The morbid patriotism of some, and the false economy of others, have nearly obliterated every thing like military knowledge among us." "This, reader, is but one motive the more for reinstating it.

Thanks to the noble art of printing! you still have _books_ which, if _studied_, will teach the art of war." "_Books_! And what are they but the dreams of pedants?
They may make a Mack, but have they ever made a Xenophon, a Caesar, a Saxe, a Frederick, or a Bonaparte?
Who would not laugh to hear the cobbler of Athens lecturing Hannibal on the art of war ?" "True; but as you are not Hannibal, listen to the cobbler.

Xenophon, Caesar, Saxe, Frederick, and Napoleon, have all thought well of books, and have even composed them.

Nor is this extraordinary, since they are but the depositories of maxims which genius has suggested, and experience confirmed; since they both enlighten and shorten the road of the traveller, and render the labor and genius of past ages tributary to our own.

_These_ teach most emphatically, that the secret of successful war is not to be found in mere _legs_ and _arms_, but in the _head_ that shall direct them.