that they the more readily put the sword in its sheath the moment the
enemy had lowered his. Nothing seemed more natural to them than to
stop the combat as soon as the decision was obtained, and to regard all
further carnage as unnecessary cruelty. Even if this false philosophy
did not determine their resolutions entirely, still it was a point
of view by which representations of the exhaustion of all powers, and
physical impossibility of continuing the struggle, obtained readier
evidence and greater weight. Certainly the sparing one's own instrument
of victory is a vital question if we only possess this one, and foresee
that soon the time may arrive when it will not be sufficient for all
that remains to be done, for every continuation of the offensive must
lead ultimately to complete exhaustion. But this calculation was still
so far false, as the further loss of forces by a continuance of the
pursuit could bear no proportion to that which the enemy must suffer.
That view, therefore, again could only exist because the military forces
were not considered the vital factor. And so we find that in former Wars
real heroes only--such as Charles XII., Marlborough, Eugene, Frederick
the Great--added a vigorous pursuit to their victories when they were
decisive enough, and that other Generals usually contented themselves
with the possession of the field of battle. In modern times the greater
energy infused into the conduct of Wars through the greater importance
of the circumstances from which they have proceeded has thrown down
these conventional barriers; the pursuit has become an all-important
business for the conqueror; trophies have on that account multiplied in
extent, and if there are cases also in modern Warfare in which this has
not been the case, still they belong to the list of exceptions, and are
to be accounted for by peculiar circumstances.

At Gorschen(*) and Bautzen nothing but the superiority of the allied
cavalry prevented a complete rout, at Gross Beeren and Dennewitz
the ill-will of Bernadotte, the Crown Prince of Sweden; at Laon the
enfeebled personal condition of Bluecher, who was then seventy years
old and at the moment confined to a dark room owing to an injury to his
eyes.

(*) Gorschen or Lutzen, May 2, 1813; Gross Beeren and
Dennewitz, August 22, 1813; Bautzen. May 22, 1913; Laon,
March 10 1813.

But Borodino is also an illustration to the point here, and we cannot
resist saying a few m