It seems hard that Masséna's soldiers should have starved and died, and no help have been sent them. It seems hard that they should have struggled on, performing heroic deeds, with little or no hope of victory. But such is war; some must fail in order that others may triumph. In beleaguered Genoa, at the bridge of Arcole, amid the snows of Russia, men must die. But do they die in vain? Perhaps so: and yet, who shall say? Victory was Bonaparte's object; and to obtain it, he would, if necessary, sacrifice the Army of Italy. He had an eye for great results. His glance penetrated the most complicated military problems. It was his merit that he knew how, with the forces at hand, to do great things. He did not fritter away his strength by sending useless detachments here and there. The four thousand men under Thurreau were a necessity in the Mont Cenis Pass; the Army of Italy, with Masséna at its head, was large enough, but not too large, to do the work expected of it; and the Army of Reserve, re-enforced by a corps of Moreau's army, was of sufficient strength to produce the desired effect at the vital point. Even Genoa, the Alps, and the Apennines were made to serve Bonaparte. Nature was his re-enforcement. Like a mighty tide he moved on, neither deterred by the sufferings of the Army of Italy, nor stopped by the great chain of the Alps. He who would censure Bonaparte for not marching to the relief of Masséna must remember that such a course would have prolonged the struggle and ultimately would have led to a greater destruction of life. Yet humane considerations probably did not influence his decisions one iota. Let us not, then, attribute to him the virtues of a Lincoln; but let us set forth with fairness what he did and why he did it. We may not admire the man who can thus sacrifice an army to attain his ends; but we must admire the soldier who penetrates the future, who sees what to do and how to do it, who bends every energy to the accomplishment of the task, and with relentless purpose, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, marches on to victory. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 4: See Map 2.] [Footnote 5: In addition to the forces of Melas mentioned above, twenty thousand Austrians were scattered throughout northern Italy, several thousand of whom were in Tuscany, in the Papal States, and in the fortress of Mantua.] [Footnote 6: In the "History of the Consulate and Empire" by Thiers, he often refers to the Army of Italy as the "army of Liguria."] CHAPTER III. MOREAU IN GERMANY.[7]