258 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



by the aid of those very qualities which place him at 

 the summit of the scale of creation. 



Not, of course, that I would dare deny even to a 

 pirate the possession of heroical qualities. To do so, 

 indeed, would be foolish ; for it must be obvious that 

 the mariner who is also a fighter is doubly a hero, and 

 it must never be forgotten that every naval engage- 

 ment has in it the nature of a forlorn hope. Way of 

 retreat for the defeated there is none, except for those 

 whose courage fails them early in the fight, and who 

 manage to flee before any material damage has been 

 inflicted upon them. But here, again, I feel the 

 deepest sorrow that the possession of such qualities 

 should be so perverted, and that the beneficent ocean 

 should be for even the briefest hour polluted by the 

 slaughter of one another by men. Let me hasten, 

 however, to add, for fear of misunderstanding, that 

 this view of the ocean as a battle-field does not in 

 the least affect my admiration for the British Navy 

 and its splendid men. In spite of what foreign liars 

 may say, ay and even our own home-bred traitors 

 declare, every right-thinking, intelligent Briton knows 

 that in the fullest sense of the word the motto of the 

 British Navy is " Defence not Defiance." It is more 

 than that, it is the police of the world, the chief, 

 almost the only, agent for making the navigation of 

 the most difficult waters secure ; its one end and aim 

 is that the peace of the world shall be kept, and that 

 all men, specially mariners, under whatever flag, shall 

 be free to go and come between the lands in pur- 

 suance of their lawful occasions. Moreover, feeling 

 assured, as I should do were I a native of any other 

 country, that the existence of Britain as a nation is, 



