But man is a land animal. Landsmen
are many, while seamen are few; and though the sea is three times
bigger than the land it is three hundred times less known. History is
full of sea-power, but histories are not; for most historians know
little of sea-power, though British history without British sea-power
is like a watch without a mainspring or a wheel without a hub. No
wonder we cannot understand the living story of our wars, when, as a
rule, we are only told parts of _what_ happened, and neither _how_ they
happened nor _why_ they happened. The _how_ and _why_ are the flesh
and blood, the head and heart of history; so if you cut them off you
kill the living body and leave nothing but dry bones. Now, in our long
war story no single _how_ or _why_ has any real meaning apart from
British sea-power, which itself has no meaning apart from the Royal
Navy. So the choice lies plain before us: either to learn what the
Navy really means, and know the story as a veteran should; or else
leave out, or perhaps mislearn, the Navy's part, and be a raw recruit
for life, all thumbs and muddle-mindedness.
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