Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1898-01-27
THE BRITISH "MlDDY."

An English Writer Draws Comparisons Be
tween Him and His American Compeers.
Admiral Sir Vesey Hamilton pub
llshed not long ago an interesting
conversation which he had with al
American admiral, wherein the lat
ter spoke with the warmest admira
ton of the manner in which he saw
our young midshipmen handling
their boats and keeping their men in
order and then drew comparisons
between them and his own ''fne
gentlemen, most unfattering to
the latter. His young gentlemen,
he said, knew how it ought to be
done, but ours knew how to doit.
The difference is great. The Brit
ish midshipman is brought up in his
| profession, and when he finds him
self suddenly in a tight place he
knows what to do instinctively with
out waiting to reason about it. He
does the right thing at once, and as
rapidly of action is one of the most
important factors of success in nau-
teal matters he generally gets out
of his tight place with credit tc
himself and his profession. Thus
he gains confidence at every step
and prepares himself for more i'm
portant commands. On what
grounds, then, of logic or of com.
mon sense are we. about to alter a
system which has produced such ex.
cellent practical resultsf
It is only fair, however, to see
what can be said on the other side
of the question, and thus we would
frankly acknowledge that our naval
officers are the worst educated in
Europe, taking the word "educa-
ton" in the sense in which it is
generally used. It is only quite nat
ural and reasonable that they should
be SO, for reasons which we have al
ready sufficiently indicated. For our
own part we do not think they are by
any means such utter ignoramuses
as they are sometimes supposed to
be and portrayed as being by some
self constituted critics.
For instance, a well known civil.
ian writer on naval subjects, mas
querading under the title of Nauti.
Gus, published lately violent dia-
tribe on the gross and deplorable
ignorance of British naval officers.
He described them as being alto.
gether behind the times, as com
pairing most unfavorably in point
Of general knowledge with the off
GERS of all European nations as well
as with those of the United States.
They were held up to scorn for not
being 'men of the world and for
not being able to shine in society, -
in consequence of their faulty edu.
cation, and it was further stated
that they were not sound scientific
officers. 1t is quite possible that all
three accusations might be true
the third modified and yet that
ours might be the best naval officers
in the world. We say the third
modified, as it depends a good deal
upon what we understand by a
sound scientific officer. 1t is proba-
ble-nay, almost certain-that SO
far as abstract science is concerned,
our naval officers are surpassed by
those of most other countries and
certainly by those of France and
Germany, but when it comes to the
practical application of such scien
tific or other knowledge as the Off
GERS Of the different nationalitiet
possess it has been proved a hun
dred times over that our officers are
ahead of all. Ten thousand horse
power which cannot be applied is
not SO good for propulsive purposes
az 5000 horsepower which can be
| applied. Bla ckwood' Is Magazine.