ary corps more than probable. Furthermore, if held, it
conferred no advantage. The position was less defensible than the
Maumee, more exposed because nearer the enemy, more difficult to
maintain because the communications were thirty miles longer, and,
finally, it controlled nothing. The name of occupation, applied to it,
was a mere misnomer, disguising a sham. Malden, on the contrary, if
effectually held, would confer a great benefit; for in the hands of an
enemy it menaced the communications of Detroit, and if coupled with
command of the water, as was the case, it controlled them, as Hull
found to his ruin. To gain it, therefore, justified a good deal of
risk; yet if seized, unless control of the water were also soon
established, it would, as compared with Detroit, entail upon the
Americans the additional disadvantage that Frenchtown incurred over
the Maumee,--an increase of exposure, because of longer and more
exposed lines of communication. Though Malden was valuable to the
British as a local base, with all the benefits of nearness, it was not
the only one they possessed on the lakes. The loss of it, therefore,
so long as they possessed decided superiority in armed shipping,
though a great inconvenience, would not be a positive disability. With
the small tonnage they had on the lake, however, it would have become
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to transport and maintain a
force sufficient seriously to interrupt the road from the Maumee, upon
which Detroit depended.

In short, in all ordinary warfare, and in most that is extraordinary
and seems outside the rules, one principle is sure to enforce itself
with startling emphasis, if momentarily lost to sight or forgotten,
and that is the need of secured communications. A military body, land
or sea, may abandon its communications for a brief period, strictly
limited, expecting soon to restore them at the same or some other
point, just as a caravan can start across the desert with food and
water which will last until another base is reached. There is no
surrender of certainty in such a case; but a body of troops thrown
into a position where it has no security of receiving supplies, incurs
a risk that needs justification, and can receive it only from special
circumstances. No position within striking distance of the lake shore
was permanently secure unless supported by naval power; because all
that is implied by the term "communications"--facility for
transporting