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R. 2
in naval warfare as in military, and several instances
of its application at sea might now be
quoted, if ^true necessary; but, though the principle is the
same, the methods of application will not be so, owing
to the differences of conditions. Land battles, depending
largely for their issue upon peculiarities of the
ground, cannot serve as precedents for naval warfare;
but, for the matter of that, our land battle is, and
can be, only partly a precedent to be followed in any
other, for in no two cases will conditions be identical
^and also, from age to age, the changes of weapons changes tactical
methods + precedures. In the illustration afforded by the battle of Rivoli,
as in the previous course of the campaign, fix your
attention as closely as possible upon the priciples
involved: the advantage of a central position
of interior lines, of force massed against force
disseminated.