ce
Frederick. Ultimately, in 1859, he was appointed permanent chief of
the staff. His later military career, and brilliant successes against
the Danes, Austrians, and the French, and the various honors accorded
him, are so well known and have been so often and so recently
narrated, that any further reference to them in this present sketch is
unnecessary, the purpose of our notice being to briefly indicate some
of the leading points of the great field-marshal's character. One fact
is memorable, that he had passed the age when men frequently retire
from the public service before the time of his greater achievements.
His splendid career began to the eye of the world at sixty-five.

The guiding principle of his life is well illustrated by the ancient
motto of his family, _Caute et candide_ (warily and gently), and by
his own favorite maxim, _Erst waegen, dann wagen_ (first weigh, then
venture). He was slow, cautious, and careful in laying his plans, but
having formed his design, he was bold, daring even to the verge of
apparent recklessness in its execution. The same calm, immovable
spirit characterized him even in moments when most ordinary
mortals--he was a man _sui generis_--might, with some show of reason,
be perturbed or excited. Even in the most critical period of the
Franco-German war his unruffled quietness remained the same, sterner
perhaps in look, more silent than ever. Though the warrior king,
amidst the carnage of the battle-field might feel depressed; though
Bismarck, man of "iron and blood," might be anxious at the progress
of events, Moltke, seated on his great black horse, calmly surveyed,
telescope in hand, the movements of the troops, or later, resting
quietly in his room at Versailles, awaited the result undismayed. When
war was declared, a friend met him with the remark: "You must indeed
be overworked at present." "No," replied the General, "the work was
done beforehand; all orders are gone out; I really have nothing to
do."

Married in 1842, shortly after his return home from the East, to Miss
Burt, an English lady, he lived with her in the bonds of a rare union
of happiness, concord, and mutual sympathy. On the occasion of her
death, which took place Christmas Eve, 1868, he withdrew still more
from public life, and found in quiet, studious, and laborious life
some slight relief for his grief. Very touching was his devotion to
the memory of his wife. Upon his estate at Kreisau he built a little
maus