![]() ![]() ![]() The price of achievement is constant effort. Not that our navy is at all corrupt or lacking in good judgment, but it may suffer from false notions instilled into the minds of our Congressmen by an easy success. Yet the British acquired convictions of their invincibility which made them the easy prey of American seamen in the war of 1812. Success came only through the entire inadequacy of the other side. The great triumph of the British navy under Nelson was achieved when the naval administration was utterly corrupt, and the whole system of promotion formed a bitter grievance. Let us hope that self-confidence over our victories may not lead us to early disaster. We have only to imagine the situation if a Northern port had been attacked by a good-sized fleet, while our whole effective navy was off the coast of Cuba, to obtain some idea of what might have been our condition in a contest with a maritime country. In the next place, our ships were never even severely tested, as they would have been against a stronger foe with greater staying power. Military prowess passed away from Spain many years ago, and her organization to manage the modern ship, composed principally of machinery, is wretchedly deficient. In the first place, we must not forget that our enemy was so weak and unprepared that it seems almost pitiful to glory over him. It will not be safe to draw too many lessons from the results. The ships did their work so quickly and with such precision that we are likely to be led into erroneous conclusions, if the conditions which made their victories possible are not very carefully studied. ![]() THE success of our navy in the war now happily concluded is only what we had reason to expect, considering the difference between the resources of the two countries and the qualities of the men engaged on the two sides. ![]()
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