This is trivial enough, but what would you have? If Admirals will not
strike the proper attitudes, nor Lieutenants emit the appropriate
sentiments, one is forced back on the truth, which is that the men at
the heart of the great matters in our Empire are, mostly, of an even
simplicity. From the advertising point of view they are stupid, but
the breed has always been stupid in this department. It may be due,
as our enemies assert, to our racial snobbery, or, as others hold, to
a certain God-given lack of imagination which saves us from being
over-concerned at the effects of our appearances on others. Either
way, it deceives the enemies' people more than any calculated lie.
When you come to think of it, though the English are the worst
paper-work and _viva voce_ liars in the world, they have been
rigorously trained since their early youth to live and act lies for
the comfort of the society in which they move, and so for their own
comfort. The result in this war is interesting.
It is no lie that at the present moment we hold all the seas in the
hollow of our hands. For that reason we shuffle over them shame-faced
and apologetic, making arrangements here and flagrant compromises
there, in order to give substance to the lie that we have dropped
fortuitously into this high seat and are looking round the world for
some one to resign it to. Nor is it any lie that, had we used the
Navy's bare fist instead of its gloved hand from the beginning, we
could in all likelihood have shortened the war. That being so, we
elected to dab and peck at and half-strangle the enemy, to let him go
and choke him again. It is no lie that we continue on our inexplicable
path animated, we will try to believe till other proof is given, by a
cloudy idea of alleviating or mitigating something for somebody--not
ourselves. [Here, of course, is where our racial snobbery comes in,
which makes the German gibber. I cannot understand why he has not
accused us to our Allies of having secret commercial understandings
with him.] For that reason, we shall finish the German eagle as the
merciful lady killed the chicken. It took her the whole afternoon, and
then, you will remember, the carcase had to be thrown away.
Meantime, there is a large and unlovely water, inhabited by plain men
in severe boats, who endure cold, exposure, wet, and monotony almost
as heavy as their responsibilities. Charge them with heroism--but that
needs heroism, indeed! Accuse them of patriotism, they become ribald.
Examine into the records of the miraculous work they have done and are
doing. They will assist you, but with perfect sincerity they will make
as light of the valour and fore-thought shown as of the ends they have
gained for mankind. The Service takes all work for granted. It knew
long ago that certain things would have to be done, and it did its
best to be ready for them. When it disappeared over the sky-line for
manoeuvres it was practising--always practising; trying its men and
stuff and throwing out what could not take the strain. That is why,
when war came, only a few names had to be changed, and those chiefly
for the sake of the body, not of the spirit. And the Seniors who hold
the key to our plans and know what will be done if things happen, and
what lines wear thin in the many chains, they are of one fibre and
speech with the Juniors and the lower deck and all the rest who come
out of the undemonstrative households ashore. "Here is the situation
as it exists now," say the Seniors. "This is what we do to meet it.
Look and count and measure and judge for yourself, and then you will
know."
It is a safe offer. The civilian only sees that the sea is a vast
place, divided between wisdom and chance. He only knows that the
uttermost oceans have been swept clear, and the trade-routes purged,
one by one, even as our armies were being convoyed along them; that
there was no island nor key left unsearched on any waters that might
hide an enemy's craft between the Arctic Circle and the Horn. He only
knows that less than a day's run to the eastward of where he stands,
the enemy's fleets have been held for a year and four months, in order
that civilisation may go about its business on all our waters.