and although long habituation to War and victory
together with great confidence in a Commander may modify them a little
here and there, they are never entirely wanting in the first moment.
They are not the pure consequences of lost trophies; these are usually
lost at a later period, and the loss of them does not become generally
known so quickly; they will therefore not fail to appear even when the
scale turns in the slowest and most gradual manner, and they constitute
that effect of a victory upon which we can always count in every case.

We have already said that the number of trophies intensifies this
effect.

It is evident that an Army in this condition, looked at as an
instrument, is weakened! How can we expect that when reduced to such a
degree that, as we said before, it finds new enemies in all the ordinary
difficulties of making War, it will be able to recover by fresh efforts
what has been lost! Before the battle there was a real or assumed
equilibrium between the two sides; this is lost, and, therefore, some
external assistance is requisite to restore it; every new effort without
such external support can only lead to fresh losses.

Thus, therefore, the most moderate victory of the chief Army must tend
to cause a constant sinking of the scale on the opponent's side, until
new external circumstances bring about a change. If these are not near,
if the conqueror is an eager opponent, who, thirsting for glory, pursues
great aims, then a first-rate Commander, and in the beaten Army a true
military spirit, hardened by many campaigns are required, in order to
stop the swollen stream of prosperity from bursting all bounds, and to
moderate its course by small but reiterated acts of resistance, until
the force of victory has spent itself at the goal of its career.

And now as to the effect of defeat beyond the Army, upon the Nation and
Government! It is the sudden collapse of hopes stretched to the utmost,
the downfall of all self-reliance. In place of these extinct forces,
fear, with its destructive properties of expansion, rushes into the
vacuum left, and completes the prostration. It is a real shock upon the
nerves, which one of the two athletes receives from the electric spark
of victory. And that effect, however different in its degrees, is never
completely wanting. Instead of every one hastening with a spirit of
determination to aid in repairing the disaster, every one fears that his
efforts will only be in va