We are not in thel, tr u ieeho the violent complaints
that have been made aga4 res,; aifour and the Admiralty because
they announced the event our great sea victory in so dingy a
style, and, according to some of their more vehement critics, gave the impression that we were beaten, or at any rate that the Fleet had done something of which we were in no way too proud—some- thing which only deserved a bare record, and about which, indeed, the less said the better. Of course that is a gross exaggeration, and in
our heart of hearts we cannot help feeling a good deal of pride at the curtness of the official announcement, and the determination not to claim a shred of praise or glory -which might afterwards prove not to be the Navy's due. That is much better than gasconading first, and then having little by little to withdraw our ill-founded
Previous page
