he revision which my dear husband wrote in the year
1827, and mentions in the Notice hereafter annexed as a work he had in
view. This revision has been inserted in the place intended for it in
the first book (for it does not go any further).
There are still many other friends to whom I might offer my thanks for
their advice, for the sympathy and friendship which they have shown me;
but if I do not name them all, they will, I am sure, not have any doubts
of my sincere gratitude. It is all the greater, from my firm conviction
that all they have done was not only on my own account, but for the
friend whom God has thus called away from them so soon.
If I have been highly blessed as the wife of such a man during one and
twenty years, so am I still, notwithstanding my irreparable loss, by
the treasure of my recollections and of my hopes, by the rich legacy
of sympathy and friendship which I owe the beloved departed, by the
elevating feeling which I experience at seeing his rare worth so
generally and honourably acknowledged.
The trust confided to me by a Royal Couple is a fresh benefit for
which I have to thank the Almighty, as it opens to me an honourable
occupation, to which Idevote myself. May this occupation be blessed,
and may the dear little Prince who is now entrusted to my care, some
day read this book, and be animated by it to deeds like those of his
glorious ancestors.
Written at the Marble Palace, Potsdam, 30th June, 1832.
MARIE VON CLAUSEWITZ, Born Countess Bruhl, Oberhofmeisterinn to H.R.H.
the Princess William.
NOTICE
I LOOK upon the first six books, of which a fair copy has now been made,
as only a mass which is still in a manner without form, and which has
yet to be again revised. In this revision the two kinds of War will be
everywhere kept more distinctly in view, by which all ideas will acquire
a clearer meaning, a more precise direction, and a closer application.
The two kinds of War are, first, those in which the object is the
OVERTHROW OF THE ENEMY, whether it be that we aim at his destruction,
politically, or merely at disarming him and forcing him to conclude
peace on our terms; and next, those in which our object is MERELY TO
MAKE SOME CONQUESTS ON THE FRONTIERS OF HIS COUNTRY, either for the
purpose of retaining them permanently, or of turning them to account
as matter of exchange in the settlement of a peace. Transition from one
kind to the other must certainly continue to exi
|