The Seattle Republican., 1900-03-09

because of its association with a
splendid victory, but because it
embodies a sermon on conduct and
patriotism in terms so pithy and
pointed AS to be impossible Of
improvement.
1--WE have met the enemy and
they are ours" was Commodore
Perry's proud shout Of triumph.
Intensely pathetic were the dying
words of Capt. Lawrence, on board
the Chesapeake, spoken at the
very moment his flag was being
hauled down to the Shannon
Boys, don't give up the ship"-a
noble motto for any navy. Perry's
message reads like Caesars "Veni,
vide, vici." Both Perry's and
Lawrence's sayings may have been
correctly reported, but both are
eclipsed by the single punning
word, "Peecavi," in which the
gallant Napier announced the
conquest of Sinde.
The London Navy and Military
Record goes on to cast doubt upon
Cambronne reply: "The Old
Guard dies, but never surrenders, /"
and Wellington's "Up, guards, and
at 'em," and proceeds to say that,
though both are SO good and
naturally characteristic, it is a
great pity they are not true .
There is no doubt, however. about
Grants: Il mean to fight it out on
this line if it takes all the summer, /"
a saying now imbedded in the
speech of Americans as typical
expression of dogged, uncompro-
missing persistence.
But battle epigrams, even when
genuine, the London military
paper considers, are not in7ariably
unpremeditated. It declares that
there is suspicion of self-con-
sciousness about Francis rs letter
after Pavia: "All is lost except
honor" Yet, perhaps, it we're
more charitable to regard it as an
impromptu and happy expression
Of an educated Frenchman. In
Napoleon's address to his army
before the battle with the Name
lukes there is an unmistakable
odor of midnight oil: "From the
SUBMITS of yonder, pyramids
twenty centuries look down upon
you" Still, the words deserve to
be remembered as striking sum
mary of highly dramatic situa-
ton.
Sometimes the rallying cry in
battle has been the name of some
single leader or patron saint, but
occasionally it took a more special
and defined significance. Emil
nently effective and appropriate
was that of the charging Huguen-
OTIS at Iyry, when Remember st.
Bartholomew" was passed from
man to mana politico-religious
sermon in three words. Sir John
Ashley's prayer in front Of his
troops at Naseby is in it's way in
comparable: ooh, Lord, Thou
knowest how busy [ must be this
day. If I forget Thee, yet do not
Thou forget me. March on, boysp
The daredevil words of Lord Car
digan, the leader of the Light
Brigade at BalakIava, when dash
ing forth on that awful charge,
were: Here goes the last of the
Cardigans." In an English hunt
ing field Cardigan admitted to the
writer of this article that he posi-
lively made use of this expression.
Nelson's observation at the COM
mencement of the battle of the
Nile, "a peerage of Westminster
Abbey" has become historical,
like everything else of Nelson's.
He never contemplated even the
possibility of defeat, but feared
death for himself. The only alter
native was whether his own recon-
pense should be a coronet or a
tomb.
William III. said funny thing
to the French Protestant refugees
at the Boyne-a saying which even
to-day lives in the lines Of an old
Prane song:
"God will be your King today,
And I will be General under"
On the spur Of the moment Com
modore Tatnall sent a racy mes
sage to the English Admiral
during the bombardment of the
Peiho forts. 1t breathes the
earnestness Of excitement and the
hearty comradeship of one sea-dog
offering his aid to another. But
it is SO full Of sound political phi
losophy that 1t has taken rank
among the aphorisms of Anglo
Saxon philosophy, and is one of
the most effective instruments in
maintaining good relations between
the United States and England.
If dafnac international Liocb;, -,