Monsieur N.... spent nearly a month in the company of this amiable and well-informed man, whose feelings were deeply affected by our disasters; but whose active mind sought in these misfortunes themselves a means of instruction, and an opportunity for developing the resources and advantages peculiar to France. This was an inexhaustible subject of conversation for the two friends, and they would continue talking till the sister interposed her authority as nurse to enjoin silence and rest. In December 1871, Monsieur N.... received the following letter at Paris, accompanied by a bundle of papers. "LAUSANNE, _December 10th, 1871_. "SIR, "My dearly loved brother died in my arms the day before yesterday, his death being the result of his wound and also perhaps of grief for our late disasters,--deeply affected as he was by the indelible recollection of the sufferings he had witnessed. "He retained his consciousness to the last, and I am fulfilling one of his most urgent requests in sending you these papers. It is the only souvenir he can bequeath to you--as he said to me the day before his death--of the hours you so kindly devoted to a poor invalid. "My brother often spoke to me of you; you were able to appreciate his excellencies and noble character, and will receive his bequest, I doubt not, as a mark of the profound esteem he had for you. "As for myself I cannot quit a neighbourhood where I have lived with my brother, and where we have met with so much sympathy." _Extracts from Captain Jean's papers._ Attack implies a shock or onset; defence is a resistance to this onset. Whether a piece of ordnance discharges a ball against a plate of iron, or a casing of masonry, or an earthwork; or an assaulting column climbs a breach, the problem is substantially the same; in either case we have to oppose to the impulsive force a resistance that will neutralise its effect. When there were no projectile weapons, or their range was inconsiderable, only a normal resistance had to be opposed to the shock--a man to a man--or if the effect was to be rendered certain, two men to one. But when projectile arms acquired a longer range, the _position_ of the attack and defence became a question of importance. Thus were evolved for combatants in open ground the elements of tactics, and for fortification, arrangements of a more and more complicated character. It is evident, for example, that when it came to a close engagement--a hand-to-hand struggle with an adversary; if the latter found himself placed behind a circular enclosure, the obstacle that protected him would give him a considerable advantage--an advantage that could only be compensated for by renewing the attack. [Illustration: FIG. 76.]