te. Not only has he to contend with
the promptings of his own instincts, but he has to contend with the
instincts and to sustain the resolution of his whole army. It is not
from the enemy he has most to fear. A time comes in all protracted
operations when the nervous energy of the best troops becomes
exhausted, when the most daring shrink from further sacrifice, when
the desire of self-preservation infects the stoutest veterans, and
the will of the mass opposes a tacit resistance to all further
effort. "Then," says Clausewitz, "the spark in the breast of the
commander must rekindle hope in the hearts of his men, and so long as
he is equal to this he remains their master. When his influence
ceases, and his own spirit is no longer strong enough to revive the
spirit of others, the masses, drawing him with them, sink into that
lower region of animal nature which recoils from danger and knows not
shame. Such are the obstacles which the brain and courage of the
military commander must overcome if he is to make his name
illustrious." And the obstacles are never more formidable than when
his troops see no sign of the support they have expected. Then, if he
still moves forward, although his peril increase at every step, to
the point of junction; if he declines the temptation, although
overwhelming numbers threaten him, of a safe line of retreat; if, as
did Jackson, he deliberately confronts and challenges the hostile
masses, then indeed does the soldier rise to the highest level of
moral energy.

Strongly does Napoleon inveigh against operations which entail the
division of an army into two columns unable to communicate; and
especially does he reprobate the strategy which places the point of
junction under the very beard of a concentrated enemy. Both of these
maxims Lee violated. The last because he knew Pope, the first because
he knew Jackson. It is rare indeed that such strategy succeeds. When
all has depended on a swift and unhesitating advance, generals
renowned for their ardent courage have wavered and turned aside.
Hasdrubal, divided from Hannibal by many miles and a Consular army,
fell back to the Metaurus, and Rome was saved. Two thousand years
later, Prince Frederick Charles, divided by a few marches and two
Austrian army corps from the Crown Prince, lingered so long upon the
leer that the supremacy of Prussia trembled in the balance. But the
character of the Virginian soldier was of loftier type. It has been
remarked