280 A Forgotten Maxim 



to send men to perish because they have arms with 

 which they can not win. With poor ships, were an 

 Admiral Nelson and Farragut rolled in one, he might 

 be beaten by any first-class fleet ; and he surely would 

 be beaten if his opponents were in any degree his 

 equals in skill and courage; but without this skill 

 and courage no perfection of material can avail, and 

 with them very grave shortcomings in equipment 

 may be overcome. The men who command our 

 ships must have as perfect weapons ready to their 

 hands as can be found in the civilized world, and 

 they must be trained to the highest point in using 

 them. They must have skill in handling the ships, 

 skill in tactics, skill in strategy, for ignorant courage 

 can not avail ; but without courage neither will skill 

 avail. They must have in them the dogged ability 

 to bear punishment, the power and desire to inflict 

 it, the daring, the resolution, the willingness to take 

 risks and incur responsibility which have been pos- 

 sessed by the great captains of all ages, and without 

 which no man can ever hope to stand in the front 

 rank of fighting men. 



Tame submission to foreign aggression of any 

 kind is a mean and unworthy thing; but it is even 

 meaner and more unworthy to bluster first, and then 

 either submit or else refuse to make those prepara- 

 tions which can alone obviate the necessity for sub- 

 mission. I believe with all my heart in the Monroe 

 Doctrine, and I believe also that the great mass of 

 the American people are loyal to it; but it is worse 

 than idle to announce our adherence to this doctrine 



