New-York tribune., 1920-07-11

md then began his great campaign fer
sne aexenF Fthentng Of the British navy.
~ !e0S he made his famous ROYAL
Acedenay speech. In which he said,
Vn the. British navy rests the Brit
iAA Empire. Nothing else Il of any
use without II, not even the army. We
are uihexent from Continental nations.
NO soldier Of ours can 70 anywhere
uniess sailor carries him on his
Save among pacitsts, ne was there
AFTER the most popular officer IN the
service. In 1908 he was commander
m-chief It Portmonth, and then sefor
nearly seven years was First Sea Lord.
~ which place he resnodelleti the an
tire naval service Of the British En-
pfre, "a strategy, IN tactics, and in the
actual details of operation Of ships and
guns, He retired in 1910. and IN tho
fall Of that year visited this country
to attend the marriage OF his son.
Cecil Vavasseur Fisher, to Miss Jane
Morgan. Of Philadelphia.
Clashed With Churchill
The outbreak Of the Great War found
nm n retirement and chairman Of the
Royal Commission on oil fuel He was
soon recalled to his former place "a
First Sea Lord, in place of Prince Louis
OF battenherg, and as such quickly
came to clash with Winston Spencer
Churchill, the First Lord Of the Ad-
naralty. with whose policy he disagreed
on almost every point. Az a conse-
quence of the differences between them.
Lord Fisher resigned his place as First
Sea Lord. in May, 1915, and presently
was made chairman of the inventions
board, while Mr.. Churchill retired from
the Cabinet and was succeeded by
Arthur j. Balfour. One Of Lord Fishers
chief points, of disagreement with Mr..
Churchill was over the disastrous CAL
lipoh expedition, which he disapproved
although he did not openly attempt to
veto it. He wanted instead to invade
the Baltic and land powerful expedi-
tion on the Pomeranian coast. He also
wanted to plant mines SO, thickly over
the. North Sea as to make it unnavi-
gable. The appointment Of Admiral
Lord Jellicoe to supreme command in
the North Sea was triumph for Lord
Fisher, for he had selected Jellicoe
expecfantly for that very place as far
back as 1909.
At the close of the war Lord Fisher
enhanced the gayety of nations, though
he also caused regret to his friends, by
printing q number Of racy, often eccen-
trio and sometimes injudicious letters
in the public press, and then by put
ting forward one Of the most extraor-
dinary volumes of Memories and
Records" that the world has ever seen
"a volume the contents of which fully
bear out the authors own statement,
that he made his way in life by kick
ing other peoples shins and brandish-
ing his fist in their faces.
In me Hf htc 1oftare ~ uTkn
Times" in September, 1919, he wrote:
"This letter is not to argue with
your leading article. 1t is only dashed
fools who argue. I never contradict
never explain. never apologize.
Those are the secrets of happy life"
Then, after declaring that the whole
British feet soon would be obsolete. he
continued:
"Was l wrong about the water tube
boiler, when the whole Of the expert
world was against me?
"Was l wrong about the turbine, when
| put it in dreadnought, when only
before it was. in a penny steamship
and experts called it box Of sticks?
Il Boast, Myself, a Little'
"Was I wrong about the battle
cruiser that sank Won Spec and all his
feet with its prodigious speed and big
guns?
"Was I wrong about the submarines,
when seven months before the war
described the sinking Of the Lusitania
by the Germans?
"Was | wrong to bring the feet from
the Mediterranean to the North Sea, in
humble imitation of Nelson, who said
your battle-ground should be your drill
ground?
"Did the fleet at Scapa Flow on Aug
ust 4, 1914, win the war or not: Every
vessel Of this line Of battle that was
there was conceived when was First
Sea Lord
II say. with St. Paul, boast myself
little. He was compelled; SO am I.
Seeing that many glory after the flesh,
! will glory also. Up to certain point
] suffer fools gladly, but am trustee
for no estate that is only going to have
three shiliings four pence IN the pound
left. 1t is time to kick"
A Letter to Tirpitz
Most amazing of all his utterances
was the latter which he wrote to sAd-
miral Won Tirpitz in 1915, upon hear