of our sentiments the reception always accorded to their youthful monarch on the occasion of his visits to these shores bears ample testimony. It is the deliverance of England and of Europe, France and her allies included, from the scourge of Napoleon's devastating sway that we celebrate. "England," said Pitt, in what Lord Rosebery terms "the noblest, the tersest, and the last of all his speeches "-" England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example." She did save Europe in the end, though even the indomitable spirit of Pitt quailed for a moment, and his splendid insight deserted him, when Austerlitz followed so quickly on Trafalgar. "Roll up that map," he said, as he caught sight of a map of Europe a few days before his death; "it will not be wanted these ten years." It was not wanted for hard upon ten years to come. But," as was once said in The Times, "in spite of all that was happening then at Ulm, at Austerlitz, and at Vienna, in spite of all that was destined to happen in the Peninsula, at Moscow, and at Waterloo before the map of Europe could be finally settled at the restoration of peace to the world, Pitt, if his faith and insight had been those of his own prime, might there and then have placed one finger on the site of Napoleon's camp at Boulogne, and another on the scene of Nelson's death at Trafalgar, and said 'Here and now is Napoleon vanquished; here and now is a barrier set to his power and designs which, so long as England remains a nation, shall never be cast down.' In truth it was the hand of Nelson, dead in the flesh, but still living in the spirit and in the might of its deeds, that guided and determined the course of events from the day of Austerlitz to the day of Waterloo. It was he who compelled Napoleon to abandon for ever his plan for invading England. It was those "far-distant, storm-beaten ships" of his and those of his companions in arms that, as Captain Mahan truly says, stood between Napoleon and the dominion of the world. That is why we celebrate Trafalgar with undying thankfulness

THE MEANING OF TRAFALGAR

5

for so great a deliverance and for the valour and genius of those who wrought it, and yet with none but kindly thoughts of the nations which, though vanquished, there fought so well. When during the visit of a French fleet to English waters in 1905 the French officers and seamen passed through Trafalgar Square, they bared their heads in silent reverence before the Nelson Column. Let us all imitate that noble and gracious act of homage. We cannot, if we would, forget Trafalgar and its incomparable hero. We should not, if we could, refrain from celebrating its anniversary with more than ordinary solemnity. That we owe to ourselves as heirs of the ages and of the conflicts which have made us what we are. But we owe it not less to France, as the nation in Europe whose ideals come nearest to our own and whose genius best supplements our own, to forget the causes of our former differences and remember only the valour and self-devotion of those who fought and died for her at Trafalgar.

Even if Trafalgar were not one of the greatest events in our history, it would still be one of the most memorable, because it was there that the incomparable genius of Nelson was canonized for all time by the splendour of his victory and the tragedy of his glorious death. As Lady Londonderry wrote, he then "began his immortal career, having nothing to achieve upon earth, and bequeathing to the English Fleet a legacy which they alone are able to improve." Spartam nactus es, hanc exorna, is the supreme and undying lesson of that immortal scene. "Here and here did England help me; how can I help England?" is the solemn question which every Englishman should put to himself while meditating, in all sobriety and humility of spirit, on what Trafalgar did for him, on what the example of Nelson's life and character has in it to stir and uplift him. We cannot all be Nelsons. Genius such as his, a judgment as of ice, an ardour as of fire, an insight as of direct inspiration, untiring energy," to quote Captain Mahan, "boundless audacity, promptness, intrepidity, and endurance beyond all proof," a patriotism

of the purest, a sense of duty of the highest, a superb fearlessness of responsibility, generosity, loving-kindness, and sympathy the most abounding-these and other great qualities of his are such as nature bestows in all their wondrous assemblage on none but the choicest of her souls. The genius is unique and incommunicable. But the moral qualities, the graces of the temper and the spirit, which in Nelson did so much to sustain and illuminate his genius, are happily just those which every true man can strive to emulate, even if he may not hope to rise to the full height of Nelson's great exemplar. That is the abiding lesson of such a life as that of Nelson. Without a peer in the special range of his activities, he was perhaps almost as incomparable in the loving and lovable qualities of his heart, in the ardours of his lofty soul. There is but one Nelson; but there is not an Englishman alive who may not if he chooses be the better for what Nelson did for him.

TRAFALGAR AND THE NELSON

IN

TOUCH

INTRODUCTION 1

N the following exposition I have as far as possible avoided technical details; but as all technical detail cannot be avoided in a tactical exposition, it may be as well to explain at the outset such technical terms as must inevitably be used. The points of the compass may be taken first. There are 32 of them in all, so that a rightangle contains eight points, and each point consists of 11 degrees. Next to explain the relation of these points to the course of a ship as determined by the direction of the wind. A sailing-ship cannot move in a direction opposite to that of the wind, as a steamship can. She need not have the wind behind her, but if she is to move by its agency, there are always a considerable number of points of the compass on either side of the wind towards which she cannot move at all. A modern yacht will go within some four points of the wind. But a sailing-ship of the Nelson period could not go within less than six, nor generally within less than seven. When a ship is going as near the wind as she can she is said to be "closehauled" on the port or the starboard tack according as the wind is blowing on the port or the starboard side of the ship. So long as the wind remained unchanged, therefore, there was always a moving area bounded by an angle of 12 points, or 135 degrees, on the windward side of the ship within which she could not be propelled forward by sails. Within the remaining area of 20 points, or 225 degrees, she could by a suitable adjustment of her

1 The Times, October 19, 1905.

sails move freely in any direction. With these explanations the following table speaks for itself. It gives in the middle column the direction of the wind from each point of the compass in succession, and on either side the corresponding courses for a ship supposed to be close-hauled on the starboard and port tacks respectively:

COURSE,
STARBOARD TACK.

WIND.

COURSE,
PORT TACK.

N.
N. by E.
N.N.E.
N.E. by N.
N.E.
N.E. by E.
E.N.E.
E. by N.
E.
E. by S.
E.S.E.
S.E. by E.
S.E.
S.E. by S.
S.S.É.
S. by E.
S.
S. by W.

S.S.W.
S.W. by S.
S.W.
S.W. by W.
W.S.W.
W. by S.
W.
W. by N.
W.N.W.
N.W. by W.
N.W.
N.W. by N.
N.N.W.
N. by W.

When a ship passed from one tack to the other she was said to "tack" or to "wear" according as her first movements effected by the helm and by suitable adjustments of the sails was towards the direction of the wind or away from it. In tacking, therefore, she would pass through 12 points, whereas in wearing she would pass through 20.