ak of the weak
and irresolute, arrives at an exact result so far as such is possible
without ocular demonstration, at most after diligent reflection in his
chamber, at a distance from danger and responsibility. Let danger and
responsibility draw close round him in every direction, then he loses
the power of comprehensive vision, and if he retains this in any measure
by the influence of others, still he will lose his power of DECISION,
because in that point no one can help him.

We think then that it is impossible to imagine a distinguished General
without boldness, that is to say, that no man can become one who is not
born with this power of the soul, and we therefore look upon it as
the first requisite for such a career. How much of this inborn power,
developed and moderated through education and the circumstances of
life, is left when the man has attained a high position, is the second
question. The greater this power still is, the stronger will genius
be on the wing, the higher will be its flight. The risks become always
greater, but the purpose grows with them. Whether its lines proceed out
of and get their direction from a distant necessity, or whether they
converge to the keystone of a building which ambition has planned,
whether Frederick or Alexander acts, is much the same as regards the
critical view. If the one excites the imagination more because it is
bolder, the other pleases the understanding most, because it has in it
more absolute necessity.

We have still to advert to one very important circumstance.

The spirit of boldness can exist in an Army, either because it is in the
people, or because it has been generated in a successful War conducted
by able Generals. In the latter case it must of course be dispensed with
at the commencement.

Now in our days there is hardly any other means of educating the spirit
of a people in this respect, except by War, and that too under bold
Generals. By it alone can that effeminacy of feeling be counteracted,
that propensity to seek for the enjoyment of comfort, which cause
degeneracy in a people rising in prosperity and immersed in an extremely
busy commerce.

A Nation can hope to have a strong position in the political world only
if its character and practice in actual War mutually support each other
in constant reciprocal action.

CHAPTER VII. PERSEVERANCE

THE reader expects to hear of angles and lines, and finds, instead of
these citizens of the scienti