e. The result was what might have been anticipated--a
total waste of the public money. We might illustrate this by numerous
examples. A single one, however, must suffice. About the period of the
last war, eight new forts were constructed for the defence of New York
harbor, at an expense of some two millions of dollars. Six of these were
_circular_, and the other two were _star forts_--systems which had been
discarded in Europe for nearly two thousand years! Three of these works
are now entirely abandoned, two others are useless, and large sums of
money have recently been expended on the other three in an attempt to
remedy their faults, and render them susceptible of a good defence.
Moreover, a number of the works which were constructed by our engineers
before that corps was made to feel the influence of the scientific
education introduced through the medium of the Military Academy--we say,
a considerable number of our fortifications, constructed by engineers
who owed their appointment to political influence, are not only wrong
in their plans, but have been made of such wretched materials and
workmanship that they are already crumbling into ruins.

A fortification, in its most simple form, consists of a mound of earth,
termed, the _rampart_, which encloses the space fortified; a _parapet_,
surmounting the rampart and covering the men and guns from the enemy's
projectiles; a _scarp wall,_ which sustains the pressure of the earth of
the rampart and parapet, and presents an insurmountable obstacle to an
assault by storm; a wide and deep _ditch_, which prevents the enemy from
approaching near the body of the place; a _counterscarp wall_, which
sustains the earth on the exterior of the ditch; a _covered way_, which
occupies the space between the counterscarp and a mound of earth called
a _glacis_, thrown up a few yards in front of the ditch for the purpose
of covering the scarp of the main work.

The work by which the space fortified is immediately enveloped, is
called the _enceinte_, or _body of the place_. Other works are usually
added to the enceinte to strengthen the weak points of the
fortification, or to lengthen the siege by forcing the enemy to gain
possession of them before he can breach the body of the place: these are
termed _outworks_, when enveloped by the covered way, and _advanced
works_, when placed exterior to the covered way, but in some way
connected with the main work; but if entirely beyond the glacis, an