At the launching of the tenth German Dreadnought— named 'Friedrich
der Grosse '—at Hamburg on Saturday the " baptismal speech " was delivered by Field-Marshal von der Goltz. Speaking in a lyrical strain, the Field-Marshal said that the ship must embody the qualities of the great King, guarding the Fatherland and foreseeing where her strength must be brought to bear, and continued: " Be ever ready for battle, ever ready to use thy arms, and to let the thunder of thy guns ring out when the hour that decides draws near, ever ready for the attack like the army of thy forerunner." Field- Marshal von der Goltz evidently and quite rightly agrees with the sentiment expressed in Sir Francis Hastings Doyle's lines :— " No cutting, give point ; were they twenty to one,
Men who wait to be charged, when you gallop, will run."
The speaker, in conclusion, appealed to the new battleship to increase Germany's prestige abroad. Nowadays they had to keep their name in honour and respect far away beyond the seas and among all nations, not merely before their neighbours. We must confess that we greatly prefer the English formula, " God bless the — and all who sail in her !"
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