must be comprehended
and judged of correctly at a glance by a General, we refer to the first
chapter. We say the General becomes a Statesman, but he must not cease
to be the General. He takes into view all the relations of the State on
the one hand; on the other, he must know exactly what he can do with the
means at his disposal.

As the diversity, and undefined limits, of all the circumstances bring a
great number of factors into consideration in War, as the most of these
factors can only be estimated according to probability, therefore, if
the Chief of an Army does not bring to bear upon them a mind with an
intuitive perception of the truth, a confusion of ideas and views must
take place, in the midst of which the judgment will become bewildered.
In this sense, Buonaparte was right when he said that many of the
questions which come before a General for decision would make problems
for a mathematical calculation not unworthy of the powers of Newton or
Euler.

What is here required from the higher powers of the mind is a sense of
unity, and a judgment raised to such a compass as to give the mind an
extraordinary faculty of vision which in its range allays and sets aside
a thousand dim notions which an ordinary understanding could only bring
to light with great effort, and over which it would exhaust itself. But
this higher activity of the mind, this glance of genius, would still not
become matter of history if the qualities of temperament and character
of which we have treated did not give it their support.

Truth alone is but a weak motive of action with men, and hence there is
always a great difference between knowing and action, between science
and art. The man receives the strongest impulse to action through the
feelings, and the most powerful succour, if we may use the expression,
through those faculties of heart and mind which we have considered under
the terms of resolution, firmness, perseverance, and force of character.

If, however, this elevated condition of heart and mind in the General
did not manifest itself in the general effects resulting from it, and
could only be accepted on trust and faith, then it would rarely become
matter of history.

All that becomes known of the course of events in War is usually very
simple, and has a great sameness in appearance; no one on the mere
relation of such events perceives the difficulties connected with them
which had to be overcome. It is only now and again, in