• are celebrating to-day, marks an epoch in the history
of our Empire. One hundred years ago the greatest of English sea-captains, in one of the decisive battles of the world, laid the foundations, not only of modern Britain, but of modern Europe, and bequeathed to his countrymen a spirit which, in spite of excesses and shortcomings, still remains the ideal of our race. Such an occasion is not one for mere thoughtless rejoicings. All great milestones in a people's course involve serious self-examination as well as pride. It is a day of national thanksgiving, but it is also a day of national heart-searching. For Trafalgar was no mere victory over France and Spain ; indeed, in its higher aspects the consideration of victory almost disappears. For us it is our Salamis, one of the holy places of our history, and represents the exaltation of the national spirit under a heroic leader to a height which . later generations have scarcely reached. To a thinking man it raises many grave questions. How far have we shown ourselves worthy of that lightning fire of heroism which passed among the smoke-wreaths ? How far have we kept alive that flame of unselfish patriotism which was lit by Nelson and his captains ? , Have we vulgarised their ideal ? Is it' possible that in all our material well-being, our growth in wealth and civilisation, our extension of territory, we have fallen short of that old simple virtue ? Let us by all means rejoice that England once produced such ,a man ; but, let us ask ourselves if we are keeping his legacy untarnished to-day, for Trafalgar was fought in vain if its memory does not mean a quickening of the conscience and courage of our people.
What makes Trafalgar pre-eminently the : greatest of our traditions ? The chief answer is Nelson. It is less a battle than the consummation of a great career. Along with Cromwell, he stands as the, type of our greatest men of action, representing one .side of . the English character as the Puritan represented another. Cromwell stands for the stubborn seriousness in polities and religion which abolished shams, and based our govern- ment broadly upon the popular will. .He stands for honesty and common-sense, and that fidelity to, conscience, as opposed to the arbitrary dictation of human powers, which a great French critic considers the foundation of our national greatness. He is the eternal type of the grave, harassed man, upon whom the ends of the earth have fallen, but who meets the cataclysm with perfect sanity and courage. It' is a great type, but to the ordinary man a remote one, something to be wondered at and reverenced, but scarcely loved. But Nelson repre- sents the other side of England : that cheerful humour in hard places, that boyish gaiety in .danger, that faculty of attracting men's personal devotion, that engaging simplicity which may err often but is always pardoned, that love of doing great things with a great air, that innocent vanity and confidence, which are equally characteristic of our people, and especially of our sailors. We like to ,think that our, heroes are men like ourselves, and not wrapped up in a stage mantle of greatness. In spite of our Continental reputation, we like the natural man, who does not barricade himself against the world in a mannerism, who says what he thinks, and, while doing his duty, makes no pretence that he does not enjoy doing it. When such a man wins a great battle and dies nobly with the news of victory in his ear, we feel that it has been granted to a mortal being to attain true success. His career becomes an epic and his figure heroic in its humanity. The curt entry in the 'Victory's.' log : "Partial firing continued until 4.30, when a victory having been reported to the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Nelson, K.13., he died of his wound," seems the most perfect of all epitaphs. There is,no class of English- men to whom Nelson does not appeal. Whigs and Tories united in doing honour.to his memory ; the Radicals, who clainoured for the abolition of the pension-list, always excepted the Nelson family. He is beyond parties or creeds;. and our . nation, which does not greatly love politicians or sectarians, has long since put him on .a pedestal to which even Chatham. cannot pretend. As Southey wrote, "England. has had many heroes, but never one who so entirely possessed the love of his fellow- countrymen."
Trafalgar is also an unforgettable lesson in the sound conduct of war. We are too apt to imagine that fighting_ has become an elaborateS affair of science, where the personal equation is nearly eliminated, though the conduct of the Japanese has compelled us, it is to be hoped, to revise that opinion. An .army or a navy fights to conquer, and in the last resort it is human courage and daring and self-sacrifice which will win the . day. Had Nelson shared the views of some commanders, he would not have hunted out Villeneuve as he- did, or if be had met him he would have fought a stately and inconclusive artillery duel. Happily he took war seriously, and desired to annihilate liis opponents. He eared nothing for reputation or danger ; his business was to seek out and destroy the enemy. Such a creed gave opportunities for dash and enterprise which no rigid, half-hearted code 'could give. Whatever our view of the much-disputed tactics of Trafalgar, this much is clear,, that the battle was won by the superior dash and ,courage of z'the • English fleet. The day was gained when the ' Victory ' and her three companions broke through the French line, and by the sacrifice of themselves shattered its whole organisation. When necessary Nelson could wait patiently ; but patience is not apathy, and no man ever knew better when to be up and doing. The secret of his success, indeed, was that he fought not for his own hand but for his country. No man in whom the white fire of patriotism burned so fiercely could be apathetic and timid in the face of duty. He loved power and fame and honour, for he was pre- eminently human, but beyond all he loved his land, and it was the thought of England which dominated his every action. Nowadays patriot is an easy title. A very few platitudes about Empire will entitle a man to the name. But such patriotism as Nelson's—a consuming passion for his country's welfare, and a surrender of all personal ends to that supreme end—must always be as rare as his exceptional talents. It is a quality which requires Captain Mahan's noble prose to do it justice. "Sharer of our mortal weakness, he has bequeathed to us a type of single-minded self-devo- tion which can never perish. As his funeral anthem proclaimed, while a nation mourned, His body is buried in peace, but his Name liveth for evermore.' Wars may cease, but the need for heroism shall not depart from the earth, while man remains man and evil exists to be redressed. Wherever danger has to be faced or duty to be done, at cost to self, men will draw inspiration from the name and deeds of Nelson."
There is one last great aspect of Trafalgar to be remem- bered. It was the emblem of our final conquest of the sea, and the starting-point of our present policy of defence. In it was broken the naval power, not only of France and Spain, but of Europe, and in it was born the doctrine which has retained to us our Colonies, and has ensured us a century of comparative peace in the midst of European disturbance. English naval policy was a slow growth from the great days of the Elizabethans, through Ward and Blake and Monk, to the commanders of the eighteenth century,—a policy at first more or less of an unconscious instinct, and only late developed into a reasoned creed. Trafalgar showed England her Fleet a match for any European combination, and the next ten years proved that her island security could not be challenged even by the greatest of all soldiers, and the most formidable of coalitions, so long as she remained mistress of the seas. The work of earlier captains is all summed up and typified in Nelson's victory. Hence those who believe that England's greatness will last only so long as she maintains a strong fleet and the true breed of seamen naturally make Trafalgar their password and the "Nelson touch" their ideal. So far popular interest in the Navy has never flagged, and we console ourselves for the confusion of our Army with encomiums upon the efficiency of our fleets. But such easy maxims are no part of Nelson's legacy. He taught efficiency in sober truth, an intolerance of comfortable delusions, a resolution to make certain that the country was served with the best that its sons could give it. His spirit is the spirit of reform, of ceaseless vigilance and unhesitating sincerity. The memory of Trafalgar should stimulate us to see not only that nothing is lost of our great naval tradition, but that in every department of national life we show and exact energy and clear thinking. This is the "duty," the last word on his dying lips, and if we would follow, however far behind, in his footsteps, we must face it in his spirit.
THE POSSIBILITY OF ANOTHER JAPAN.
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