In War 



wars, officers and soldiers, rank and file, 

 are not on the whole fairly representa- 

 tive of " the flower of England's chiv- 

 alry," then fame has been singularly 

 given to deception. We have been told 

 that the glories of Blenheim, Trafalgar, 

 Waterloo, Majuba Hill, were won by 

 real Englishmen. And this, in fact, is 

 the truth. In every nation of Europe 

 the men chosen for the army are 

 above the average of their fellows. 

 The absolute best doubtless they are 

 not, but still less are they the worst. 

 Doubtless, too, physical excellence is 

 more considered than moral or mental 

 strength ; and certainly, again, the 

 more noble the cause, the more worthy 

 the class of men who will risk their 

 lives for it. 



Not to confuse the point by modern 

 instances, it is doubtless true that better 

 men fell on both sides when " Kentish 

 Sir Byng stood for the King" than 



69 



