Tactics and stratagems of war.-Captain Bentley and Captain Baines. -The defiance.-Scaling the rock.-The stratagem of the boat.Battle of Actium.-Duke of Saxe Weimar.-Breaking the line.The Prussian General. - Ibrahim Pasha. The old Dervise.

War terms. Actions.-Attacks.-Attempts.-Battles.-Blockades. Bombardments.- Descents. Defeats. -Engagements.Expeditions. Invasions. - Sea-fights. - Storms.-Sieges.-Surprises. —Skirmishes. - Repulses. Explosions. - Three-fingered Jack.

"WE will now, boys, enter a little into the tactics and stratagems of war. Nothing like being

fair and above-board in the common transactions of life; but in war, he who can take a prisoner instead of taking his life does a good thing; and he who by tactics or stratagems can compel an army to lay down their arms, instead of covering the ground with slain, does better."

"Ay! you must please to make everything as plain to us as you can.

"I will! I will! As no nation is justified in going to war when peaceable means can be resorted to with success, so no general ought to destroy human life while he can accomplish his ends by stratagem. The difference between the tactics of war and the stratagems of war is this. Tactics are superior arrangements made by knowledge and genius to overcome an enemy, while stratagems are feints, made to deceive him. Tactics are, therefore, of the most importance, for they will always be called into play, while stratagems can only be occasionally resorted to. A good player at chess, or draughts, will beat an opponent by his superior skill or tactics, without once resorting to a stratagem, while an indifferent player will sometimes win a game by resorting to the stratagem of giving his adversary one piece, and capturing two in return.”

"O yes! It is very plain that there is a great difference between stratagems and tactics."

"When I was a schoolboy, the whole school, in play-hours, was divided into two parties, with a

6

captain at the head of each, and many a brave encounter took place in our mimic battles. One of our captains, named Baines, was famous for stratagems, and by the aid of these he was frequently successful, though his opponent, Captain Bentley, was greatly his superior in strength and activity. On one occasion, Baines separated himself from his party, withdrawing himself on the left flank, crying out, O that I had an enemy that dared to meet me hand to hand!' Bentley, knowing himself to be more than a match for his opponent, instantly followed him, when, on a signal given by Baines, two of his strongest soldiers ran to support him, while the rest flung themselves between Bentley's troops and their commander, to prevent any assistance being given. The consequence followed, that Bentley was soon a prisoner, with his hands tied behind his back, and Baines, with little exertion, obtained a complete victory."

“That was a famous stratagem! How could Bentley be so foolish as to follow him?"

"On another occasion, Baines took possession alone of a rock, so steep on all sides that it could only be scaled by the aid of a ladder ; from the top of this rock he pelted his opponents; when Bentley, too proud, to be driven away by Baines alone, mounted the ladder to dislodge him. No sooner, however, had he gained the summit of the rock than Baines, who had let himself down on the opposite side with a rope,

appeared at the bottom, and threw down the ladder, so that Captain Bentley, from the top of the rock which he had no means of descending, had the mortification to see his little army discomfited for the want of a commander.”

"Capital! capital! Baines was too much for Bentley."

"It was after these stratagems that he practised a third. Bentley was very fond of addressing his party from a little boat that was moored by the side of the broad brook. One day, as he was standing in the boat addressing his troops, and telling them that in the hour of danger he would always be found at their head, the boat imperceptibly glided from the bank towards the middle of the stream. Bentley perceiving the boat to be unmoored, turned round, when he saw the weakest of Baines's soldiers, half hid among the opposite bushes, pulling at a rope, which had been fastened beforehand to the boat. By this stratagem Bentley was kept in the middle of his brook till the whole of his army was discomfited, Baines repeatedly crying out,' In the hour of danger you will find me at your head!""

"Famous! famous! That Baines would have made a good general !"

"A knowledge of tactics is indispensable to a general and to an admiral; remembrance too, of the common details and evolutions should be kept up, otherwise officers, though their tactics may be

good, may make arrangements and give orders, difficult to be executed. The Prussian tactics were, to concentrate power and to attack the chief points of an enemy in succession, whereas French tactics attack all points, with divided forces, at one and the same time."

66

Why, the one is just the contrary to the other."

"To go back to the days of Rome. At the battle of Actium, Augustus, finding himself inferior to Mark Anthony in the number of his ships, had the sagacity to draw up his line of battle along the entrance of the Gulph of Ambracia, and thereby to make up for his deficiency. This naval manœuvre, as well as that of getting to windward of the enemy, in order to bear down upon him with more certainty and effect, exists to the present day."

66

Augustus acted wisely, for many of Mark Anthony's ships had not room to fight."

"In ancient times ships had sharp prows, with which they ran one against another. The battle was then carried on by boarding, but now cannonshot decides almost every action. Ships now fight broadside to broadside; and whenever a vessel can take another at such a disadvantage as to sweep her decks from stem to stern, this is called raking her fore and aft.'

"Ay! gunpowder has made a great difference in that respect."