asses by them, provided they cannot be taken in
reverse,--that is, provided all their faces are equally safe from a
_coup de main_. It is also important that they be established close to a
fortress, where the depots may be safe, or which may cover the front of
the camp nearest to the line of retreat.

In general terms, such a camp on a river, with a large _tete de pont_
on the other side to command both banks, and near a large fortified city
like Mayence or Strasbourg, is of undoubted advantage; but it will never
be more than a temporary refuge, a means of gaining time and of
collecting reinforcements. When the object is to drive away the enemy,
it will be necessary to leave the camp and carry on operations in the
open country.

The second maxim as to these camps is, that they are particularly
advantageous to an army at home or near its base of operations. If a
French army occupied an intrenched camp on the Elbe, it would be lost
when the space between the Rhine and Elbe was held by the enemy; but if
it were invested in an intrenched camp near Strasbourg, it might with a
little assistance resume its superiority and take the field, while the
enemy in the interior of France and between the relieving force and the
intrenched army would have great difficulty in recrossing the Rhine.

We have heretofore considered these camps in a strategic light; but
several German generals have maintained that they are suitable to cover
places or to prevent sieges,--which appears to me to be a little
sophistical. Doubtless, it will be more difficult to besiege a place
when an army is encamped on its glacis; and it maybe said that the forts
and camps are a mutual support; but, according to my view, the real and
principal use of intrenched camps is always to afford, if necessary, a
temporary refuge for an army, or the means of debouching offensively
upon a decisive point or beyond a large river. To bury an army in such a
camp, to expose it to the danger of being outflanked and cut off, simply
to retard a siege, would be folly. The example of Wurmser, who prolonged
the defense of Mantua, will be cited in opposition to this; but did not
his army perish? And was this sacrifice really useful? I do not think
so; for, the place having been once relieved and revictualed, and the
siege-train having fallen into the hands of the Austrians, the siege was
necessarily changed into a blockade, and the town could only be taken by
reason of famine; and, t