappe, Dumourier intro- 
duced an immense number of heavy cannon, 
and a flying artillery was soon after brought 
into the field by his countrymen, which pro- 
duced wonderful effects, and has been since 
imitated by every neighbouring nation. Pi- 
chegru and Moreau, in Holland, Germany, 
and Flanders, distinguished themselves by 
the quickness of their evolutions, and the 
successful manner in which they usually 
terminated their campaigns. Buonaparte, by 
the rapidity of his movements, and the en- 
thusiasm with which he inspired the soldiers 
under him, performed wonders in Italy and 
Germany. To Dessaix, however, he was 
greatly indebted for the victory at Marengo, 
and he gained the battle of Austerlitz, partly 
by becoming the assailant instead of acting 
on the defensive, partly by the suddenness or 
his attack, and partly by piercing between 
the ill-connected columns of the allied army, 
the movements of which were neither uniform 
nor simultaneous. 
After all, although war as a science has ofi 
late years been certainly carried to a great 
degree of perfection, yet it has varied but' 
little in its principles ; on the contrary, 
the maximum of the art seems now to be, 
to bring troops to attack with the bayonet, 
in the same manner as they were accustom- 
ed to do with the pike some centuries ago ; 
and the English by their conduct in Flanders!] 
Egypt, and Calabria have proved, that hand 
to hand they still preserve their antient repu- 
tation, and now as of old, are uqequalled at a 
charge. 
