The Washington herald., 1918-06-23
News OF CQpifdl Secret and FrQtenQl Societies

cluded ana swallowed up; victory %
moral superiority In the conqueror.
moral depression IN the vanquished;
battle u the struggle Of two villa.
30 that our army may be victorious
morale superior 70 that OF the enemy.
or that this should be impaired 10 Il
BY Its command. To organize battle
Ia. then, 10 excite the morale OF our
army TO the highest point, 20 break
that Of the adversary. The win 10
conquer 10 the nrst condition of VIC
tory, consequently the frst duty Of
every soldier, but it 10 also that SUI
preme resolution which the general
must at need know how TO instill in
the souls or his men.
From this we see the, need for .
command Of the highest order for an
army that wishes to conquer; and
that the man who proposes to deliver
battle must possess one gift: that of
command. Good plans and firm will,
intelligence and character, are not
suficient for such a mamie must
have what de Brack calls ''the inn
peratlve fluid" the gift of making
supreme energy which animotes him
pass into the masses Of men who are
his arm-for the army IL to the gem
eral what the sword In to the soldier.
The army will not move except a. he
impels Il. directs II, inyigorates it
1T was not the Roman legions who
conquered Gaul, but Caesar. The Car
thagenian soldiers did not make Rome
tremble, but Hannibal 1t was nos
the Macedonian phalanx which pene-
trated India, but Alexander: not the
French army that reached Weser and
the Inn. but Turenne; not Prussisn
soldiers who defended Prussia against
the three strongest powers in Europe
for seven years. but Frederick the
Great"
The DaErllng Napoleon.
So said Napoleon, but what might
he not have added, and with more
reason, had he included in his emu
meration that dazzling epoch whose
prodigious memory will go down the
centuries as an epic entirely domi-
mated by his own gigantic personality
The great results of war are deeds
Of the commanders. So IL is just that
history should enter, in the records OF
generals. their victories to glorify
them and their defeats to dishonor
them Without the general, no battle
and no victory is possible.
Let me recall the profound saying
Of Scharnhorst at the moment OF the
nomination Of Blucher to the command
Of the army in SilesIa in IS1S: lis II
not the way in which the chief i'm
prints his own resolution in the hearts
Of others that makes him a great man
OF war, rather than all the other apti-
tudes or abilities which theory de-
mands of him?'
In this influence OF the general-In-
chief. In this enthusiasm communi-
Gated by him, may we not find the
explanation OF those unconscious
movements Of human masses. in these
solemn moments when. without know
ing why. an army on the battlefield
feels itself borne forward as though
1t were sliding down an inclined plain?
That such an influence is needful is
easy to understand. When the hour
comes to take decisions, to incur re-
sponsibilities, to commence TO make
sacrifices. and these decisions must be
taken before they are imposed, re-
sponsin1lities assumed beforehand,
since the general must seize the initia-
tive in order to unloose his offensive
where can be found those who will
undertake these always risky and per-
fous enterprises. IL not in superior
natures, avid for responsibility? those
who. profoundly impregnated with the
will to conquer. find in that will. as
also In the clear vision OF the only
means which will lead up to victory,
the energy to exercise without hesita-
ton the most enormous powers. TO
plunge with assurance into difiicul-
ties and incur losses; ind In that will
TO conquer the energy to risk every
thing, even their honor. since a beaten
general IL a dishonored chieftain?
People have little idea Of the force
Of soul necessary to deliver. having
completely reflected on the conse-
Quences, one OF those great battles on
which depends the history OF an army
and for q country, the possession of a
throne" Napoleon said. and he added:
ut is rare to find generals who fight
battles willingly"
So let US salute the sovereign power
OF the generalissimo. as on the field of
battle the drums and the trumpets
herald his arrival-the man who is
necessary for the organization OF the
whole. who delivers the final push.
who is alone capable Of 90 determining
the fortune OF all