upon the defensive all is not lost, but also that we may judge with how
much daring we should push our offensive to prevent the enemy securing the
advantages of defence.

As a general principle we all know that possession is nine points of the
law. It is easier to keep money in our pocket than to take it from another
man's. If one man would rob another he must be the stronger or better armed
unless he can do it by dexterity or stealth, and there lies one of the
advantages of offence. The side which takes the initiative has usually the
better chance of securing advantage by dexterity or stealth. But it is not
always so. If either by land or sea we can take a defensive position so
good that it cannot be turned and must be broken down before our enemy can
reach his objective, then the advantage of dexterity and stealth passes to
us. We choose our own ground for the trial of strength. We are hidden on
familiar ground; he is exposed on ground that is less familiar. We can lay
traps and prepare surprises by counter-attack, when he is most dangerously
exposed. Hence the paradoxical doctrine that where defence is sound and
well designed the advantage of surprise is against the attack.

It will be seen therefore that whatever advantages lie in defence they
depend on the preservation of the offensive spirit. Its essence is the
counter-attack--waiting deliberately for a chance to strike--not cowering
in inactivity. Defence is a condition of restrained activity--not a mere
condition of rest. Its real weakness is that if unduly prolonged it tends
to deaden the spirit of offence. This is a truth so vital that some
authorities in their eagerness to enforce it have travestied it into the
misleading maxim, "That attack is the best defence." Hence again an
amateurish notion that defence is always stupid or pusillanimous, leading
always to defeat, and that what is called "the military spirit" means
nothing but taking the offensive. Nothing is further from the teaching or