CHAPTER VII.

MILITARY STRATAGEMS.

Characteristic Mark of a skilful General--Importance anciently attached to military Stratagems--The Stratagem of Joshua at Ai, the first which is recorded--Stratagem of Julius Cæsar in Gaul--Favourable Omen derived from Sneezing--Artifice of Bias at Priene--Telegraphic Communication--Mode adopted by Hystiæus to convey Intelligence--Relief of Casilinum by Gracchus--Stratagem of the Chevalier de Luxembourg to convey Ammunition into Lisle--Importance of concealing the Death of a General--The manner in which the Death of Sultan Solyman was kept secret--Stratagem of John Visconti--Stratagem of Lord Norwich at Angoulême--Capture of Amiens by the Spaniards--Manner in which the Natives of Sonia threw off the Yoke.

The part of a skilful general does not only consist in the capability of gaining a great battle, but also in knowing when to avoid the risk of an engagement. So numerous, and so variable are the chances of war, that a commander of even the best appointed army should be prepared to meet all emergencies, in the event of its strength being destroyed, or its numbers diminished, by famine, fatigue, or desertion; so that, notwithstanding these adverse circumstances, he may still have a chance of overcoming by policy those enemies whom he had hoped to subdue by the sword.

Discretion is always the better part of valour, and, in some cases, a handful of men may decide the event of a campaign, in which, otherwise, the blood of thousands might be spilt in vain. The old writers on the art of war did not fail to attach great importance to those _stratagems_, by which much was effected, or attempted, when one side was reduced to the necessity of maintaining a defensive system of warfare.

The earliest account of recourse being had to military stratagem is that recorded in the eighth chapter of Joshua, where that leader of the Israelites, besieging the city of Ai, said, “Behold ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready: and I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. For they will come out after us, till we have drawn them from the city; then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city: for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.”

Thus fell the city of Ai into the hands of Joshua, and a similar kind of stratagem has since frequently turned the day between contending armies. Julius Cæsar did not consider it beneath a general or warrior to have recourse to almost a similar stratagem, when part of the army under Q. Cicero, in Gaul, was besieged. By the apparent flight of his troops, Julius Cæsar drew the enemy into a convenient spot for an engagement, and, turning, overcame them.

A circumstance most trifling in itself, when it has been ushered in by superstition, as a good omen, has often raised the spirits of an army. Xenophon relates, in the Anabasis, that when the Greeks in some alarm were consulting, previous to the celebrated retreat of the ten thousand out of Asia, an accident, which in itself was even ridiculous, did nevertheless, through the importance attributed to it by the Grecian superstition, assist not a little to infuse encouragement. Xenophon was speaking of that favour from the gods which a righteous cause entitled them to hope for, against a perjured enemy, when somebody sneezed: immediately, the general voice addressed ejaculations to protecting Jupiter, whose omen it was supposed to be, a sacrifice to the god was proposed, a universal shout declared approbation, and the whole army in chorus sang the pæan.

Bias, by the following artifice, induced Alyattes, King of Lydia, to raise the siege of Priene, where he was born. That city was pressed by famine, which circumstance being suspected by the besiegers, gave them great hopes; Bias, however, caused two mules to be fattened, and contrived a way to have them pass into the enemy’s camp. The good condition they were in astonished the king, who thereupon sent deputies into the city, under pretence of offering peace, but really to observe the state of the town and people. Bias, guessing their errand, had ordered the granaries to be filled with heaps of sand, and those heaps to be covered with corn. When the deputies returned, and made their report to the king, of the great plenty of provisions they had seen in the city, he hesitated no longer, but concluded a treaty and raised the siege.

The invention of telegraphic communication has proved of the greatest utility in modern warfare, both for despatch and security. In ancient times, the bearer of messages had both an important and dangerous duty to perform, and one which was very uncertain in its execution. A singular and ingenious method of communication, is attributed to Hystiæus, who, desiring to write to Aristagoras, shaved the head of his trustiest servant, and wrote upon his scalp, in certain brief characters, what he would impart to his friend, and keeping him in his house till the hair was grown as thick as before, then sent him on his errand.[10]

By the policy of Gracchus, the Roman general, the Campanian city of Casilinum was for a considerable time prevented from falling into the hands of Annibal. Gracchus was encamped in the vicinity of the city, but, though the garrison was reduced to the most dreadful extremity by famine, many of the soldiers having been driven to commit suicide, he did not dare to make a movement to relieve the besieged, the dictator having imperatively enjoined him not to stir from his position. In this emergency he had recourse to stratagem.

The Vulturnus ran through the place, and Gracchus resolved to make it the channel by which to convey succours. “He therefore,” says Livy, “collected corn from all parts of the country round, and having filled therewith a great number of casks, sent a messenger to Casilinum to the magistrate, desiring that the people should catch the casks which the river would bring down. The following night was passed in attentively watching for the completion of the hopes raised by the Roman messenger, when the casks, being sent along the middle of the stream, floated down to the town. The same stratagem was practised with success on the following night and on the third; but the river being afterwards rendered more rapid by the continued rains, an eddy drove them across to the side where the enemy’s guards were posted, and they were discovered sticking among osiers which grew on the banks. This being reported to Annibal, care was taken for the future to guard the Vulturnus with greater vigilance, so that no supply sent down by it to the city should pass without discovery. Notwithstanding which, quantities of nuts being poured into the river at the Roman camp, and floating down to Casilinum, were stopped there with hurdles. The scarcity, however, at last became so excessive, that tearing off the straps and leathern coverings of their shields, and softening them in boiling water, they endeavoured to chew them; nor did they abstain from mice or any other kind of animal. They even dug up every sort of herb and root that grew at the foot of the ramparts of the town; and when the enemy had ploughed up all the ground round the wall, that produced any herbs, they sowed it with turnip seed, which made Annibal exclaim, ‘Am I to sit here before Casilinum until these grow?’ Although he had hitherto refused to listen to any terms of capitulation, yet he now allowed overtures to be made to him, respecting the redeeming of the men of free condition. An agreement was made, that for each of these a ransom should be paid of seven ounces of gold; and then the garrison surrendered.”

A still more daring, and almost equally successful stratagem was employed, early in the eighteenth century, to protract the defence of Lisle, which was then besieged by the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. Ammunition beginning to be scarce in the city, the Chevalier de Luxembourg formed a plan for introducing into the fortress a supply, not only of powder, but also of men and arms. Having succeeded in keeping his project a secret from the enemy, the Chevalier began his march at the head of two thousand five hundred selected cavalry; a part of whom were carbineers and dragoons. Each horseman carried behind him a sack, containing sixty pounds of powder; and each dragoon and carbineer had three muskets, and a large quantity of gun-flints. Between nine and ten in the evening, the band reached the barrier of the lines of circumvallation. In front of the detachment was an officer who could speak Dutch well, and knew all the Dutch regiments which were employed in patrolling. On being challenged by the guard, he unhesitatingly replied, “Open the gate quickly; I am bringing powder to the besiegers, and am pursued by a French detachment.” The barrier was promptly opened. Nineteen hundred of the party had passed through, when a French officer, seeing that his men were straggling, imprudently exclaimed, in his native language, “Close up! close up!” This gave the alarm to the allied officers, and a fire was opened upon the French. The powder of some of the horsemen exploded, and sixty of them were immediately blown to pieces. The rear of the party now took flight towards Douay; but of those who had been fortunate enough to pass the barrier, eighteen hundred reached Lisle, to which they brought a supply of twelve hundred muskets and eighty thousand pounds of powder.

The well-being of an army, and the spirits of the troops during an engagement, depend so much on the safety of their favourite general, that any sudden rumour of his being slain would in all probability entirely change the fortune of the day. In the event of such a catastrophe his death has been often studiously concealed from the main body of the troops, till it was no longer necessary or possible to withhold such intelligence. The following instance, related by Ward, in his Art of War, is perhaps the most remarkable, if correctly given, for the length of time this secret was preserved.

Solyman, the Ottoman emperor, dying at the siege of Sigeth, in Hungary, his death was cunningly concealed by Mahomet Bassa twenty days before the Janizaries knew of it; and when any of them inquired for him, he would show them the emperor sitting in his horse litter, as if troubled with the gout; but the soldiers, suspecting something, began to be mutinous, whereupon he promised that they should see the emperor the next day, for which purpose he apparelled the corpse in the large royal robes, and placed him in a chair at the end of a long gallery; a little boy was placed behind, to move the emperor’s hand, and to stroke his beard, as it seems his manner was. Which sign of life and strength the soldiers perceiving were well contented, so that his death was concealed for forty days more till the siege was ended.

John Visconti, Archbishop, as well as Governor of Milan, in the fourteenth century, was a very ambitious character, and excited the jealousy of the pope by his show of temporal authority, and by his aiming at becoming master of all Italy. The pope, who resided at that time at Avignon, sent a nuncio to John Visconti, to demand the city of Bologna, which he had purchased, and to choose whether he would possess the spiritual or temporal power, for both could not be united. The archbishop, after hearing the message with respect, said he would answer it the following Sunday, at the cathedral. The day came, and, after celebrating mass in his pontifical robes, he advanced towards the legate, requiring him to repeat the orders of the pope, on the choice of the spiritual or the temporal: then taking a cross in one hand, and drawing forth a naked sword with the other, he said, “Behold my spiritual and my temporal, and tell the holy father from me, that with the one I will defend the other.” The pope, not content with this answer, commenced a process, and summoned him to appear in person, on pain of excommunication. The archbishop received the brief, and promised to obey it; he sent immediately to Avignon one of his secretaries, ordering him to retain for his use all the houses and stables he could hire in Avignon, with provisions for the subsistence of twelve thousand horse, and six thousand foot. The secretary executed his commission so well that the strangers, who came on business, could find no place to lodge in. The pope, being informed of this, asked the secretary if the archbishop required so many houses. The latter answered, that he feared those would not be sufficient, because his master was coming with eighteen thousand troops, besides a great number of the inhabitants of Milan, who would accompany him. Terrified at this account, the pope paid immediately the expense the secretary had been at, and dismissed him, with orders to tell the archbishop, that he dispensed with his making a journey to Avignon.

In the wars between Edward the Third and Philip of France, Angoulême was besieged by the Duke of Normandy. After a brave and vigorous defence, the governor, Lord Norwich, found himself reduced to such extremities, as obliged him to employ a stratagem, in order to save his garrison, and prevent his being reduced to surrender at discretion. He appeared on the walls, and desired a parley with the Duke of Normandy. The duke told Norwich that he supposed he intended to capitulate. “Not at all,” replied he; “but as to-morrow is the feast of the Virgin, to whom I know that you, sir, as well as myself, bear a great devotion, I desire a cessation of arms for that day.” The proposal was agreed to, and Norwich, having ordered his forces to prepare all their baggage, marched out next day, and advanced towards the French camp. The besiegers, imagining that they were to be attacked, ran to their arms; but Norwich sent a messenger to the Duke, reminding him of his engagement. The duke, who piqued himself on faithfully keeping his word, exclaimed, “I see the governor has outwitted me, but let us be content with gaining the place;” and the English were allowed to pass through the besieging army unmolested.

By the following stratagem on the part of the Spaniards, in 1597, Amiens was taken. Soldiers, disguised like peasants, conducted a cart loaded with nuts towards the gate of the town, and let them fall, as if accidentally, just as the gate was opened; and while the guard was busied in gathering them up, the Spaniards entering, secured the gate, and thus gave their countrymen the opportunity to come up, and become masters of the town.

According to the testimony of the natives of Congo, says Mr. Maxwell, the country of Sonia, amongst other tribes, at no great distance of time, formed part of the kingdom of Congo, and the people of Sonia were obliged to carry burdens of white sand, from the beach to Banza-Congo, one hundred and fifty miles distant, to form pleasant walks to the royal residence. This servitude greatly exasperated the men of Sonia, whose warlike and independent spirit is now feared and respected by all the neighbouring nations; and, having concealed their weapons in the several burdens of sand, they were by this contrivance enabled to avenge themselves of the indignity put upon them, and to plunder the city, killing many of the queen’s people. Having thus shaken off their yoke, Sonia has since been governed by native princes.