same time of giving military instruction to H.R.H. the Crown Prince,
tended further to give his investigations and studies that direction,
and to lead him to put down in writing whatever conclusions he arrived
at. A paper with which he finished the instruction of H.R.H. the Crown
Prince contains the germ of his subsequent works. But it was in the year
1816, at Coblentz, that he first devoted himself again to scientific
labours, and to collecting the fruits which his rich experience in those
four eventful years had brought to maturity. He wrote down his views,
in the first place, in short essays, only loosely connected with each
other. The following, without date, which has been found amongst his
papers, seems to belong to those early days.

"In the principles here committed to paper, in my opinion, the chief
things which compose Strategy, as it is called, are touched upon. I
looked upon them only as materials, and had just got to such a length
towards the moulding them into a whole.

"These materials have been amassed without any regularly preconceived
plan. My view was at first, without regard to system and strict
connection, to put down the results of my reflections upon the most
important points in quite brief, precise, compact propositions. The
manner in which Montesquieu has treated his subject floated before me in
idea. I thought that concise, sententious chapters, which I proposed
at first to call grains, would attract the attention of the intelligent
just as much by that which was to be developed from them, as by that
which they contained in themselves. I had, therefore, before me in idea,
intelligent readers already acquainted with the subject. But my nature,
which always impels me to development and systematising, at last worked
its way out also in this instance. For some time I was able to confine
myself to extracting only the most important results from the essays,