Nelson was a true descendant of a race of men who had never faltered
in the traditional belief that the world should be governed and
dominated by the British. His King, his country, and particularly the
profession to which he belonged, were to him the supreme authorities
whose destiny it was to direct the affairs of the universe. With
unfailing comic seriousness, intermixed with occasional explosions of
bitter violence, he placed the French low down in the scale of the
human family. There was scarcely a sailor adjective that was not
applied to them. Carlyle, in later years, designated the voice of
France as "a confused babblement from the gutters" and "scarcely
human"; "A country indeed with its head cut off"; but this quotation
does not reach some of the picturesque heights of nautical language
that was invented by Nelson to describe his view of them. Both he and
many of his fellow-countrymen regarded the chosen chief on whom the
French nation had democratically placed an imperial crown as the
embodiment of a wild beast.
The great Admiral was always wholehearted in his declamation against
the French people and their leaders who are our present allies
fighting against that country which now is, and which Napoleon
predicted to his dying day would become, one of the most imperious,
inhuman foes to civilization. Nelson and his government at that time
thought it a merciful high policy of brotherhood to protect and
re-create Prussia out of the wreck to which Napoleon had reduced it;
the result being that the military spirit of Prussia has been a
growing, determined menace to the peace of the world and to the cause
of human liberty in every form since the downfall of the man who
warned us at the time from his exiled home on the rock of St. Helena
that our policy would ultimately reflect with a vengeance upon
ourselves, and involve the whole world in a great effort to save
itself from destruction. He foresaw that Prussia would inveigle and
bully the smaller German states into unification with herself, and,
having cunningly accomplished this, that her perfidy would proceed to
consolidate the united fabric into a formidable power which would
crush all others by its military superiority; this dream of universal
control of human life and affairs was at one time nearly realized.
The German Empire has bankrupted herself in men, necessaries of life,
and money. But that in no degree minimizes the disaster she has
wrought on those who have had to bleed at every pore to avoid
annihilation. The Allies, as well as the Central Powers, are no longer
going concerns. It will take generations to get back to the point at
which we started in 1914. But the tragic thought of all is the
enormous sacrifice of life, and the mental and physical wrecks that
have survived the savage, brutal struggle brought on a world that was,
and wished to remain, at peace, when in 1914 the Central Powers
arrogantly forced the pace which caused an alliance to be formed
quickly by their enemies to save them from the doom which Napoleon,
with his clear vision, had predicted would come.
It was fitting that Nelson should by every conceivable means adopt
methods of declamation against the French, if by doing so he thought
it would inspire the men whom he commanded with the same conquering
spirit he himself possessed. His country was at war with the French,
and he was merely one of the instruments appointed to defeat them, and
this may account for his ebullitions of hatred from time to time. I
have found, however, no record that would in any way show that it was
intended as surface policy, so it may be concluded that his dislike
was as deep-seated as it appeared. Nelson never seems to have shown
evidences of being a humbug by saying things which he did not believe.
He had a wholesome dislike of the French people and of Bonaparte, who
was their idol at that time. But neither he nor his government can be
credited with the faculty of being students of human life. He and they
believed that Paris was the centre of all that was corrupt and brutal.
Napoleon, on the other hand, had no real hatred of the British people,
but during his wars with their government his avowed opinion was that
"all the ills, and all the scourges that afflict mankind, came from
London." Both were wrong in their conclusions. They simply did not
understand each other's point of view in the great upheaval that was
disturbing the world. The British were not only jealous and afraid of
Napoleon's genius and amazing rise to eminence--which they attributed
to his inordinate ambition to establish himself as the dominating
factor in the affairs of the universe--but they determined that his
power should not only not be acknowledged, but destroyed, and their
policy after twenty years of bitter war was completely accomplished.
The merits or demerits of British policy must always remain a matter
of controversy. It is too big a question to deal with here. Napoleon
said himself that "Everything in the life of man is subject to
calculation; the good and evil must be equally balanced." Other true
sayings of his indicate that he, at any rate, _was_ a student of human
life, and knew how fickle fortune is under certain conditions.
"Reprisals," he declared, "are but a sad resource"; and again, no
doubt dwelling on his own misfortunes, but with vivid truth all the
same, he declares that "The allies gained by victory will turn against
you upon the bare whisper of our defeat."