The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1915-09-03
BY EUGENE r McspEppEN

the mind and character of even th,
most powerful generals, and the1
compare them to the most eminen
men in the other fields of world
moving achievement, we should fine
Y their figures rather dwarfed beside
the worlds really loftiest characters
Great warriors are usually men oi
we'll formed and powerful physique
4 Alexander was fair and slightly rud-
dy of complexion, handsome of form
and face, of medium size, but well
knit, energetic of both body and
mind and capable of hard and con-
tinuous exertions. "A man of ener-
gy and ambition" says Curtis in his
Introduction toWilliams Life of Alex
ander, "he was the hardest worker
of his day, both in body and mind.
Caesar was slender, rather tall and
pale, but with thick muscular
neck; prepossessing in appearance,
of quick decision, untiring energy of
both body and mind, and rapid in
cisive in movement. He usually,
says Fraud, brought the news him
self that he was coming. Napoleon
was low of stature, but slightly
heavy, and galvanic battery of
physical and intellectual energy.
Josephine said that Napoleon was
never quiet for an hour. "He was
often on horseback" says Headley''
"for eighteen hours day, and yet
wrought up to the intensest mental
excitement all the while" Without
intermission he could march, array
his troops, fight battles and win
victories for forty-eight hours on a
stretch. All these men planned
rapidly, moved like stormclouds, and
fell on the enemy like thousand
thunderbolts. Hence their great
success. Our Washington was tall
and large, of enormous physical
force and endurance, and mentally
we'll balanced and sensible, rather
than intellectual, and usually calcu
Iating deliberate and forceful, rath-
er than rapid and incisive in move
ment of both body and mind. HE
is not the thunderbolt," Headley OBJ
serves, hurled from the sky arrest
ing and startling, but the mighty
ocean tide calm, majestic and re-
sistless.
Great warriors, as preponder-
6CLlu6 luiO3 PAyoiSUA, OiSA eNSAS
and expedient, rather than highly
intellectual and moral men OF ac-
ton and iron, rather than of thought
and mercy; of will and ambition,
rather than moderation and philan-
thropy; pugnacious and volcanic,
rather than liberal and magnani-
nous; destructive, rather than con-
structive in genius; bold and i'm
petuous, delighting in che wild ex-
citement of terrific battles. AS the
eagle delights in the storm and is
strangely calm when the lightning
is playing on her wings, so such men
as Washington and Napoleon are
calm and self-collected amid the
most tumultous and destructive
scenes of battle and can gaze on the
wild contest with calm eye, quick
to see any chance for advantage.
battle of Austerlitz," "never inter-
rupt the enemy when he is making
a false move'' And at the proper
moment Napoleon charged like
thunder and the enemy was ruined.
Caesar would rush bareheaded
among his soldiers, when sthey were
and about to be de-
stroyed, wheel them into the proper
order and beat the enemy into the
dust. Washington on his fine charg-
er would dash in front of his waver- |
ing lines, right into the teeth of the |
tempest of bullets, and turn the tide |
of battle amid loud huZzas. Alex
ander would leap single-handed into
the midst of an armed garrison and |
fight them back till his men could |
scale or tear down wall. These
great generals all seemed to be in
capable of the sensation of fear
Great generals as rule, however,
are not devoid of nobility, generosity
and sympathy. Washington was al
ways noble and generous. And it
was only the stern necessity and a
highly patriotic spirit that always
prompted him to prosecute war and
lift his sword in battle. His great
heart was filled with a great sor-
row whenever his soldier or fellow
people were distressed or severely
suffering. Napoleon once flung five
Or six hundred dollars in gold into
the lap of a poor destitute widow,
into whose cabin he CHANGED one
iay to come. He would sometimes
weep, like child, at the close of a
battle, in looking over the field all
Durdened with the wounded, dying
and dead. His was an uncontrollable
grief when his friend, Durock, was
nortally wounded at Bantzen. Cae-
;ar and Alexander were often gen.
srous, and, Alexander especially,
sometimes kind and sympathetic to- ;
ward even an enemy When he de-
'eated the Darius at Issus and cap
.ured his royal family, he cared for 1
hem very generously, and, when /
after the battel of Arbela, he pur-
;ued Darius and found him dead in !
lis chariot, he wept for pity-very !
much unlike the treatment that l
Achilles, one of AleXander's far /
amed ancestors, gave to the slain {
Hector. But Napoleon, Alexander or !
caesar never allowed the sentiment. l
il, generosity or pity to stand in the !
Vay of their plans of just or unjust, &
IT necessary or ambitious warfare.
Napoleon butchered thousands, both '
,exes and all ages in Spain, mainly,
+ not solely, it seemed, to satisfy
lis ambition for glory, or greed for
rain. Alexander destroyed cities
vantonly, exterminated the defeated n