Adamant blazed, thundered, and roared, not only because her commander
saw, or fancied he saw, an American vessel, but to notify all crabs,
repellers, and any other vile invention of the enemy that may have been
recently put forth to blemish the sacred surface of the sea, that the
Adamant still floated, with the heaviest coat of mail and the finest
and most complete armament in the world, ready to sink anything hostile
which came near enough--but not too near.
When the commander found that he was bound for the Bermudas, he did not
understand it, unless, indeed, those islands had been captured by the
enemy. But he did not stop firing. Indeed, should he find the
Bermudas under the American flag, he would fire at that flag and
whatever carried it, as long as a shot or a shell or a charge of powder
remained to him.
But when he reached British waters, and slowly entering St. George's
harbour, saw around him the British flag floating as proudly as it
floated above his own great ship, he confessed himself utterly
bewildered; but he ordered the men at every gun to stand by their piece
until he was boarded by a boat from the fort, and informed of the true
state of affairs.
But even then, when weary Crab C raised herself from her fighting
depth, and steamed to a dock, the commander of the Adamant could
scarcely refrain from sending a couple of tons of iron into the beastly
sea-devil which had had the impertinence to tow him about against his
will.
No time was lost by the respective Governments of Great Britain and the
United States in ratifying the peace made through the Syndicate, and in
concluding a military and naval alliance, the basis of which should be
the use by these two nations, and by no other nations, of the
instantaneous motor. The treaty was made and adopted with much more
despatch than generally accompanies such agreements between nations,
for both Governments felt the importance of placing themselves, without
delay, in that position from which, by means of their united control of
paramount methods of warfare, they might become the arbiters of peace.
The desire to evolve that power which should render opposition useless
had long led men from one warlike invention to another. Every one who
had constructed a new kind of gun, a new kind of armour, or a new
explosive, thought that he had solved the problem, or was on his way to
do so. The inventor of the instantaneous motor had done it.
The treaty provided that all subjects concerning hostilities between
either or both of the contracting powers and other nations should be
referred to a Joint High Commission, appointed by the two powers; and
if war should be considered necessary, it should be prosecuted and
conducted by the Anglo-American War Syndicate, within limitations
prescribed by the High Commission.
The contract made with the new Syndicate was of the most stringent
order, and contained every provision that ingenuity or foresight of man
could invent or suggest to make it impossible for the Syndicate to
transfer to any other nation the use of the instantaneous motor.
Throughout all classes in sympathy with the Administrative parties of
Great Britain and the United States there was a feeling of jubilant
elation on account of the alliance and the adoption by the two nations
of the means of prohibitive warfare. This public sentiment acted even
upon the opposition; and the majority of army and navy officers in the
two countries felt bound to admit that the arts of war in which they
had been educated were things of the past. Of course there were
members of the army and navy in both countries who deprecated the new
state of things. But there were also men, still living, who deprecated
the abolition of the old wooden seventy-four gun ship.
A British artillery officer conversing with a member of the American
Syndicate at a London club, said to him:--
"Do you know that you made a great mistake in the beginning of your
operations with the motor-guns? If you had contrived an attachment to
the motor which should have made an infernal thunder-clap and a storm
of smoke at the moment of discharge it would have saved you a lot of
money and time and trouble. The work of the motor on the Canadian
coast was terrible enough, but people could see no connection between
that and the guns on your vessels. If you could have sooner shown that
connection you might have saved yourselves the trouble of crossing the
Atlantic. And, to prove this, one of the most satisfactory points
connected with your work on the Welsh coast was the jet of smoke which
came from the repeller every time she discharged a motor. If it had
not been for those jets, I believe there would be people now in the
opposition who would swear that Caerdaff had been mined, and that the
Ministry were a party to it."
"Your point is well taken," said the American, "and should it ever be
necessary to discharge any more bombs,--which I hope it may not be,--we
shall take care to show a visible and audible connection between cause
and effect."
"The devil take it, sir!" cried an old captain of an English
ship-of-the-line, who was sitting near by. "What you are talking about
is not war! We might as well send out a Codfish Trust to settle
national disputes. In the next sea-fight we'll save ourselves the
trouble of gnawing and crunching at the sterns of the enemy. We'll
simply send a note aboard requesting the foreigner to be so good as to
send us his rudder by bearer, which, if properly marked and numbered,
will be returned to him on the conclusion of peace. This would do just
as well as twisting it off, and save expense. No, sir, I will not join
you in a julep! _I_ have made no alliance over new-fangled inventions!
Waiter, fetch me some rum and hot water!"
In the midst of the profound satisfaction with which the members of the
American War Syndicate regarded the success of their labours,--labours
alike profitable to themselves and to the recently contending
nations,--and in the gratified pride with which they received the
popular and official congratulations which were showered upon them,
there was but one little cloud, one regret.
In the course of the great Syndicate War a life had been lost. Thomas
Hutchins, while assisting in the loading of coal on one of the
repellers, was accidentally killed by the falling of a derrick.
The Syndicate gave a generous sum to the family of the unfortunate man,
and throughout the United States the occurrence occasioned a deep
feeling of sympathetic regret. A popular subscription was started to
build a monument to the memory of Hutchins, and contributions came, not
only from all parts of the United States, but from many persons in
Great Britain who wished to assist in the erection of this tribute to
the man who had fallen in the contest which had been of as much benefit
to their country as to his own.
Some weeks after the conclusion of the treaty, a public question was
raised, which at first threatened to annoy the American Government; but
it proved to be of little moment. An anti-Administration paper in
Peakville, Arkansas, asserted that in the whole of the published treaty
there was not one word in regard to the fisheries question, the
complications arising from which had been the cause of the war. Other
papers took up the matter, and the Government then discovered that in
drawing up the treaty the fisheries business had been entirely
overlooked. There was a good deal of surprise in official circles when
this discovery was announced; but as it was considered that the
fisheries question was one which would take care of itself, or be
readily disposed of in connection with a number of other minor points
which remained to be settled between the two countries, it was decided
to take no notice of the implied charge of neglect, and to let the
matter drop. And as the opposition party took no real interest in the
question, but little more was said about it.
Both countries were too well satisfied with the general result to waste
time or discussion over small matters. Great Britain had lost some
forts and some ships; but these would have been comparatively useless
in the new system of warfare. On the other hand, she had gained, not
only the incalculable advantage of the alliance, but a magnificent and
unsurpassed landlocked basin on the coast of Wales.
The United States had been obliged to pay an immense sum on account of
the contract with the War Syndicate, but this was considered money so
well spent, and so much less than an ordinary war would have cost, that
only the most violent anti-Administration journals ever alluded to it.
Reduction of military and naval forces, and gradual disarmament, was
now the policy of the allied nations. Such forces and such vessels as
might be demanded for the future operations of the War Syndicate were
retained. A few field batteries of motor-guns were all that would be
needed on land, and a comparatively small number of armoured ships
would suffice to carry the motor-guns that would be required at sea.
Now there would be no more mere exhibitions of the powers of the
instantaneous motor-bomb. Hereafter, if battles must be fought, they
would be battles of annihilation.
This is the history of the Great Syndicate War. Whether or not the
Anglo-American Syndicate was ever called upon to make war, it is not to
be stated here. But certain it is that after the formation of this
Syndicate all the nations of the world began to teach English in their
schools, and the Spirit of Civilization raised her head with a
confident smile.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Great War Syndicate, by Frank Stockton