登陆注册
4719100000071

第71章

It had provoked conflicts, encouraged ambitions, and had lured some nations to destruction--as we know. He--man or people--who, boasting of long years of familiarity with the sea, neglects the strength and cunning of his right hand is a fool. The pride and trust of the nation in its Navy so strangely mingled with moments of neglect, caused by a particularly thick-headed idealism, is perfectly justified. It is also very proper: for it is good for a body of men conscious of a great responsibility to feel themselves recognised, if only in that fallible, imperfect and often irritating way in which recognition is sometimes offered to the deserving.

But the Merchant Service had never to suffer from that sort of irritation. No recognition was thrust on it offensively, and, truth to say, it did not seem to concern itself unduly with the claims of its own obscure merit. It had no consciousness. It had no words. It had no time. To these busy men their work was but the ordinary labour of earning a living; their duties in their ever-recurring round had, like the sun itself, the commonness of daily things; their individual fidelity was not so much united as merely co-ordinated by an aim that shone with no spiritual lustre.

They were everyday men. They were that, eminently. When the great opportunity came to them to link arms in response to a supreme call they received it with characteristic simplicity, incorporating self-sacrifice into the texture of their common task, and, as far as emotion went, framing the horror of mankind's catastrophic time within the rigid rules of their professional conscience. And who can say that they could have done better than this?

Such was their past both remote and near. It has been stubbornly consistent, and as this consistency was based upon the character of men fashioned by a very old tradition, there is no doubt that it will endure. Such changes as came into the sea life have been for the main part mechanical and affecting only the material conditions of that inbred consistency. That men don't change is a profound truth. They don't change because it is not necessary for them to change even if they could accomplish that miracle. It is enough for them to be infinitely adaptable--as the last four years have abundantly proved.

III.

Thus one may await the future without undue excitement and with unshaken confidence. Whether the hues of sunrise are angry or benign, gorgeous or sinister, we shall always have the same sky over our heads. Yet by a kindly dispensation of Providence the human faculty of astonishment will never lack food. What could be more surprising for instance, than the calm invitation to Great Britain to discard the force and protection of its Navy? It has been suggested, it has been proposed--I don't know whether it has been pressed. Probably not much. For if the excursions of audacious folly have no bounds that human eye can see, reason has the habit of never straying very far away from its throne.

It is not the first time in history that excited voices have been heard urging the warrior still panting from the fray to fling his tried weapons on the altar of peace, for they would be needed no more! And such voices have been, in undying hope or extreme weariness, listened to sometimes. But not for long. After all every sort of shouting is a transitory thing. It is the grim silence of facts that remains.

The British Merchant Service has been challenged in its supremacy before. It will be challenged again. It may be even asked menacingly in the name of some humanitarian doctrine or some empty ideal to step down voluntarily from that place which it has managed to keep for so many years. But I imagine that it will take more than words of brotherly love or brotherly anger (which, as is well known, is the worst kind of anger) to drive British seamen, armed or unarmed, from the seas. Firm in this indestructible if not easily explained conviction, I can allow myself to think placidly of that long, long future which I shall not see.

My confidence rests on the hearts of men who do not change, though they may forget many things for a time and even forget to be themselves in a moment of false enthusiasm. But of that I am not afraid. It will not be for long. I know the men. Through the kindness of the Admiralty (which, let me confess here in a white sheet, I repaid by the basest ingratitude) I was permitted during the war to renew my contact with the British seamen of the merchant service. It is to their generosity in recognising me under the shore rust of twenty-five years as one of themselves that I owe one of the deepest emotions of my life. Never for a moment did I feel among them like an idle, wandering ghost from a distant past. They talked to me seriously, openly, and with professional precision, of facts, of events, of implements, I had never heard of in my time;but the hands I grasped were like the hands of the generation which had trained my youth and is now no more. I recognised the character of their glances, the accent of their voices. Their moving tales of modern instances were presented to me with that peculiar turn of mind flavoured by the inherited humour and sagacity of the sea. I don't know what the seaman of the future will be like. He may have to live all his days with a telephone tied up to his head and bristle all over with scientific antennae like a figure in a fantastic tale. But he will always be the man revealed to us lately, immutable in his slight variations like the closed path of this planet of ours on which he must find his exact position once, at the very least, in every twenty-four hours.

The greatest desideratum of a sailor's life is to be "certain of his position." It is a source of great worry at times, but I don't think that it need be so at this time. Yet even the best position has its dangers on account of the fickleness of the elements. But I think that, left untrammelled to the individual effort of its creators and to the collective spirit of its servants, the British Merchant Service will manage to maintain its position on this restless and watery globe.

同类推荐
  • 寒松阁集

    寒松阁集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 郑史编年辑录

    郑史编年辑录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 开元释教录

    开元释教录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说大乘百福相经

    佛说大乘百福相经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 读通鉴论

    读通鉴论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 快穿之魔道小姐姐教你做人

    快穿之魔道小姐姐教你做人

    桑月是修仙界难啃的一块硬骨头,结果一时不慎,被一群老东西联手坑了,魂飞魄散之前,她绑定了一个女配委托系统,桑月眉头微挑,女配?我?呵呵,只做女主不做女配。系统:……行吧N个快穿故事,有无cp看剧情需要,大概率走无cpps:拒绝写作指导,谢谢理解
  • 毒王鬼妃

    毒王鬼妃

    简介:大婚当日,祖母离奇死亡,她被当庭休弃。不堪羞辱,她撞墙而亡,再次醒来,她成为了人人口中的夺命鬼女。何谓‘鬼女’?那就代表阎王来索命的,克夫克子克全家。既然如此,她不坐实了这名头,还真不行。一克父亲官运,父亲要做丞相了,家风不严。二克嫡女婚事,大姐要做新娘了,放荡成形。三克百子千孙,各房姨娘陷害了,假戏成真,一红花井水搞定!四克国运昌盛,天公作美降旱灾,将她祭天,封闭粮仓潇洒走人!就是这样的女人,已经让人躲闪不及,可是却又让人惦记上了。原因为何?要来齐国求娶的人正是与她有一样‘好’名声的毒王殿下。传言中,毒王全身是毒,一出生就毒死了父母,旁人不得靠近。传言中,毒王性情乖张,不喜欢看到女子,连杀好几任王妃。传言中.嫁过去,她才知道她的毒王夫君并不是如同外界传闻一般。她的夫君身子单薄,不仅身中奇毒,而且月圆之夜还需要童子血泡浴,压制那锥心之痛。而男子日益的宠溺与关怀让她放下戒备,其实有个妖孽老公也不错。片段:大婚当日,她大笔一挥,修书与休书一并备下。修书曰:无侍妾,无通房,下嫁。休书曰:三从四德,若有不从,自取休书离去。那孱弱的如同一张白纸的男人,终于在看到那两封书信之后,会心一笑。也不过是个小女生的心思,好好安置着便是了。只是他怎么也没想到,他一心想要安置的王妃招的桃花朵朵开。“王爷,三王爷来了,说是将院子全散了,为博王妃一笑!”“轰出去!”“王爷,世子爷来了,说是要抛家弃子,与王妃逍遥天下!”“抓起来!”“王爷,皇上来了,说是要遣散后宫,要独宠王妃!”“逼宫!”这一个个的,都瞎了吗?他才是正房,为了捍卫自己的地位,他决定死守严防。宠文一对一,求收!
  • 让心河绿水长流:最优美的散文(时文选粹)

    让心河绿水长流:最优美的散文(时文选粹)

    本书编入了百余篇优美的散文,文字优美,清丽婉转,读来如品一杯冒着热气的茶,让你在饮茶多时之后,仍然回味无穷。这些优美散文从生活的各种姿态、不同人的不同感想、或写实或遐想的剖面作为切入点,将文学的优美和文字的奇特展现无遗,一个个精彩片段的描写,引您进入奇异的殿堂,感受到生活的美,并以精简准确的慢调咖啡作为提示和点拨,让您在读完每篇优美散文之后都有思考和回味,如花瓣飘落一身,芳香久久不散。
  • 魔女难求

    魔女难求

    一朝重生,魔女归来,为了心中的自由定斩荆棘。错综迷离的权利,步步惊心的陷阱,此唯有信念不改。是温柔如水的公子,还是野心勃勃的世子?魔女难求!(第一次写书,新人新作,很多地方可能还有些不足,但这一定是个精彩的故事,作者还有很多脑洞等待分享,希望大家推荐推荐,收藏收藏,作者一定会尽全力去写的(??`ω??))
  • 甜妻难宠:老公,我要退货

    甜妻难宠:老公,我要退货

    【已完结!】离婚后的某天,她被他堵在酒吧厕所狭窄的空间里。“欢欢,你要对我负责。”“经过之前的相处,我对你的服务很是不满意,我已申请退货,法院也已受理。目前,你只是我的前夫。”“不满意?那就让我服务到你满意为止。”男人直接忽视了她的后半句话。她咬牙切齿的瞪着某个正为非作歹的男人,“冷少,我要将你上交国家。”“媳妇,清官难断家务事。”
  • 灵幻辰

    灵幻辰

    天下以枪械为尊,李肯以身体技巧为勇,求缘巧会中弹身亡却得到魂级枪械。碍不于展示,转而以开始自己不认同的以枪械为尊的方式称霸世界,最后战败而亡,重塑肉身。
  • 反派也妖娆

    反派也妖娆

    穿进千万字玛丽苏长文里,与女主讲和失败,该怎么办?乐瑶表示她很有经验,不就是当大反派陈玄灵吗,她锄头挥得熟,挖男主,挖男配,挖灵药,挖灵兽……就问你女主薛婉离害怕不害怕?哈,我乐瑶版陈玄灵,坏得专业,坏得掉渣!
  • 偶谭

    偶谭

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 慈禧全传之伟大的统治者慈禧太后(第三部)

    慈禧全传之伟大的统治者慈禧太后(第三部)

    我到达中国开始在《香港孖剌西报》的工作时,义和团运动已经发展到顶峰了。从外国记者和中国沿海居民的口中,我常常可以听到诸如“慈禧太后是个嗜杀成性的老泼妇”或“慈禧太后是一个杀人女魔王”的话语。时代在不断变革中前进。近年来,我常常从美国人口中听到对慈禧的赞美。美国人毫不吝啬地给予慈禧太后以热情的赞美,我承认,我并不能解释清楚其中的缘由,但是这并不能否认欧洲人对慈禧太后的厌恶。
  • 骗局

    骗局

    一部中国式的《阴谋与爱情》,一部现实版的《楚门的世界》,一部男人版《回家的诱惑》,一部演绎情场与商场的“现形记”。