360 THE PLAN OF THE ENTERPRISE. CTIAP. this line of operations is the one object which ^^^^' must never be absent from his mind. The farther he goes, the more he needs to keep up an inces- sant communication with his ' base ; ' and yet, since the line is lengthening as he advances, it is constantly becoming more and more liable to be cut. Such a disaster as that he looks upon as nearly equal to ruin, and there is hardly anything that he will refuse to sacrifice for the defence of the dusty or mud-deep cart-roads which give him his means of living and fighting. On the other hand, the commander of a ' mov- ' able column ' begins his campaign by wilfully placing himself in those very circumstances which would bring ruin upon an army carrying on regu- lar operations. He does not profess nor attempt to hold fast any ' line of operations ' connecting him with his resources. He says to his enemy: ' Surround me if you will ; gather upon my front; ' hover round me on flank and rear. Do not ' affront me too closely, unless you want to see ' something of my cavalry and my horse-artillery; ' but, keeping at a courteous distance, you may ' freely occupy the whole country through which
- I pass. I care nothing for the roads by which I
' have come ; what I need wliilst my task is doing ' I carry along with me. I have an enterprise ' in hand ; that achieved, I shall march towards ' the resources which my countrymen liave pre- ' pared for me. Those resouices I will reach or
- else perish.' If an army engaged in regular
operations were likened to an engine drawing its
