INTRODUCTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2692, 18 October 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

INTRODUCTION.

«atj3!pig^|Kn NE HUNDRED years ago Trafalgar decided i^ \"^lif aa^ *^ c British Navy was to ride the waves 'rf /aEri Vll supreme. Spain, Holland, and France in turn M §|i||l Wl had had their fleets annihilated, and Great hA Wp&IJ Mh Britain had become the world's manufac- '^.^^^ turer and sea carrier. Under Napoleon made a supreme effort to recover what she had lost and to reduce us, her hereditary foe, to impotence. History has told us that she failed, and practically disappeared as a Sea Power. Since then we have held undisputed sway, and on October 21 shall celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Trafalgar, which was the coping stone to the work of Nelson and other of our admirals. But when celebrating Trafalgar we must not be blind to the trend of history now, and to the teaching of the history of the past. Our uprise has been on the downfall of others. The centenary of Trafalgar has seen the humiliating defeat of Russia at sea and on land by an Oriental nation despised because of its colour. The beginning oi the twentieth century saw the birth of Japan, and already she has prostrated a colossus and is allied by treaty offensive and defensive with ourselves, whose Navy is more than superior to any other two in existence. To what does Japan owe her success? Her Navy. Remembering this, and remembering how undisguisedly Germany and the United States are building up navies out of all proportion to their commerce, we are tempted to ask, What lies in the womb of the immediate future? In publishing this memento of Trafalgar we hope to stimulate thought, and thought into action, to cause our readers to take an intelligent interest in the Navy of the Empire, and to recognise their responsibilities. In " Questions of Empire," a rectorial address delivered by Lord Roseberyin 1900, he said : " You are, after all, members of that company of adveuturers (used in the Elizabethan, and not the modern sense) which is embarked in the business of carrying the British Empire thiough the twentieth century. Each of you has his share in that glorious heritage, and each of you js answerable for that share. Be then, practical partners, intelligent partners, industrial partners, and so you will be in the best jsen'de practical, intelligent, industrious Imperialists." Act r<p to Lord Rosebery's advice and there will be no need to fear the future. Nelson's victories naturally suggest the Navy. But in our ordinary histories the connection between the develor.-

ment of the Navy and the expansion of the Empire are not, as a rule, very clearly shown : and naval events are treated as isolated facts. We purpose, therefore, to preface The Life of Nelson by an outline history of fche Navy from the time of Alfred.