THE SCHOOL OF NELSON, Drrazwo the last few weeks we

have heard a great deal about the best methods of naval education. Lord Selborne's Memo-

• Nelson and his Captains. By W. H. Fitchett. London ; Smith, Elder, and Co. [6e.j

randum has given rise to so much discussion that it may seem well-nigh impossible to throw any new light on the subject. But it is an old and good saying that an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory, and the latest of the fascinating volumes which Dr. W. H. Fitchett devotes to the glory and

praise of England comes opportunely to remind us how our old sea-dogs were trained in the school of Nelson. This book, in which Dr. Fitchett breaks new ground—or, one 'should rather say, cleaves new waters with the "proud full sail" of

his vigorous and spirit-stirring narrative—consists of a series of biographical sketches of Nelson, " the greatest sailor since the world began," and of the captains who aided him to per- form those magnificent achievements which saved England —and indeed Europe —from the overshadowing threat of Napoleon's world-Empire. It is a delightful volume, full of the romance and glamour of the sea, and no better gift could be found for an adventurous boy; but it is rather in its bearing on the question of naval education that we intend to con- sider it.

The main thing which occurs to the reader of these stirring pages is that all Nelson's officers were trained, like himself, at sea and on shipboard. Not for them were the advantages of scientific schools and naval Training Colleges. Each of them was sent to sea as a mere child. Sir William Parker, who was only eleven years old when by a lucky chance he found him- self in the midst of the great battle of " the glorious First of June," is as good a specimen as any :—

" Here is an English boy of an ordinary type, without shining gifts of brain or body. He is a clean-minded lad, because he has breathed from his birth the atmosphere of a pure home. Good family traditions act upon him like a tonic. He is the nephew of the man who won the great fight off Cape St. Vincent. At an age when most modern lads have hardly begun their school life, he is put on the quarter-deck of a man-of-war. The sea is his world; the ship is his school. His comrades are seamen, his officers are his teachers, war is his business. They are not the dull days of peace through which he lives. Each new morning may bring a new chase, a fresh adventure, a rich capture. It is the navy in the days of Nelson, of the Nile, of Copenhagen, of Trafalgar."

In a kind of introductory chapter Dr. Fitchett gives an

admirable summary of the influences which were at work on the " sucking Nelson,"—influences of serious import, springing from the constant contact with life in its most earnest

aspects :—

"The training of a middy depended very much on the accident of his captain's character and temper ; for the captain was half father and whole pedagogue to all his middies. And to their credit be it said, the captains of that period did not often fail in a wise, if rough, kindness towards the boys in the middies' cabin. But the ship itself was, for the middy of that period, a school, with lessons always in progress. Every flaw in the wind, with its accompanying shift of canvas, was a lesson. The changes of the watch, the.daily reckoning, the disciplined routine of work, every incident of the cruise—the pursuit, the boat attack, the capture all this was, in the best sense, an education. The middy of that day was not given a set of book lessons to be learnt by rote ; he was drilled through every waking hour in practical things to be done ; and on the doing of which hung the safety of the ship, the honour of the flag, and the life and death of men."

(We may note in passing that a very excellent picture of the way in which such a training was able to convert " the fool of the family " into a sensible and trustworthy man is drawn in Marryat's best story, Peter Simple.) As a specimen of the kind of adventure in which the middy of

the Napoleonic Wars found his training, we may quote Dr. Fitchett's elchilsrating account of the exploitiof a lad named A'Court, who was sent ashore at St. Domingo to collect sand for the use of his ship. Fighting was not contemplated by his commander; but young A'Court, with a boy's hopefulness of "something turning up," smuggled half-a-dozen muskets into his boat. Sure enough, in the dusk of evening the boat came across a French schooner lying becalmed. She carried six guns and forty soldiers in addition to her crew:-

"A'Court, with his eight men and six muskets, at once swung round to attack the Frenchman. With uncanny skill the lad kept his boat in the wake of the enemy, so that only the stern guns could be fired at him. The muskets of the Frenchmen shot down two of A'Court's tiny crew, but with the six survivors the lad tumbled amongst the schooner's crew, drove them all below, the forty French infantry included, and carried off his prize in triumph to the Blanche ! The detachment was under the command of a colonel who had distinguished himself at Arcole When asked why he and his detachment sur- rendered to a boy and six seamen, the Frenchman answered, with a shrug and a sigh, that `it was all owing to ma/ de mer,' no doubt an entirely adequate explanation! There is a strain of the absurd in this story, yet what an almost impish pluck it argues in both officer and men." • • '

We do not at all doubt that the historian of our next great naval war will have to record equally amazing incidents per- formed by the young officers who will 'direct our torpedo-boats and destroyers. Nor is he likely to. contradict the lesson of the great blockades of the Napbleonic Wars,—that the blockading force gained daily in skill and hardihood, whilst both disappeared amongst the seamen who were idly cooped up in harbour. To return to our theme, we may quote another passage in which Dr. Fitchett points out why the naval man, even in days when his profession debarred him from the ordinary opportunities of education, was usually a most intelligent and self-reliant fellow :—

" Their profession trained them ; they were constantly wrestling with nature—fighting the sea, battling with the winds, finding their way across the trackless ocean—as well as contending with human enemies. They had to refit, and sometimes almost to rebuild their ships, as well as sail and fight them. The captain of a frigate or of a '74 was practically the ruler of a little king- dom ; and he learnt all the arts of government.. He knew men. He became, more or less unconsciously, an expert administrator, a diplomatist. And where such a captain was, by gift of nature, quick-minded and reflective, his profession developed in him a power, both of managing affairs and of governing men, of a very high order."

That is why, as we have often pointed out, in the present day the Navy is comparatively safe from any attack of that " dry rot" which infects an army in peace-time. You cannot put off a storm with the argument that things would go all right in war, or "muddle through" a cyclone. Of course, it must be remembered that naval conditions have changed greatly in a century. Our ships have become great boxes of machinery, which need a more scientific training •to handle efficiently than was the case with the old 'Temeraire: Yet the essentials are the same as in Nelson's day, and Dr. Fitchett's book is invaluable for its insistence on the overwhelming im- portance of actual sea-training for the successful naval officer. It is as readable as any novel, too, and should inculcate its useful lesson on many who would never take the trouble to read the books of Captain Mahan or Admiral Colomb. "Truth em- bodied in a tale " is always welcome, and this—as so much else—we owe to the unique talent of Dr. Fitchett.