Abstract:
I
n the execution of any undertaking there are extremes on either hand
which are alike to be avoided. The rule holds in a special manner in
making a translation. There is, on the one side, the extreme of too rigid
adherence, word for word and line for line, to the original, and on the other
is the danger of using too free a pen. In either case the sense of the author
may not be truly given. It is not always easy to preserve a proper mean
between these extremes. The translators of Jomini’s Summary of the
Principles of the Art of War have endeavored to render their author into
plain English, without mutilating or adding to his ideas, attempting no
display and making no criticisms.
To persons accustomed to read for instruction in military matters, it is
not necessary to say a word with reference to the merits of Jomini. To those
not thus accustomed heretofore, but who are becoming more interested in
such subjects, (and this class must include the great mass of the American
public,) it is sufficient to say, and it may be said with entire truth, that
General Jomini is admitted by all competent judges to be one of the ablest
military critics and historians of this or any other day.
The translation now presented to the people has been made with the
earnest hope and the sincere expectation of its proving useful. As the
existence of a large, well-instructed standing army is deemed incompatible
with our institutions, it becomes the more important that military
information be as extensively diffused as possible among the people. If by
the present work the translators shall find they have contributed, even in an
inconsiderable degree, to this important object, they will be amply repaid
for the care and labor expended upon it.
To those persons to whom the study of the art of war is a new one, it is
