feeling and
interest. An army on the defensive, with its line of operations on its
own soil, has resources everywhere and in every thing: the inhabitants,
authorities, productions, towns, public depots and arsenals, and even
private stores, are all in its favor. It is not ordinarily so abroad.

Lines of operations in rich, fertile, manufacturing regions offer to the
assailants much greater advantages than when in barren or desert
regions, particularly when the people are not united against the
invader. In provinces like those first named the army would find a
thousand necessary supplies, while in the other huts and straw are about
the only resources. Horses probably may obtain pasturage; but every
thing else must be carried by the army,--thus infinitely increasing the
embarrassments and rendering bold operations much more rare and
dangerous. The French armies, so long accustomed to the comforts of
Swabia and Lombardy, almost perished in 1806 in the bogs of Pultusk, and
actually did perish in 1812 in the marshy forests of Lithuania.

17. There is another point in reference to these lines which is much
insisted upon by some, but which is more specious than important. It is
that on each side of the line of operations the country should be
cleared of all enemies for a distance equal to the depth of this line:
otherwise the enemy might threaten the line of retreat. This rule is
everywhere belied by the events of war. The nature of the country, the
rivers and mountains, the morale of the armies, the spirit of the
people, the ability and energy of the commanders, cannot be estimated by
diagrams on paper. It is true that no considerable bodies of the enemy
could be permitted on the flanks of the line of retreat; but a
compliance with this demand would deprive an army of every means of
taking a step in a hostile country; and there is not a campaign in
recent wars, or in those of Marlborough and Eugene, which does not
contradict this assertion. Was not General Moreau at the gates of Vienna
when Fussen, Scharnitz, and all the Tyrol were in possession of the
Austrians? Was not Napoleon at Piacenza when Turin, Genoa, and the
Col-di-Tenda were occupied by the army of Melas? Did not Eugene march by
way of Stradella and Asti to the aid of Turin, leaving the French upon
the Mincio but a few leagues from his base?

OBSERVATIONS UPON INTERIOR LINES--WHAT HAS BEEN SAID AGAINST THEM.

Some of my critics have disputed as to the meaning