NULLI SECUNDUS. "FRANTIC BOAST AND FOOLISH WORD."

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 09, 11 January 1908, Page 12

NULLI SECUNDUS. "FRANTIC BOAST AND FOOLISH WORD."

Other persons than ourselves, we fancy, must have felt that tho naval speech of Sir John Fisher at the GuildUall banquet liwt Saturday was pitched in a wholly unfamiliar key, and muht have asked themselves whether his boastfnlness was in accordance with our traditions, nnd whether it was even suited to its purpose, whatever might be said of its elegance. As we read the speech we felt as though Sir John Fisher, act"ing as our representative, |if without our authoiity, had been tempting Provjdence. We were inclined to "touch wood,'" or pour libations to some outraged god of destiny. The object o£ Sir John Fisher was, let us suppose, to rall> the support of Hie country to tho side of the Admiralty, a\id for a First Sea J.ord ihat was in itself an act of duty tho performance of whicli should always be counted "for merit. No Admiralty could cIP i£ s work long without having tho rea^opp.ble confidence of the nation, and » reassuring speech by a high naval official on 9th November every year is a'inere don&tion of continued existence. But milimiWd assuiaiices cancel themsolves, and it IB doubtful whether th» spectacle of Sir John Fisher protesting too much ha.s quelled as much criticism as it has exuitpd. "I look in vain," he said, speaking of the fleet recently col' lected in tho North Sea, "to see any equal to that large fleet anywhere. That is onjy a fraction oi" our power: And that large fleet is uulli secundus, as they say, Whether it is ships or officers or men. , . '. . The. gunnery efficiency of the fleet has surpassed all records — it is unparalleled—and I am lost in wonder and admiration at the splendid unity of spirit and determination that must have been shown by everybody from top to bottom to obtain these results. .. . . Our object has been the fighting efficiency of the Fleet and its instant readiness for war ; and we have got. it. So I turn ,to all of you,. and I turn to my country- ' men and I say — Sleep quiet in your beds and do. not be disturbed by these bogeys — invasion and otherwise^ — which are being periodically resuscitated by all sortn of leagues." js\l this, of cpurse, is simply assertion ; and if asserts too much — far more than thp intelligent taxpayer can ask to^'have guaranteed to him. If we are guaranteed too miich our mind at once turns sceptical. We remember only too- well the advertisements bear no relation to the quality of the goods advertised. Only ill-informed persons are impressed by them. It is fatally easy to say, that the Navy is nulli secundus — as eaSy as it was to give that name to the airship which came to an end in a puff of wind at the Crystal Palace. It is fatally easy to say that invasion' is 1 a hogey — but Lord Roberts, who is our moat experienced soldier, believes in the' possibility of it. "GLORY" AND "DUTY." But there is no need to rediscuss. naval policy here; We are only interested for the moment in 'the ethics and uses of boastfulries's." ' It would not be far from the truth to say that those responsible for a; military"' adra.iuistratio.'n should never bpast, but that the soldier or sailor may be justified in a kind of boast- ; ing when he is on the point 'of action and. it is his business to inspirit others. No figures look more, amply foolish in history than th^ Ministers ;of War and Generals who have uttered their soothing prophecies before appalling catastrophies. Leboeuf , 'who told Napoleon 111. before the Franco-German 1 WaT that.every^hing was ready in the French army down to the last button on jtjie. gaiters, will occur to most minds as the type of the class. On the other hand, th& officer, in the field, or tile captain orL,]sosrd his, ship, is nob fequirecl munbly'jto .underrate or criticise his own fighting strength, duty is not to say : "The enemy is, 1 vpry strong, and unless wo hayo some luck we shall be beaten" ; bu^to gay : ,I'Come on. We are as good as he is. Do as .you are bid. Remember youjr duty and^e-^nemy will be utterly routed. In ' his essay Non "Vain-Glory" Bacon , expressly makes this distinction between Soldiers in battle aud ordinary Rulers. '"Jn, military commanders and soldiers," he says, '.'vain-glory is an essential point; for as iron sharpens iron, so by glory (which in Baconian language means boasting) one courage sharpencth another. In cases of great enterprise, upon charge and adventure, a composition of glorious natures doth put life into business." Yet even when iron sharpened iron it has been the English tradition not to inspire more than necessary the "Dutch courage" of personal or national ambition. Napier in his history of the Peninsular War remarks tjiat Napoleon jn his despatches used to speak of "glory," but Wellington spoke-of "duty." The idea of duty, with its reticent suggestions apd its associations of small and deferred rewards, may not always be a sufficient incentive to "weajc \x n tti n n nature, bxxt it "vroxiXcl be grand to think that to Englishmen it could, remain nearly sufficient. But, it may be said, "is not this notion that boasting among administrators Ipads to disaster a mere superstition ? It is foolish to suppose tliat bombast, however rash or impious, can have any real effect on events. In a ifaatarial sense this is true ; bombast is not a final cause of catastrophe. But it is none the less a symptom of a state of mind which is itself a final cause. The symptom is not there without the germ of the disease. Tho boaster boasts because ho is without the capacity of self-criticism. jHe says all is well when it i 3 not. He invites his countrymen to become drowned in security. The mere existence of a great .army or great navy does not necessarily provide against even the majority of the chances of fortune. The manipulator of a gi'eat organisation can never justifiably fold his hands and invite people to slumber in peace. TJ)e unexpected is a terrible foe :—: — A King sate on the rocky brow Which looka o'er eea-born Balamifljx And chips, by thousands, lay below, AntJ men in nations — all were his! He counted them at break ol day— And when tho sun set whero were tliey? THE FOLLY OF BRAG. The proverbs of nearly all languages show that as a matter of fact boasting is joined to meagre performance. Beaucoup de bruit, peu de fruit, says the old French proverb. "Much boaat, small roast, 1 ' js both English and,' Italian. "Mrden agan,' ? temperateness in all things, was the familiar' maxim of Greek culture, and, according to the Greek tragic dramatists, deviations from it always led men into a' kind of "hybris," or insolence, towards heaven. The Tarquin who bore the title of Superbus happened also to be the last of the ancient Kings of Rome. ' TJie power and/ will to criticise oneself is ft'true manifestation of strength. So is respect for one's enemy. Abraham Lincoln was never guilty of a boast or an over-confident prediction, and his courtesy to his wnemies was such that he never spoke ol the Confederates as "rebels" in accordance with the common Federal practice, lhat was a notable restraint in a country which seems to us 'often to brag, although Englishmen do not make enough allowance for American temperament and ethics, which are quite different from their own. The American, for example, thinks it a gross affectation in the Englishman to deny accomplishments which he knows himself to possess. A young nation, again, just conscious of national-ity,-and of its independence of a parent ) Btockj pjaj^ Jjg fotaiveu for jejoiyjin^ ill

the strength of its limbs. But a country grown old in vicissitudes, and bearing the mark of misfortunes even in the record of its triumphs, has no excuse for indulging in Bacon's "glory." If it does, it forgets the warning of Ahab to Ben-hadad : "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it otf. " Without exaggeration, wo feel that boasting is a sort of im-' piety- in a British official, and wo shall bo relieved if no harm comes of it in the long run :—: — For frantic boa«t and foolish word Thy mercy on thy people, Lord. — Spectator.