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Just as in the mechanism of a clock, so in the mechanism of the

military machine, an impulse once given leads to the final

result; and just as indifferently quiescent till the moment when

motion is transmitted to them are the parts of the mechanism

which the impulse has not yet reached. Wheels creak on their

axles as the cogs engage one another and the revolving pulleys

whirr with the rapidity of their movement, but a neighboring

wheel is as quiet and motionless as though it were prepared to

remain so for a hundred years; but the moment comes when the

lever catches it and obeying the impulse that wheel begins to

creak and joins in the common motion the result and aim of which

are beyond its ken.