The common devotion of the general staff in all its branches to that portion of military activity which makes the most exacting demands upon the intellectual faculties as well as upon the will, finds its expression in the unity of the general staff through all the branches of the army. A consequence of the selection by which the corps is composed, and of the requirement of practical familiarity with the duties of leadership and with the life and spirit of the troops, is the constant passage of officers to and fro between regimental and general staff service, and their alternate employment in the various branches of the general staff itself. The general staff, in short, is the brain, and something more than the brain, of the army. "Its chief and his 200 officers prepare beforehand for all probable campaigns; they follow the progress of the armies of their neighbours at the same time that they study the several theatres of war; they work out together the methods of war; they familiarize themselves with the machinery of the army, bringing their influence to bear upon all questions of organization and training; they form an organism whose arteries spread all through the army, gathering practical experience and carrying wherever they go the same continuous stream of principles and of doctrines."[3] [1] See the king's letters to Moltke of Oct. 28, 1870: "Ihrer ... weisen Führung der Operationen," and of March 22, 1871: "Die unübertreffliche Leitung der Kriegsoperationen." Moltke, _Gesammelte Schriften_, i., 268, 9. [2] The function of the military administrator is to transform into military force so much of the resources of the State as the Government thinks proper. The process is continuous, and goes on during war as well as during peace. In Prussia it is conducted by the ministry of war, the channel or instrument by which the resources of the country are rendered available for employment against the enemy. Cp. p. 61. [3] _Revue militaire de l'Étranger_, vol. xxxii. p. 261. THE END. Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. * * * * * THE GREAT ALTERNATIVE: A PLEA FOR A NATIONAL POLICY. BY SPENSER WILKINSON. _Small Demy 8vo, 7s. 6d._ CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION:--I. NATIONAL PARALYSIS. II. THE REMEDY. I. THE EASTERN QUESTION. II. THE UNION OF GERMANY. III. THE PARTITION OF TURKEY AND THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE. IV. THE USE OF ARMIES. V. THE SECRET OF THE SEA. VI. EGYPT. VII. A WARNING FROM GERMANY. VIII. THE EXPANSION OF FRANCE. IX. INDIA. X. THE CHEAT ALTERNATIVE. XI. THE REVIVAL OF DUTY. SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. * * * * * THE COMMAND OF THE SEA. BY SPENSER WILKINSON. _Second Edition. Crown 8vo, Coloured Wrapper, 1s._ CONTENTS.