Among the Romans, generals were only permitted to arrive at the command
of armies after having exercised the different functions of the
magistracy. Thus by a previous knowledge of administration, they were
prepared to govern the conquered provinces with all that discretion
which a newly-acquired power, supported by arbitrary force, demands.
In the military institutions of modern times, the generals, instructed
only in what concerns the operation of strategy and tactics, are
obliged to intrust the civil departments of the war to inferior agents,
who, without belonging to the army, render all those abuses and
vexations, inseparable from its operations, still more intolerable.
This observation, which I do little more than repeat, seems to me,
notwithstanding, deserving of particular attention; for if the leisure
of general officers was directed in time of peace to the study of
diplomacy--if they were employed in the different embassies which
sovereigns send to foreign courts--they would acquire a knowledge of
the laws and of the government of these countries, in which they may
be called hereafter to carry on the war. They would learn also to
distinguish those points of interest on which all treaties must be
based, which have for their object the advantageous termination of a
campaign. By the aid of this information they would obtain certain
and positive results, since all the springs of action, as well as the
machinery of war, would be in their hands. We have seen Prince Eugene,
and Marshal Villars, each fulfilling with equal ability the duties of a
general and a negotiator.
When an army which occupies a conquered province observes strict
discipline, there are few examples of insurrection among the people,
unless indeed resistance is provoked (as but too often happens), by the
exactions of inferior agents employed in the civil administration.
It is to this point, therefore, that the general-in-chief should
principally direct his attention, in order that the contributions
imposed by the wants of the army may be levied with impartiality; and
above all, that they may be applied to their true object, instead of
serving to enrich the collectors, as is ordinarily the case.