Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-09-30

10 have divided his army into gentlemen
and common men, placing . great IN
bridged gulf between the two classes.
With one or two exceptions he apparently
had the poorest opinion Of the military O.
pacity of his generals of division, while he
believed with all his cold heart In the
dash, courage. endurance. loyalty and pa
triotism of his regimental officers, the sons
of English 'equires, and younger sons Of
what was then called our aristocrscy. He
seldom, If ever, spoke in appreciative
terms of those brave soldiers who carrie,
him in triumph from Lisbon to Toulouse,
and if he had any affection for them
he never showed il. He believed that
when restrained by the most rig
orously enforced discipline, and led
by English gentlemen, they were, under
him, invincibIe. But he never heeitated
to describe them as Q collection Of ruffiAns,
the blsckguards of every British parish,
the scum Of every English town. In fact,
he was thorough aristocrat ct heart, with
all the best sentiments, but still with all
the prejudices of that class. There was no
genial sympathy between him and bis sol.
diers; they respected him, and during his
later campaigns they had the most un-
bounded confidence in his military genius;
but beyond his own immediate military
household, with whom he lived on terms
of intimacy, no one loved him. 1t il for
this reason that I think he will never be
clsssed in the same rank of military great
ness-of real military senius-with the
five great leaders Of men have named
above.
NAPoLRoN.
As the highest type of military genius
let me take Napoleon. Ifthere be any one
rule which may be said TO sum up the
science Of strategy aud the tactical art, II
is that you should make your plans and
carry them ont 80 as to be always superior
70 your enemy at tho point Of contact
This rule, carried out with tho utmost
secrecy and celebrity Of movement, may be
said to have been the great secret Of
Napoleon's success. The more one studies
that grand campaign OF 1915 the moro is
one upwillingly convinced that had Nspo-
leon then been physically the man he Was
at Rivoli, he would have defeated Yelling
ton at Waterloo, IS he had just defeated
Butcher ut Ligny. Napoleon allied because
at that period of his life he lacked one Of
those qualities which are essential to
military success. He WAS suffering from
such terrible physical ailments thst the
marvellous energy Of the past was at times
altogether lacking in him.
CESAR.
Now let me take Caesar. What few mon
not soldiers realize is that quality which
Caesar showed when defeated by no fault
Of Ills own ct Dyrrhachium, or when,
after almost all the world had deserted
him because Of his apparent failure in
Spain, he changed the history of
the world by his calm fac
ing of misfortune and his power Of using
his knowledge Of men aud his military
skill undisturbed by the accidents OF fate.
1t was probably this latter quality that
Pompey, himselfno mean strategist, lacked,
and his want of steadfsstnees lost him the
empire of the world. Unduly elated after
Dyrrhachium, he abandoned himself to de-
spair after Pharsalia.
MARLBOROUGH.
Let me now take Marlborough. No
part of his life perhaps more perfectly
brings out the varied qualities which went
to make up the sum Of Marlborough's
genius than the campaign Of Blenheim' and
the diplomatic labors with the States
General which preceded it. The large and
political grasp of the whole
is easily appreciated by the care
ful reader of his life. But what Msrlbor-
ough was on the field of Blenheim itself,
now in the moments Of apparent ill.suc-
cess and failure his presence, by it's COM
bined fire and calmness, terminated the
wavering and assured the victory-this
may be recorded, but here, as elsewhere,
/ believe that no one man in thousand
who reads of it realizes what it implies.
GEN. Ike.
And lastly, let me glance at Gen. Lee.
Lees strategy when be fought in defense
Of the Southern capital, and threatened
aud finally struck ct that of the United
States, marks him az one OF the greatest
captains of this or of any other age. No
man has ever fought an uphill and o losing
game with greater firmness, or ever dis.
played higher order OF true military
genius than he did when in command of
the Confederate army. The knowledge Of
his profession displayed by Gen. McClel.
Ian was considerable, and his stragetic
we're admirable, but he lacked
one attribute as o general, without which |
no man can ever succeed in war-he was
never able to estimate with any accuracy
the numbers opposed to him. It was the
presence in Lee Of that intuitive genius |
which Mcclellan lacked, which again and
again gave him victory, even when no was
outmatched in numbers.