masses of
men which they led to war.

Caesar has said that war should be made to support war; and some modern
generals have acted upon this principle to the extreme of supporting
their armies entirely at the expense of the country passed over. Others
have adopted either in part or entirely the principle of regular
magazines.

Louis XIV. and Frederick II. fought mostly on their own frontiers, and
followed the system of regular depots and supplies. But the
revolutionary armies of France made war without magazines, subsisting,
sometimes on the inhabitants, sometimes by requisitions levied on the
country passed over, and at others by pillage and marauding. Napoleon
found little difficulty in supporting an army of a hundred or a hundred
and twenty thousand men in Italy, Suabia, and on the rich borders of the
Rhine and the Danube; but in Spain, Poland, and Russia, the subject of
subsistence became one of extreme embarrassment.

All depots of provisions and other supplies for an army are denominated
_magazines_; these are divided into _principal, secondary,_ and
_provisional_. The first are usually on the base of operations; the
second, on the line of operations; and the last in the immediate
vicinity of the troops, and contain supplies for a few days only.

The system of _magazines_ is objected to by some, because it fetters the
movements of an army, and makes its military operations subordinate to
the means of supply. Moreover, as the movements of an army must be so
arranged as to cover these magazines, their establishment at given
points reveals to the enemy our plan of campaign.

On the other hand, the system of _requisitions_, either for immediate
supplies or for secondary magazines, gives far greater velocity and
impetuosity to an active army; and if it be so regulated as to repress
pillage, and be levied with uniformity and moderation, it may be relied
on with safety in well-cultivated countries; but in more barren and less
populous districts, an army without magazines, especially in case of a
prolonged stay or a forced retreat, will be exposed to great suffering
and loss, if not to total destruction.

Before commencing a campaign the general should make himself acquainted
with all the resources of the country to be passed over--determine the
amount of supplies which it may be necessary to take with him, and the
amount that can be obtained by requisitions; these requisitions being
levied in a uniform and legal m