Alarms or wronged Religion beateth her zealous Marches go on and prosper CHAP. III. Some Observations of an Offensive VVar and Conquering of Countries AN Offensive War will keep you from Civil War at home and make you feared of your Enemies and beloved of your Friends and keepeth your Gentry and Commons from laziness and all sorts of Luxury But here you must note to entertain a Forein War is not good to be observed but by such Kingdoms and States that are able to go thorough with their Designs they undertake Because as a Foreign War is necessary for Rich and Potent Kingdoms and States so it is hurtful to Petty Kingdoms and States for being too weak to gain by it they will in the end but lose their design their Honours and Monies and impoverish themselves and increase their Enemies It is not for Kings and States to undertake a troublesome and dangerous War upon an humour or any other slender motion but diligently weighing the circumstances thereof and measuring the peril and hazard with the good consequents to inform their Judgments of the Action and so try whether the Benefit would answer their Labour They ought likewise to be well informed of the greatness and riches of the Countrey the quality and strength of the People their use of War and the opportunity of their Havens And he that maketh an Offensive War must so proceed therewith that he be sure to keep what he getteth and to enrich not impoverish his own Countrey For he that doth increase his Dominions and yet groweth not in Strength must needs go to wrack Now those grow not strong who grow poor in the Wars although they prove Victorious because their Conquests do cost them more than they get by them This errour many run into by not knowing how to limit their hopes and so grounded on their own vast conceits without weighing their strength they are utterly ruined For Conquests not having Power answerable to their Greatness invite new Conquerours to the ruine of the old That Prince who putteth himself upon an Offensive War ought to be Master of his Enemy in Shiping Purse and Men or at least in Shipping and Purse or else he must see some Garboils in the State which he assaileth And he ought to be called thither by a party otherwise it would be a rash Enterprise If you make any attempt upon any Forein Countrey the first thing you ought to do is to take some Sea Town that hath a convenient Harbour and that lieth nearest the greatest City in that Countrey in which you make your War This Town you ought to secure and harbour very well with good works and take care that it be very well Victualled before you advance further into the Countrey with your Army So this Town will serve to keep your Provisions for your Magazines and being well provided of Victual will serve upon occasion to make good your retreat For having once gotten possession of a Sea Town and having well Fortified and Victualled the same you have one foot on Land and the other on Sea Having fortified a place for your Magazine and your Retreat advance with your Army unto the chief City in the Countrey By which means you will soon force your Enemy to Battel and if you win the Battel and follow your Victory close you may gain the chief City of the Countrey either by Composition or Assault if it be not Fortified or before your Enemy be able to relieve it you may be able to starve it But in case you do not prevail to be Master of the chief City either by Composition or Assault then ought you strongly to intrench two thousand Foot and five hundred Horse in a Quarter and so Fortifying one Quarter after another with your Army until you have intrenched so many several Quarters as you think may be sufficient to keep the City from Provisions And then if you think fit you may run Lines from one Quarter to another And having strongly Intrenched that part of your Army that is quartered about the City draw the rest of your Army into a Body and intrench them in some place near the Town where you think it most convenient to meet with any Enemy that may come to the relief of it You ought likewise to use the best means you can for intelligence and continually to send out Parties of Horse several ways that when any Enemy approacheth near you you may be in a readiness to fight with him If you come to be Master of the Chief City of a Kingdom or Country I account that Kingdom or Country more then half won The surest way to keep that Country you Conquer in Obedience to you will be to oppress them as little as may be especially at first either in their Purses Consciences or Laws He that obtaineth a Kingdom with the Rupture of his Faith hath gained the Glory of a Conquest but lost the Honour of a Conquerour But you ought to disarm them and take Pledges of them for their Obedience the which must be kept in your own Country You ought also to employ in your Garrisons all the Gun-Smiths and all the Salt-petre-men that you find in the Country you have Conquered and to take into your hands all the Powder and Brimstone you find and destroy all the Powder-Mills that are out of your own Garrisons When it shall happen that you are to Conquer a Country that doth afford Covert and Protection to an Enemy who is more malicious than valorous and through the fastness of the place refuseth to shew himself unless it be upon advantages the War doubtless is likely to prove tedious and the Victory less Honourable In such cases there is no other way than so to harrass and waste the Country that the Enemy may be famished out of his Holds and brought to subjection by scarcity and necessity which is a means so powerful as well to supplant the greatest strengths as to meet with Subterfuges and Delays that of it self it subdueth all opposition and needeth no other help for atchieving of Victory It is much better for a Prince to invade an Enemy in his own Country than to attend him at home in his own Kingdom if so be that he hath competent Forces to give him hopes of doing good upon his Enemy For the seat of War is always miserable CHAP. IV. Some Observations upon a Defensive VVar. THE best way to prevent any attempts of any Foreign Enemy is to be able and ready to resist their Designs and the best way to do that is to have a good Rich Publick Treasure before-hand and your people continually well trained up in Martial Discipline When you foresee that an Enemy is resolved to set upon your Country to conquer it and if your Enemy be so much Master of you at Sea that you fear the shutting up of your Havens by his Shipping then ought you to provide your Magazines extraordinarily well with Ammunition Arms and Salt and great
store of Brimstone Salt-petre and Salt-petre-men and to have Powder-Mills in all your Chief Towns In the beginning of a Defensive War if you meet with a powerful Enemy and foresee that the War is likely to last long then it will be wisdom in you to entertain some Forein Nation But you must be careful to entertain none of those Nations who serve in your Enemies Army unless they be such as are of a contrary Religion to your Enemy to the end that you may spare your own Nation as much as may be Provided always you have mony to pay them punctually otherwise they may prove dangerous to you And I would wish you by no means to keep them longer than you have mony to pay them for if you do you will find they will prove more your Enemies than your Friends Likewise you must be careful to entertain no more Strangers than you are well able to Master and that you Garrison them not in any of your Sea-Towns or Forts or where your Chief Magazines are And in what Towns you do Garrison your Strangers in the Winter where you place one Company of Strangers in a Garrison you ought to place two of your own Nation It is a very dangerous thing to entertain a Forein Friend to gain your own Country but there is no danger in entertaining a Forein Friend to help to keep your Country so long as you have mony to pay them You may with good Fortresses and a good Army so tye up your Enemy in hindring him from Victuals and by intrenching always so near him that you may now and then fall upon some of his Quarters and so hinder him from making any Siege of importance And when a Conquerour advanceth not forward he recoileth But here you must note that such places as you fortifie are to be well fortified well manned and well provided of all necessaries and that you do not fortifie any place which will require many men for the Defence of it in a Siege If you be assailed by a Power altogether disproportionable to your Forces and are in this case forced to leave some part of your Country to the Enemy then you ought to burn all the Victual which you cannot contain wiehin your Fortresses and also all the Towns and Villages which you cannot guard For it is better to preserve your self in a ruined Country than to keep it for your Enemy It is a Maxim That no publick good can be without some prejudice to some particular men So a Prince cannot dis-entangle himself from a perilous Enterprise if he will please every man and the greatest and most usual faults which we commit in matters of State and War proceed from suffering our selves to be carried away with this complacency whereof we repent when there is no remedy left A Kingdom or State though they have received many overthrows should never cowardly yield themselves up to be Slaves to their Enemies but endeavour to look Fortune again in the face and to be ready to overcome or lose more gloriously or get honourable terms of Agreement Because by yielding they can hope for nothing but the saving of their lives and it will be in their Enemies hands to deprive them of that at their pleasures and Peace is more grievous to men in subjection than the War is to them that enjoy their liberties and they are hopeful in their Arms who have no other hope but in their Arms. A just Cause is good defence against a strong Enemy CHAP. V. Some Observations for those that undertake a VVar. A Sovereign Prince is more capable to make great and ready Conquests than a Commonwealth and especially if he goeth in person into the Field For never any Prince hath founded a great Empire but by making War in person nor hath lost any but when he made War by his Lieutenants Those that undertake a War ought to make their Levies according to the War which they undertake carefully foreseeing that they undertake no Offensive War but such as they be able to go through with their Purses and their Honours And if their Purses will bear it to make their Wars great and short It is an excellent property of a good and wise Prince to use War as he doth Physick carefully unwillingly and seasonably either to prevent approaching dangers or to correct a present mischief or to recover a former loss He that declineth Physick till he is accosted with the danger or weakened with the Disease is bold too long and wise too late That Peace is too precise that limiteth the justness of a War to a Sword drawn or a Blow given The next thing they who undertake a War ought to observe is Secresie and Expedition in their designs It is a perilous weakness in a State to be slow of resolution in the time of War such Affairs attend not time Let the wise Statesman therefore abhor delays and resolve rather what to do than what to say Slow deliberations are symptoms either of faint Spirits or weak Forces or false Hearts In War more than any other profession the command ought to be single For though you have many Armies in the Field yet ought you to appoint one General to have the absolute command over the rest of your Generals And there ought to be a special care in making choice of an able General For an able General will make choice of good Officers and such as are fit for VVar but a General that is not experienced in the Wars if he meet with good Commanders it is by hazard This advantage also you will find by having an experienced and well reputed man to your General that the Officers and Souldiers of your Army will fight with much the more resolution and confidence of Victory and your Enemy will fight with the less resolution and hopes of Victory For good Officers will make good Souldiers and good Souldiers are as necessary to a VVar as good store of Gold And therefore those that undertake a VVar must not always measure their Power by their Treasure but they must put the goodness of their Souldiers in the balance with their Treasure Before you undertake a VVar cast an impartial eye upon the Cause If it be just prepare your Army and let them all know they fight for God This addeth fire to the Spirit of a Souldier to be assured that he shall either prosper in a fair VVar or perish in a just Cause You must be most vigilant and careful to have all your Magazines doubly provided that if any disaster befal your Armies you may soon supply them again He that would be in VVar victorious must be in Peace laborious You must likewise be very punctual in sending supplies of Mony Men and all other necessaries to your Army For the want of any one supply many times coming too late proveth the loss of the whole design and in no profession the loss of time proveth so dangerous as in Martial Affairs You must
to avoid And therefore the General and the Officers ought to have a special care to avoid this danger The which I conceive to be done best this way Those Horse and Dragoons that you send before for a Guard with the Quarter-Master-General and his attendants for the providing of Quarters as soon as those Troops shall come to the place where the Army shall quarter they ought to send out small Parties and Scouts several ways to discover and to search for ambushments and the remainder of the Horse and Dragoons ought to keep guards in some convenient places about the Quarters till night And such Foot Souldiers as you send before to preserve the Foot Quarters from being pillaged ought to be two out of every Company a Pikeman and a Musqueteer and a Serjeant out of each Regiment to command them and two Lieutenants and a Captain out of the three Brigades of Foot to Command all the men that are appointed to preserve the Foot Quarters from being pillaged by their Camerades These Souldiers and Officers ought to have their Orders over night for the same that they may be in a readiness in the morning to march with the Pioners as a guard for them for the aforesaid Souldiers may most conveniently do these two services under one The Carriages that belong to the Horse Officers especially the Carriages for such Officers as shall be lodged in Out-Quarters with the Foot Carriages the Marshal of the Field the General of the Artillery the Treasurer of the Army the Commissary of the Victuals the Quarter-Master-General the Secretary of the Council of War the Provost-General all these ought to be lodged within the General Quarter The Marshal of the Field the Major-Generals of the Horse and Foot and the Majors of the Brigades both of Horse and Foot ought to go before to the Quarters to view the most convenient places for Guards for the security of their Quarters The Serjeant Major of the Regiments both of Horse and Foot that are assured to have Out-watches at night ought to go somewhat before their Regiments to know of the Major of the Brigade where the places are that the Companies of their Regiments should guard that night with their Orders for the same Then the Serjeant-Majors of these Regiments that are to have the Out-watches for the night knowing what Guards the Companies of the Regiments should have that night and having received all their Orders for the same ought to meet their Regiments before they come to the Quarters that they may conduct the Companies of their Regiments that are to watch at night the nearest way to their Guards seeing it is a great trouble for Companies that are tired to remove from their Regiments to their Guards having laid down their Arms and setled themselves for rest After the Marshal of the Field or the Major-General of the Foot or both have had a special care of securing the Quarters of the Infantry from all danger of any sudden surprises by placing good Guards in convenient places then if the Infantry be quartered all together the General or the Marshal of the Field or the Serjeant-Major-General of the Infantry one of them ought to go every night one round or two besides there ought to be appointed a Colonel to go the Grand Round every night and he ought not to fail to go two Rounds And in my opinion it is fitter for all Grand Rounds or any other Rounds to give the Word than to receive it But if it falleth out so that you Quarter your Brigades of Foot one from another then the Major-General of the Foot must trust to the care and judgment of the Colonels and Majors of the Brigades for the setting out of their Guards and going the Rounds unless it be that Brigade with which he lodgeth himself The Major-General ought always in such a case to give order to the Colonels of the Brigades that they appoint an Officer of the Field for the Grand Round and that he fail not to go two Rounds at the least There must be likewise appointed a Captain of the watch to every Regiment that lieth within the Quarters to see that the Corporals and Sentries at each Colours keep good Watch and that the Souldiers of each Company of his Regiment within the quarter keep good order and that the Souldiers within his Quarters make no fires in any places where they may endanger the firing of the Quarters I will now say something concerning the Quartering of the Horse which you ought always to Quarter without-side of the Foot The Horse-Quarters ought to be as near together as conveniently you may lay them that upon all occasions they may be able to assist one the other upon any sudden falling on their Quarters in the night And that you may Quarter your Horse the nearer together you may by sending out parties of Horse before cause the Country people to bring in Provisions both for your Horse-men and their Horses into the chief Villages or Towns where you are to Quarter your Horse the which the Country people will most willingly do rather than to be troubled with the Quartering of any Horsemen and by this means your Troops will lodge much the safer It is one of the hardest things that I do know that belongs to Horse-Service for a Commander of Horse judiciously to order his Horse Guards for the securing of his Quarters at night And the best way for doing the same as I conceive is this you ought to lodge in your outermost Quarters of Horse which lie next your Enemy And before you draw your Horse into their Quarters you ought to set out your Guards and send out of your Guards some small parties several ways and when those that you have sent out are returned you ought to send out more to discover any parties of your Enemies and to search for ambushments Your Dragooners that are Quartered in your out-Quarters of Horse ought to guard the High-ways that come into your Quarters And against such guards of the Dragoons as you keep upon the High-ways you ought to Barricado your High-ways up with something or other that may not easily be removed and let the Pioners make you another way for the relief of your Guards from your quarters And therefore I hold it most convenient to have an hundred Pioners to be horsed which always should be lodged in the outermost Horse-quarters next the Enemy for the stopping up of some passages and for the making of others that may be unknown to the Enemy Likewise upon the ways which are made by the Pioners you ought to have a Guard of Dragooners and all your Dragooners ought to have Swine-feathers the which the Dragooners ought to stick up without side of the Avenues and in the Avenues that the Pioners have made for the relief of the Out guards of Horse One Guard is not sufficient to give the Alarm at that distance whereby you may have leisure to put your self in order to
fight wherefore you ought always to have half your Horsemen to watch on horse-back one half of the night and the other the other half of the night and when the one half of your Horsemen watcheth the other half of your Horsemen must be saddled and the Officers and Horsemen be in their cloaths Your innermost Horse-quarters which lie safer than your outermost Horse-quarters when the one half of your Horsemen watcheth the other half may be unsaddled but your Officers and Horsemen must not lie out of their Cloaths And the Officers in each quarter ought to have order upon any alarm that as soon as they are drawn in Arms they should make all the haste they can to assist their Camerades that are assaulted in their quarters and that an Officer in Chief in each quarter go two or three Rounds in a night And this order of watching ought to be observed in your Horse-quarters if you lie within twenty miles of any Garrison of your Enemy that is able to affront any of your quarters The General of an Army ought always upon a March to give out two words at night the one for a Watch-word and the other for a Field-word The Officers ought to receive both but the Souldiers only the Field-word the which ought not to be given to the Souldiers unless there be an Alarm Towns and Villages that lie in a Champaign Country are most fit for Horse-quarters the Towns and Villages that lie in an inclosed Country are most fit for Foot-quarters CHAP. XVIII Some certain Observations to be kept in the fighting of Battels and some Directions for the Imbattelling of an Army WE may observe two especial ends which the great Commanders of the World have ever striven to atchieve Victory and Over mastering their Enemies The latter by cunning and wisely carrying of a matter before it come to trial by blows the former by forceable means and fighting a Battel the one proceeding from Wisdom and the better faculties of the soul the other depending upon the strength and abilities of the body The latter end is principally to be embraced as the safest course in these uncertain and casual events For that which resteth upon corporal strength and maketh execution the way to a conclusion is full of hazard and little certainty And yet of all the actions of War the most glorious and most important is to know how to give Battel For the art of imbattelling an Army hath always been esteemed the chiefest point of skill in a General for skill and practice do more towards the Victory than multitude seeing the gaining of one or two Battels acquireth or subverteth whole Empires Kingdoms or Countrys And therefore a General of an Army ought to know all the advantages which may be taken in a day of Battel and how to prepare against disadvantages which may happen Concerning both which I will here give you my opinion Advantages bring hope of Victory and hope conceiveth such spirits as usually follow when the thing which is hoped for is effected whereby the courage becometh hardy and resolute in Victory and where the Souldiers fear no overthrow they are more than half Conquerours So on the other side disadvantages and danger breed fear and fear so checketh valour and controuleth the spirits that Vertue and Honour give place to distrust and yield up their interest to such directors as can afford nothing but diffidence and irresolutions It is most necessary for a General in the first place to approve his Cause and settle an opinion of right in the minds of his Officers and Souldiers the which can be no way better done than by the Chaplains of an Army Also a General ought to speak to the Colonels of his Army to encourage their Officers with a desire to fight with the Enemy and all the Officers to do the like to their Souldiers And the better to raise the common Souldiers spirits let their Officers tell them that their General doth promise them if they will fight courageously with their Enemy and do get the day that they shall have besides the Pillage of the Field twelve-pence apiece to drink to refresh their spirits when the business is done The which I am confident will make the common men fight better than the best Oration in the world It is very fit a General should use his best endeavour to understand the strength of his Enemies Horse and Foot and how they are armed both with Offensive and Defensive Arms and what proportion of Pikes they have to their Musqueteers Also he must endeavour to know by name and place the Chief Officers of his Enemies Army and their abilities in Martial Affairs by the which means he may guess where the Chief Commanders do command in a day of Battel So he may easily know how to place his Army best for his own advantage This if carefully observed will be of very great use You ought to know that novelties and unexpected adventures are very successful in Battels and in all Martial designs A General must be careful never to hazard a Battel with his Enemy when he findeth him imbattelled in a ground of advantage although he do out-number him much with men The safest way then will be to fight with him by Famine For although a Generals Fortune should be generally subject to his will yet by his wisdom he should rather follow Reason than Fortune in such cases A General ought to be careful when an Enemy approacheth near him to send out some two or three knowing Officers with a good strong party of Horse and Dragooners to make good the Horsemens retreat upon occasion whereby to discover the Enemies strength and order of his March and that they take notice of what advantages may be taken of the ground which lieth between them And the party that is sent ought to have order if it be possible to take some stragglers that the General may the better understand the strength and condition of his Enemies Army If you intend to give Battel you must have regard to these principal things that follow You must never suffer your self to be forced to fight against your will and never to fight your Souldiers when their spirits are either dismayed or cast down If you resolve to fight with your Enemy then you ought to choose a place for the Battel fit for the quality and number of your Souldiers For if you fear to be inclosed by a great number you ought to shelter your flanks or at least one of them by the nature of the place as by a River Wood or some other thing equivalent If you be weak in your Cavalry you must avoid the Plains or fight with Foot amongst your Horse as is shewed in the three next Battels If you be strong in Horse you must avoid strait passages or inclosed places You ought to know that directions are the life of Action and the sinews and strength of Martial Discipline and therefore you must give punctual orders