The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-03

sAuI DON, when at the councils of war
me Emp ror noticed any officer watching
IN intently as though 10 observe the ei-
lect u adVi-e or SUES estion gwen by one
Oh the ma shals, The / m error at once III
yer ed the attentien of the 100 o ervant
oIleer by h ld-ng cut h 5 hand ". In thumb
ara lorelinger touching, a mute request
Tor pinch of snuff. The Individual thus
appeared to Instantly prodgc his box and
landed Il over to Napoleon, who after
talirg a p nch, shut up the jeweled re-
ceptac.e and PUT it in his pocket, and The
lear OF -osi s the box at once occupied the
5Ihcer attention TO the exclusion of 9th
er topics. At the conclusion of the formal
councils or after the Emperor changed his
nf-rm his valet took the snuff boxes out
OF the pockets of coat ard trousei and
made restitution, but several valuable
Boxes mysteriousfy disappearing for good
alter they had vanished into the Emper
or's pocket, the marshals of France took
the mint, and whenever they went 10
council Of war left their gold boxes at
home and carried plain ebony or horn re-
eeptacl,s f5r snuff and so diminished their
loss when the Emperor wanted a pinch.
Frederick the Greats Lesson.
Napoleon's ereat opponent, the Duke of
Wellington, was as tactitun as the Corsi-
can. During The peninsular campaign
While he consulted freely with his Off 5,
they rarely knew unIl defini,e orders
were ISSUE what movements we're des gn-
ed. After Welhngton's mill airy career
was over and he entered the p litical life
of Great Britain, he slightly relaxed his
,acituruily, but even then was more ceFe-
brated for his silence than on account Of
his oratorical or conversational powers.
Most of Napoleon's marshals took lessons
from the Emperor himself ard talked We
little. Some Of them, indeed seemed
scarcely to possess the facu- ty of speech,
and in more than one case the tacitui nifty,
in part, at least, was due TO inability to
converse intelligently on any subjec.. Sew
eral were SO ignorant hat they could not
read map, a pecu4iarlty, by the way, not
co fined to the French officers of that day,
for 10 Won Butcher, whose timely arrival
saved the day for Wellington, a map was
mystery which he was never abe 10
solve.
Frederick the Great wassan entertaining
talker, but long ere ne assembled the
throne, learned the wisdom of silence con-
corning himself and his plans. During
his early manhood he was surrounded by
the spies of his father, who reported at
court whatever he said and did, and so
many of his witty and sarcastic sayings
were distorted into reflections on Freder-
lex William, so much trouble resulted for
the Prince in consequence of the preju-
dices formed by the half-crazy old King
that Frederick learned not to talk at all.
A story of Won MOlt<e.
Won Moltke, a great adnlirer and student
of Frederick's campaigns, was unusually
silent even for a soldier He was a good
linguist spoke or understood several of
the languages of the continent, but was
able 70 hold his tongue in them ALL One
of his biographers says that the great
German strategist never uttered two
words when his meaning could be made
plain in one, and never spoke at all when
a gesture would suffice At dinner he
pointed to what he wanted, and the at
tendant as taciturn as his master, hand
ed it to him without word. The Ger
mans tell of Won Moltke an anecdote
which illustrates their conception of his
character and taciturnity. When news of
the French declaration of war was brought
the General was at home and asleep. He
was awakened by an aide-de-camp with
the intelligence and, without rising, mere
ly calculated, Second pigeon-hole on the
right, first tier" thus indicating where
the papers were to be found which con-
tanned the mobiliza ton plans and an out
line of the campaign. 3 Having thus dis
posed of the business, he deliberately
turned over and again went to sleep. The
story is, of course, apocryphal, but 1t gives
the popular idea of Won Moltke, and af-
ter all, popular opinion is oftener right
than wrong.
The Duke of Marlborough, the General
who won every battle he ever fought and
received the surrender of every city he be-
sieged, possessed a taciturn temperament
not indicated by his open, generous, cheer
full countenance With Him, ghowever, ST.
lence Was purely a business matter, and
when not campaigning he was as agree
able a person as any one would wish to
meet, except to his wife. To what extent
he was excusable must, of course, be a
matter of opinion among his detractors
and admirers.
other Cautious Great Men.
But so far as silence is concerned. the
list of military men who were noted for
their reserve comprises a large number of
very eminent names. Prince Eugene was
| quiet. Marshal SAKE was far from talka-
tive Our own Washington was none too
communicative to his officers concerning
his plans, though after the detection of
Arnold the value of caution became more
than ever apparent. Greene was quiet,
SO were the Confederate Lee and Jackson.
Prince Rupert the great cavalry lader of
Charles l., was taciturn and reserved, so
was Bolivar, So too, were William the
Conqueror, Charlemegne, Julius Caesar,
Tamerane and Genghis Khan. as might
be expected from what we know of their
general character and reputation. Every
thing we have learned Of Hannibal has
been transmitted to us by his bitter foes,
men WHO Ildl6u illlA anu Ald4iSliEu MS rep
utation, but among the illusions to this
remarkable man is one which describes
him as very silent, but observant of all
that passed around him. In other re-
spects he was the Napoleon of the ancient
world, the silent man of destiny whose
| greatness is not diminished by his misfor-
tunes.
With military men,, however taciturn as
| they may be by nature, silence is mat
| ter of business. War with them is pro-
| fession, a trade, a calling, and every man
who is at the head of business enterprise
of any kind is aware Of theevalue of pri-
| vacy and of the imprudence Of loquacity.
-s-~as-S-
Paul Jones Was Prosecuted.