“Condemned by my unfortunate stars to philosophies on contingencies and on probabilities I employ my whole attention to examine the _principle_ on which my argument must rest and to procure all possible information on that point. Deprived of such precaution, the edifice I erect, wanting a base, would fall like a house of cards.” Everyone who does not proceed on principle, is inconsistent in his conduct. Equally so, whenever the principle on which one acts is false, _i.e._, does not apply to the existing situation; all deductions based thereon, if applied to the existing situation, necessarily are false. “Those principles which the Art of Warfare prescribes, never should be departed from,” writes Frederic the Great, “and generals rigidly should adhere to those circumspections and never swerve from implicit obedience to laws, upon whose exact observance depends the safety of their armies and the success of their projects.” Thus the student will clearly see that all other calculations, though never so ingeniously imagined, are of small worth in comparison with comprehension of the use of Strategetic principles. By means of these latter, we are taught to control the raging forces which dominate in the competitive arts and to compel obedience from friend and foe alike. “To the shame of humanity it must be confessed,” writes Frederic the Great, “that what often passes for authority and consequence is mere assumption, used as a cloak to conceal from the layman the extreme of official indolence and stupidity. “To follow the routine of service, to be busied concerning food and clothing, and to eat when others eat, to fight when others fight, are the whole warlike deeds of the majority and constitute what is called having seen service and grown grey in arms. “The reason why so many officers remain in a state of mediocrity, is because they neither know, nor trouble themselves to inquire into the causes either of their victories or defeats, although such causes are exceedingly real.” In this connection, writes Polybius, the friend and biographer of Hannibal: “Having made ourselves masters of the subject of Warfare, we shall no longer ascribe success to Fortune and blindly applaud mere conquerors, as the ignorant do; but we shall approve and condemn from Principle and Reason.” To the Chess-student nothing can be more conclusive than the following: “My success at Chess-play,” writes Paul Morphy, “is due to rigid adherence to fixed rules and Principles.” * * * * * _“Chess is best fought on Principles, free from all deception and trickery.”--Wilhelm Steinitz._ GRAND RECONNAISSANCE _“Man can sway the future, only by foreseeing through a clear understanding of the present, to what far off end matters are tending.”--Caesar._ * * * * *