The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-14
HATTIE EPIGRANIS.
Famous Phrases Used by Command
yrs of Many Countries.

yrs of Many Countries.
From London Naval and Military Record.
The origin of a considerable number ri
vivid phrases and memorable uterances
can be attributed to the rush Of battle,
Some are apocryphal, and may have been
manufactured after the event; others arr
only correct in substance. and have IN
| dergoue revision. But if the process Of
sub-editing. as it were. has resulted in inn
proving the phraseology. without altering
| the sense of obscuring the essential point,
it would SAVIOR Of hypercriticism to object
to it as a hlemish.
An 'ilustra ton of this is to he found in
the case of the famous signal at Trafalgar.
It's popular form is england expects that
every man this day will do his duty
There is sull some controversy upon the
point, but it is certain that these are not
the precise words used. They have. in
fact been expanded TO meet the metrical
| exigencies of Braham's song. No matter:
it is enough for us to know that the kerr
| mel is there This was spontaneous
| episram but ii has achieved immortality,
| 1t has grown into a national Watchword.
not merely because of its association with
a great and a splendid victory, but also
because it embodies a sermon on conduct
and patriotism in terms so pithy and SO
pointed that no professional rhetorician
| could have bettered them.
There is a proud ring Of triumph IN Com
| modore Perry's despatch to his govern
ment otter the capture of the British flo
| tilla on Lake Erie: I'VE have met the en-
| envy and they are ours" Intensely pa
| thetic on the other hand, are The dying
| words of Capt. Lawrence. on board the
| Chesapeake spoken at the very moment
| when his flag was being hauled down TO
| the Shannon. Yet Don't give up the
| ship!' would make noble motto for the
| navy of the United States. Perry's mes
sage reads almost like an echo of the
| "Veni Vidi, Weir of Julius Caesar, nut
| both are eclipsed by the single punnlng
word. "Peccavi," in which Sir Charles Ma
| pier announced the conquest OF Sclnde
| Among those sayings of more than doubt
| ful authenticity which it seems impossi-
| BILE to dislodge from popular favor one
| stands prominent on either side in the ira
| ditions of Waterloo. -
| Cambronne's mythical reply; Inc GA
| Guard dies but never surrenders, STANDS
| balanced by thu equally imaginary order
| attributed to Wellington of up GUARDS,
| and at EN- Yet both are so good ana
| so nationally characteristic as to make Il
| a pity that they are not true. cen cTfdht 5
| reply to the remonstrances respecting the
| prolonged campaign before Richmond. II
| mean 10 fight it out on this line If IL
| takes all summer" has been adopted by
| his countrymen and embedded in their
| speech as the typical expression OF dogged'
| uncompromising persistence
But battle epigrams, even when genuine
| are not invariably unpremeditated. There
| is a suspicion of self-consciousness about
| Francis rs letter after Pavja: "All is lost
| EXCEPT honor" Yet perhaps Ii We're more
| charitable 10 regard it as real impromp-
| tn bearing the educated Frenchman's hap
| py turn of expression. There is, however,
| an unmistakable odor of the lamp in the
| address of Napoleon TO his army before
| the battle with the Mameukes: From
| the SUBMITS of yonder pyramids twenty
| centuries look down upon you" Sttll the
| words deserve to be remembered as a
| striking summary of highly dramatic
| situation. Usually the rallyjng cry In bat
| tie has been the name of some single lead
er or patron saint, but sometimes 1t took
| a more special and defined significance
| Eminently effective and appropriate was
| that of the charging Huguenots at Irvy,
| when Remember ST. Bartholomew was
| passed from man to mana politico-relig-
| ious harangue in three words. Sir John
| Astley's prayer in front of his troops al
| Naseby is, in its way, Incompatible: "Oh
| Lord Thou knowest how busy / must be
| this day. If | forget Thee. yet do not
| Thou forget me. March on, boys" In re-
| markable contrast, and typical. il may be
not less on the age than on the man, are
| the daredevil words of the leader of the
| Light Brigade at Balaklava: Here goes
the last of the Cardigans."
| The observation recorded of Nelson at
| the commencement of the battle Of the
| Nile, "a peerage or Westminster Abbey,
| has become historical, like everything else
of his 1t is characteristic that he never
contemplated even the possibility of de-
feat Victory was to be inevitable, and
the only alternative was whether his own
recompense should be a coronet or A
tomb. william Hrs words to the French
Protestant refugees al the Boyne still live
in the lines of an Orange song:
God will be your king to-day,
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 sfnessa sc
of the American Commodore Tattnall ID
the English admiral during the lombard
| ment of the Peiho forts. 1t was made
on the spur of the moment 1t breathes
of the earnestness of excitement and the
hearty comradeship Of one sea dog offer
ing his aid to another. But II is so preg-
nant with sound political philosophy that
IT has taken rank as an aphorism of An
| glo-Saxondom, and among the most ef-
| fectiVe instruments in maintaining 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 continents
Blood IS thicker than water"