4. Take advantage of circumstances.
5. Use all the means in your power to secure a good reputation.
The disposition or arrangement of a warlike enterprise may be universal, or particular.
An universal disposition or arrangement of war implies every thing which relates to that system upon an extensive scale; such as the combination of many parts for the ultimate benefit of the whole, &c.
A particular disposition or arrangement of war signifies the detail of minute objects, and the appropriation of various parts, one with another, for the purpose of effecting a general combination. This disposition, (without which the other must prove abortive,) consists in an observance of the strictest discipline by every individual that belongs to a troop or company. To this end, general officers should be scrupulously exact in attending to the inspection of particular corps; specific instructions for regimental œconomy and discipline should be given, and the strictest regard be paid to the execution of orders.
DISTANCE, in military formation, signifies the relative space which is left between men standing under arms in rank, or the intervals which appear between those ranks, &c.
Distances. Inaccessible distances may be found several ways; the most correct of which of course is by means of proper mathematical instruments; which, however, are not always to be had in the field.
The following different methods are laid down by several authors, where instruments cannot be had.
Fig. 1.
