The second way is to select for the object of our enterprises those points at which we can do the enemy most harm.

Nothing is easier to conceive than two different directions in which our force may be employed, the first of which is to be preferred if our object is to defeat the enemy's Army, while the other is more advantageous if the defeat of the enemy is out of the question.

According to the usual mode of speaking, we should say that the first is primarily military, the other more political.

But if we take our view from the highest point, both are equally military, and neither the one nor the other can be eligible unless it suits the circumstances of the case.

The third, by far the most important, from the great number of cases which it embraces, is the WEARING OUT of the enemy.