The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-05-16

TIE commencement season o. the state
university Is Al land. The students will
not lack exhorsa,ion on AL sides concern
INT the formative power az education. es'
after all II is we'll not TO forget that no
sys;ena OF education ever did much for any
'saa IN the sense that superior scholarship
assares success or the want Of is rsessges
failure in lie. Superior military scholar
ship IL no more an assurance Of SUCCESS in
shs application Of the ART Of war 10 the
sudden emergencies OF the campaign aud
the BATTLEFIELD! than superior scholarship At
law sehoo, is an assurance Of success IN
the trial Of great case in court; or saaf
great scholarship at Theological seminary
is assurance Of :uiure power IN the pulpit
Brains i. behind and At the bottom OF all
really high and exceptions! success; nay,
more, man nsy have memory and tine
critical faculty, decided brains. and yet fail
herauye he cannot do what Turner said
was the explanation Of = great artistic
cannot mix bis colors with brains; he may
De great in the classroom: greas in the
closet; grea; in the lecture iield; in the
rass.ye world o: mere criticism and con-
temptation, and yet be feeble. sluggish.
hesitaiing in action. There were great
generals before there were any military
schools or books on tactics or strategy.
ana If mere scholarship were essential to
great general. Why then Jomini ought to
have been q greater soldier than Napoleon,
on whose staff be served; Napier and
Woiseley than Wellington: Hardee than
Longssreet; Lesley than Cromwell. Lee.
Johnston. Sherman and Humphreys are
the only exceptions that we remember to
the rule Of experience during the civil
war that the trst scholars ut West Point
did not show superior aptitude for gener-
alship in the field. Well, what does this
prove' That fine military scholarship is
hurtful to a general? No; it only proves
that outdoor executive energy and pug
nacity Of temperament are essential to q
general as we'll as knowledge of the scien-
,ihc principles Of strategy and grand
tactics.
The scholarly temperament is industri-
Gus. bat is usually too contemplative.
cautious and reflective when it needs to be
aggressive and audacious in action. 1t re-
fleets 50 much that it becomes self-dis-
trustful. and hesitates when he should
strike both swiftly and surely. Sherman
once said: II am better posted in military
science than Grant is, but where he beats
me and beats us all is that when he has
decided when and how to attack the enemy
he can sleep on his plan. while can not
form a plan without being awake all night
fretting and fearing what the enemy might
do" This was really confession that
Grant was the best general for the battle
field, because he trusted to his power to
meet emergencies as they arose. and did
not make his resolution sickly with the
pale cast Of too much thought over the
phsntoms Of his fancy. II troubles came,
not rs single spies, but in battalions, he
trusted to his courage and nerve to meet
them, bat he never relaxed his grip on his
own original purpose until the enemy
forced him to break it and take fresh
hoi.i.
AS il is IN war. so it is in business, in
politics and the professions. Success is
not assured by great knowledge Of books
alone. or even by pure intellectual power
there is native temperamentai quality
necessary, which includes sound judg-
mcnt. push. enterprise and prompt deci-
sion at the golden moment, the absence Of
which no knowledge Of books and no mere
poweS of pure thought will supply. Any
man can learn from books how to tall
love. but that knowledge would not serve
him much against q bold, fervent fellow
whom nature had taught how to make
love, A man might as well expect to be-
come an orator by the mere study Of a
treatise on eloquencc rs TO become a grea.
soldier. lawyer. merchant. preacher or
physician BY mere study and the posses
sion OF high scholarly attainments. The
native quality which eompeis success by
sound and prompt application OF knowi
edge TO everyday affairs. must be present
or the man of books, even when OF supe
rior intellectual power and acuteness, Will
fail Of success. not because he does moi
see MS opportunities. but either because
he does not seize them at all or lacks .hs
Judgment that tells man without teach
ing when and where To seize them and
how 10 handle himself in action.