674. 
fame thing indeed, has alfo been faid 
by Marfhal Saxe, who, towards the 
clofe of his life, obferves:* that war 
will be fome day waged by means of the 
legs. «* This truthhas been developed,” 
we are told, ‘by the war that {prung 
cut of the French Revolution, but on 
4 grand fcale, and accompanied by cir- 
cumftances which render it nearly no- 
vel. The generals of the Republic, e1- 
ther occupying or covering an immenfe 
éxtent of country, difficult in point of 
accefs, held as it were in their hands, 
and managed without any inconveni- 
ency, a vait fyftem of offenfive and de- 
fenfive warfare, as if ithad been an en- 
gine; acting at the fame time on all the 
outlets of a river ora chain of moun- 
tains; menacing all with the view of 
only attacking one point ; manceuvring 
in the midit of hoftile armies, ready to 
form a junétion ; attacking them all by 
turns, andreaping not a fingle triumph, 
but a feries of victories nearly at the 
fame time.” 
Guibert extends his refearches into 
every branch of the military art; the 
important {cience of reconnoitering, the 
fervices of the ftaff, the ufe of artil- 
lery, the advantages refulting from for- 
tifcations. All thefe are feparately exa- 
mined, and he does not forget that moft 
important fubjeét of provifions, with- 
out a regular fupply of which, a great 
army becomes immediately paralized. 
The fifth volume contains a variety 
of interefting papers, many of which 
are now publifhed for the firft time. 
There alfo will be found, the preface 
dnd introduétion to a Hiftory of the 
military Conftitution of France, which 
Bis public employments, and the im- 
tervention of premature death, pre- 
vented him from terminating. ‘The 
introduction to the whole, contains a 
plan, and evena fummary of the work. 
He exprefles a wifh, that well-informed 
men would write the diplomatic annals 
of France, and at the fame time detail 
the internal police, as well as the civil 
léciflation of all the principal branches 
which compofe the fyftem of her econo- 
tical policy. Such was his defire to 
perfe& the art in which he himfelf ex- 
célled, that he propofed the efablith- 
ment ef contemporary archives, con- 
fecrated to the difcuffion as well as 
the collection of adminiftrative opera- 
ie, «(Sh amelie : 
_* © Ove ja guerre fe feroit Un jour avec les 
jambes.”” ~ 
Retrofpett of French Literature.— MUifcellaneous. 
The preface to the Hiftory of the | 
Military Conftitution exhibits an in- 
terefting account of the fall of the Ro- 
man Empire in the weft, the invafion 
of Gaul, and the foundation of the 
French monarchy. The author is anxi- 
ous to prove by a recurrence to hiftory, 
the influence which the decline of the 
art of war and the difcipline of the ar- 
mies had in the annihilation of the 
Roman Empire. ‘This influence was 
perceived by Montefquieu, but he laid 
lefs ftrefs upon it than on moral and 
political caufes ; while Guibert, on the 
contrary, takes great pains to point out 
its continual and preponderating ef- 
fect. 
He alfo recapitulates and difcuffes 
the military conftitution which Auguf- 
tus impofed on the Roman Empire ; the 
Euphrates, the Rhine, and the Danube, 
were pitched uponas its natural limits 5 
a frontier zone was drawn along this 
immenfe outline; only twelve cohorts 
were referved for the fecurity of Italy, _ 
four for Rome, and. the remaining 
eight, for the circumjacent cities; alt 
the legions, now converted into a per- 
manent militia, were encamped and dif- 
tributed along the boundaries, and 
formed as it were fo many military ci. 
ties, preferving vigour and difcipline 
by conftant labour; fortifying their 
ftations, digging canals, conftrutting 
roads, aqueducts, and monuments, more 
durable than the empire itfelf. After 
this, he takes a rapid furvey of the hif- 
tory of Rome, until the age of Adrian, ° 
and demonftrates, by a récurrence to 
faéts, that the diforders which enfued, 
proceeded from the want of difcipline 
in the Pretorian guards and thelegions ; 
that the fuccefs of the Barbarians arofe 
out of the degradation of the military 
art; and that the fall of the empire was 
retarded merely by the exploits of thofe 
princes and generals who cultivated 
and honoured this ference. 
Towards the conclufion, the reader 
is prefented with an eulogium of 
Frederick the Great, in which he is 
depicted as a légiflator, an hiftorian, 
a poet, and a private man ; he is repre- 
fented as fometimes whimfical, but al- 
ways great and fuperior to fortune. 
But it is chiefly asa warrior—as the au- 
thor of a revolution in the fcience of 
arms, that he is here confidered. All 
bis campaigns pafs in review before the 
author, who recapitulates the method 
and order obferved in each, and de- | 
di, duces 
