For it is rapid decision, and a
similar promptitude in action, such as taking instant advantage of
an enemy's mistakes, that so often wins battles. "At Arcola," said
Napoleon, "I won the battle with twenty-five horsemen. I seized a
moment of lassitude, gave every man a trumpet, and gained the day
with this handful. Two armies are two bodies which meet and
endeavour to frighten each other: a moment of panic occurs, and
THAT MOMENT must be turned to advantage." "Every moment lost,"
said he at another time, "gives an opportunity for misfortune;" and
he declared that he beat the Austrians because they never knew the
value of time: while they dawdled, he overthrew them.
India has, during the last century, been a great field for the
display of British energy. From Clive to Havelock and Clyde there
is a long and honourable roll of distinguished names in Indian
legislation and warfare,--such as Wellesley, Metcalfe, Outram,
Edwardes, and the Lawrences. Another great but sullied name is
that of Warren Hastings--a man of dauntless will and indefatigable
industry. His family was ancient and illustrious; but their
vicissitudes of fortune and ill-requited loyalty in the cause of
the Stuarts, brought them to poverty, and the family estate at
Daylesford, of which they had been lords of the manor for hundreds
of years, at length passed from their hands.
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