Army of the Potomac fairly
held their own until {15} they reached the impregnable position of
Malvern Hill. There McClellan turned at bay and repulsed with heavy
slaughter the disjointed attacks of the Army of Northern Virginia. He
had withdrawn his army intact and had effected a change of base,
unknown to the Confederate General Staff, from the York River to the
James. This proved his strategic power, as did the dispositions at
_Malvern Hill_ (July 1, 1862) his tactical ability, and his work was
accomplished in spite of the intrigues of politicians and the
opposition of the executive, and in face of the military genius of
Generals R. E. Lee and T. J. Jackson. At the Antietam he forced the
Confederates to give battle, and although tactically indecisive, the
engagement caused the withdrawal of Lee's army into Virginia.
McClellan's successors were far less competent, and the magnificent
Army of the Potomac met with frequent disasters, until it formed the
solid nucleus of the forces of General Meade, which inflicted upon Lee
his first defeat and saved the Union at _Gettysburg_ (July 1-3, 1863),
and finally under Grant, in conjunction with the Armies of the West,
crushed the life out of the Confederacy at _Appomattox_.

General G. H. Thomas, in command of the U.S. Army of the Cumberland,
refused battle with the Confederates in Nashville until he had prepared
cavalry and made every other arrangement for pursuit. Constancy of
purpose was the salient feature of Thomas's military character. He
would not fight until he was ready. The civil authorities urgently
demanded that he should advance. So great was the tension that Grant
finally sent General J. A. Logan to supersede Thomas; but before Logan
arrived Thomas had won the _Battle of Nashville_ (Dec. 15-16, 1864),
the most crushing victory of the war.

Lord Roberts landed in Cape Town on Jan. 10, 1900, and popular
expectation was degenerating into impatience when a co-ordinated
advance of French's cavalry and the Sixth and Ninth Infantry Divisions
{16} resulted in the relief of beleagured cities distant from the field
of battle, and in the surrender on the field of Cronje's force at
_Paardeberg_ (Feb. 27, 1900), on the anniversary of Majuba.

THE SPIRIT OF FRANCE.--In all calculations on which a declaration of
war is based the moral fibre of the actual and potential enemy nations
is fully considered. It is difficult to imagine that the Headquarters
Staff of the Germ