fort of genius upon the part of Prince Eugene to prepare the
order he issued to his army; and he must have felt a profound contempt
for his opponents to execute a march with thirty-five thousand allied
troops of ten different nations between eighty thousand Frenchmen on the
one side and the Alps on the other, and to pass around their camp for
forty-eight hours by the most remarkable flank march that was ever
attempted. The order for the attack was so brief and so devoid of
instruction that any staff officer of the present day ought to write a
better. Directing the formation of eight columns of infantry by brigade
in two lines, giving them orders to carry the intrenchments and to make
openings through them for the passage of the cavalry into the camp, make
up the sum total of all the science exhibited by Eugene in order to
carry out his rash undertaking It is true he selected the weak point of
the intrenchment; for it was there so low that it covered only half the
bodies of its defenders.

But I am wandering from my subject, and must return to the explanation
of the measures most suitable for adoption in an attack on lines. If
they have a sufficient relief to make it difficult to carry them by
assault, and if on the other hand they may be outflanked or turned by
strategic maneuvers, it is far better to pursue the course last
indicated than to attempt a hazardous assault. If, however, there is any
reason for preferring the attack by assault, it should be made upon one
of the wings, because the center is the point most easily succored.
There have been cases where an attack on the wing was expected by the
defenders, and they have been deceived by a false attack made at that
point, while the real attack took place at the center, and succeeded
simply because unexpected. In these operations the locality and the
character of the generals engaged must decide as to the proper course to
be pursued.

The attack may be executed in the manner described for intrenched camps.
It has sometimes happened, however, that these lines have had the relief
and proportions of permanent works; and in this case escalade would be
quite difficult, except of old earthen works whose slopes were worn away
from the lapse of time and had become accessible for infantry of
moderate activity. The ramparts of Ismail and Praga were of this
character; so also was the citadel of Smolensk, which Paskevitch so
gloriously defended against Ney, because he preferre