CHAPTER XI.

Advantages of reading History-How Heroes are made-Napoleon's Principle-The general Tone of Public Opinion may at times be usefully consulted-How to obtain a Huge Army in England without adopting either System of Landwehr or Landsturm-What will happen if we neglect our Artillery-Proved further: Baylen, Aspern, Sedan, Chillianwalla-To neglect this Arm as unwise as to build Wooden Ships to fight IroncladsWhat Hyder Ali's notion of our Artillery was-Artillery at Priesnitz, at Fère-Champenoise, in the Balkan, and in the late War.

Advantages of HISTORY then, dear reader, furnishes us with

reading History.

Honourable sentiments.

heroes.

examples of the advantage of cultivating a high moral tone amongst the military class. It must convince us that these examples should ever come, in the first instance, from the rulers, to be transfused then as a certain result throughout every portion of the community. When the head of the army proves by his noble and straightforward acts that manly and honourable sentiments are ever uppermost in his mind, we may rest assured that the example is not lost-even on the most humble private in the ranks. The most ignorant or illiterate soldier

What makes carefully appreciates 'the simple majesty of a man to whose eye his fellow-men are seen as man to

man, stripped of every circumstance of accident or rank, and in whose soul burns nothing but the fire which makes martyrs and heroes. It is this power which gives a moral influence which nothing can approach.' 'These,' says Burke, 'are ties, though as light as air, as strong as links of iron.'

Napoleon

Napoleon commanded his army by a different How process, and the result was, that he never was commanded. regarded but with fear: had there been a closer bond of union-that trusting confidence and security from unjustifiable rebuke which exists in our army and is akin to the love and respect existing between a father and his children-it would have induced his soldiers at critical times to have made their wishes known, respectfully, to the head of the army, through their officers. At such periods the 'vox populi' is the 'vox Dei,' and valuable The 'vox hints may be obtained therefrom. But with populi' useful. Napoleon it was otherwise, and his ruin was the result. Without appealing to his other officers or soldiers, he took the advice of a single general only and placed his army thereby in a position of the utmost jeopardy. But among them no doubt were some who dreaded the Smolensko route, and he would have obtained from the mass the reasons of their dislike. Doubtless the conqueror's heart was with the dauntless Murat, yet his presence of mind must have forsaken him when he decided to

the retreat viâ Smolensko.

retreat viâ Smolensko. In fact it was the mind of Murat that he despised: when apart from that general he considered him an imbecile,' and in this instance, allowing that feeling of prejudice to overcome him, he went too far. He seemed to overlook the fact that the bravest of the brave would not suggest what he dare not carry Moral effect of out. The mere moral effect of retreating by the same road he had advanced, strewed with all its melancholy relics, was enough to dispirit his noble army. He forgot that he was Napoleon, the man of genius who had raised himself to his high position by his own noble mind. Fate seemed here to hoodwink him, and thus he fell when almost conqueror of the world; he forgot that the irresistible force of his own intellectual capacity had made him what he was, and he thus too hastily adopted the opinion of another man— Bessières-in a matter that he could have far better decided himself. There were doubtless tens of thousands of brave fellows who would have gladly Common sense followed Murat. Common sense tells us that

Napoleon hoodwinked by Fate.

view.

Napoleon's army would have cheerfully fought its way through a rich country when the same noble soldiers forced the passage of the Beresina after a weary month's march and when jaded and foot-sore. Where were the 20,000 of the Imperial Guard who took no part in the battle of Borodino? Does it re

NAPOLEON'S RETREAT FROM MOSCOW 255

the reasonable

idea of the

quire much intellectual acumen to decide which is Which was the least of two evils? Was it easier for Napoleon course? to force the passage of the river after a month's march and daily battles with 30,000 or 40,000 men --or to attack an enemy with the still large army he commanded before he commenced to retreat? If we say that the Smolensko route was the only one that Napoleon dare proceed by we vilify that great commander, for he boasted at Warsaw that the Napoleon's Russians never ventured to stand against him.' Russians. The result proved that this was no idle boast. We find that the instant Napoleon left Moscow, Kutusoff became so alarmed that he abandoned his position, the holding of which had prevented the march of the French viâ Kalouga. A bold front A bold front then, even if the Russians had defended the road at Kalouga, would have probably been of the utmost advantage to the French. The lightning speed of Murat, and his well-known bravery, would have awed the Russians; they would have seen a body of desperate men determined to cut a passage through at all hazards. The other way the French were slowly pursued, and made to die of cold and want more than by the weapons of their foes.

We should not always judge our enemy's forces by the hundreds of thousands on paper. Should we be always wise in calling a smiling

required then.

To 'put two and two together.'

acquaintance a true friend? How much has been done under the garb of friendship? Nd; our duty is simply to 'put two and two together,' and if we do not find acts 'dove-tail' we may be sure that there is a 'screw loose' somewhere. A good memory has been found uncommonly useful in weighing and judging of one's neighbours. Some people have a happy knack of saying one Forgetfulness. thing one day and the very opposite the next. Notes of such little cases of forgetfulness are useful to a degree. If our enemy attempts to lead us astray by the brilliancy of his martial parade or his threatening attitude, we must go further back and judge him by his past history or acts.

'Not all gold that glitters.'

Beau Tibbs.

And in history we find endless examples to prove that 'all is not gold that glitters.' The mock grandeur and parade of the world is not only found amongst individual commanders-it extends also to their armies. If we want to be assured of the truth of the above adage we may find it exemplified by a glance at the helmet of a Cuirassier, or by a visit to any 'Beau Tibbs.' The insincere fop we here allude to is the type of those who apologise to a friend (whom they know cannot wait) and say broken-heartedly 'that the dinner consisting of turbot and ortolan cannot be ready for two hours,' knowing, all the time, that a 'salt herring' is all that is in course of preparation.

"