immense. Nothing is so trivial as to be left inexact.

[Sidenote: The New Model.]

But he centred his observation and imagination on the origin, character,
and discipline of an army in being. He pictures the horror, waste, and
failure of a mercenary system, and lays down the fatal error in Italy of
separating civil from military life, converting the latter into a trade.
In such a way the soldier grows to a beast, and the citizen to a coward.
All this must be changed. The basic idea of this astounding Secretary is
to form a National Army, furnished by conscription and informed by the
spirit of the New Model of Cromwell. All able-bodied men between the
ages of seventeen and forty should be drilled on stated days and be kept
in constant readiness. Once or twice a year each battalion must be
mobilised and manoeuvred as in time of war. The discipline must be
constant and severe. The men must be not only robust and well-trained,
but, above all, virtuous, modest, and disposed to any sacrifice for the
public good. So imbued should they be with duty and lofty devotion to
their country that though they may rightly deceive the enemy, reward the
enemy's deserters and employ spies, yet 'an apple tree laden with fruit
might stand untouched in the midst of their encampment.' The infantry
should far exceed the cavalry, 'since it is by infantry that battles are
won.' Secrecy, mobility, and familiarity with the country are to be
objects of special care, and positions should be chosen from which
advance is safer than retreat. In war this army must be led by one
single leader, and, when peace shines again, they must go back contented
to their grateful fellow-countrymen and their wonted ways of living. The
conception and foundation of such a scheme, at such a time, by such a
man is indeed astounding. He broke with the past and with all
contemporary organisations. He forecast the future of military Europe,