Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-18

Yet, Don't give up the ship would make
a noble motto for the navy of the United
states Perrys message reads almost like
an echo of the ''Veni Eidi Weir of Juli,ls
Caesar, but both are eclipsed by the single
punning word. "Peccavi." in which Sir
charles Napier announced the conquest OF
Sclnde- Among those sayings of more than
doubtful authenticity which IL seems inn
possible to dislodge from popular favor one
STANDS prominent on either side in the ira
ditions of Waterloo
cambronne's mythical reply. 1.-The Ola
HuarG dies. but never surrenders." stands
balanced by the equally imaginary order al
trlbuted TO Wellington of TIP, Guards and
at en- Yet both are so good and so ma
tionally characteristic as TO make IN a nity
that they are not true. General Grants
reply to the circumstances respecting The
prolonged campaign before Richmond Il
mean 10 nght II out on this line if il takes
al summer has been adopted by his coul-
trymen and embedded in their speech as
the typical expression of logged uncon-
promising persistence
But battle epigrams. even when genuine
are not invariably unprecedented. There
Is a suspicion of self-consciousness ahn,ft
frahcis 5 letter after Pavia. AL is lost
except honor. Yet perhaps IL were moro
charitable to regard il as a real inpromptn
bearing the educated Frenchman's happy
turn OF expression. There is however IN
unmistakable odor of the lamp in the adj
dress OF Napoleon to his army before the
battle with the Mameukes: From the
sunlnllts OF yonder pyramids twenty cent
urles took down upon you" sun the
words deserve to be remembered as a II rils
ing summary of a highly dramatic situa-
lon Usually the rallying cry In battle. has
been the name of some single leader or
patron saint but sometimes it took a more
special and defined significance Eminent
ly effective and appropriate was that nf The
charging Huguencts at Ivry, when Re
member st. Bartholomew was passed from
man to mana politicio-reliGious harangle
ln three words. Sir John Astley's prayer
In front of his troops at Naseby is IN its
way Incompatible: oh Lord, Thou know
est how busy l must be this day II | for
get Thee, yet do not Thou forget me
March on. boys" In remarkable contrast,
and typical, it may be, not less of the age
than of the man the daredevil words
OF the leader of the Light Brigade at Bal
aklava: Here goes the last of the Carli-
gans."
The observation recorded of Nelson at the
commencement of the battle of the Nile
peerage or Westminster Abbey" has
become historical. like everything else of
his. 1t is characteristic that he never con-
templated even the possibility of defeat
Victory was to be inevitable. and the only
alternatives We're whether his own recon-
pense should be a coronet a tomb. Will
lam HIS words to the French Protestant
refugees at the Boyne still live in the lines
OF an Orange song:
God will be your king today
And I'll be general under.
The last epigram, given in an article in
the Evening Standard, and perhaps one OF
the best, is contained in the message of the
American Commodore Tatna'l to the Eng
ish admiral during the bombardment of the
Peiho forts. 1t was made the spur of
the moment 1t breathes the earnestness
OF excitement and the hearty comradeship
of one sea-dog offering his aid TO another.
But 1t Is so pregnant with sound political
philosophy that it has taken rank as AN
aphorism of Anglo-Saxondom, and among
the most effective instruments in maintain
ing the good relations of England and
America, an important place must be
claimed for the epigrammatic definition OF
the fact of international kinship in the
phrase now familiarized in the two con-
tinents, Blood is thicker than water