There has been and there still is a dangerous ignorance of the importance of sea power, which modern historians seem to consider to "come by nature," as Dogberry thought writing and reading did; so that while they can find space for the minor details of our continental wars which were of small importance, they have been content to sum up our naval successes in a few words, as if they only affected our prestige or commerce. Mr. Lecky, who deals with this period, never even mentions Quiberon Bay or Lagos by name, though he has space to refer to the unimportant captures of Goree and Senegal. He is content to allude to "the succession of naval victories by Hawke, Boscawen, and Pocock who captured or destroyed nine-tenths of the ships of war of France, while her commerce was swept by innumerable privateers from every sea." When this is the view of the trusted historian of the eighteenth century, it is no wonder that the works of Captain Mahan came almost as a revelation to the maritime powers of Europe; and I shall be content if in this record of two distinguished naval officers, I have aided, however slightly, in awaking this country to a fuller recognition of the necessity for maintaining intact our national heritage-"The command of the sea." |