Memories, by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord FisherFisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron
History
Memories, by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher
Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron
Admirals -- Great Britain -- Biography; Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron, 1841-1920; Great Britain. Royal Navy
Therefore, in view of the known steadfast German purpose, as always
unmitigatedly set forth by the German High Authority that it was
Germany’s set intention to make even England’s mighty Navy hesitate
at sea, it seemed to me simply a sagacious act on England’s part to
seize the German Fleet when it was so very easy of accomplishment
in the manner I sketched out to His Majesty, and probably without
bloodshed. But, alas! even the very whisper of it excited exasperation
against the supposed bellicose, but really peaceful, First Sea Lord,
and the project was damned. At that time, Germany was peculiarly
open to this “peaceful penetration.” A new Kiel Canal, at the cost
of many, many millions, had been rendered necessary by the advent of
the “Dreadnought”; but worse still for the Germans, it was necessary
for them to spend further vast millions in deepening not only the
approaches to the German Harbours, but the Harbours themselves, to
allow the German “Dreadnoughts,” when built, to be able to float. In
doing this, the Germans were thus forced to arrange that thirty-three
British pre-“Dreadnoughts” should be capable of attacking their shores,
which shallow water had previously denied them. Such, therefore, was
the time of stress and unreadiness in Germany that made it peculiarly
timely to repeat Nelson’s Copenhagen. Alas! we had no Pitt, no
Bismarck, no Gambetta! And consequently came those terrible years of
War, with millions massacred and maimed and many millions more of their
kith and kin with piercèd hearts and bereft of all that was mortal for
their joy.
QUEEN ALEXANDRA, LORD KNOLLYS, and SIR DIGHTON
PROBYN.
At the end of these short and much too scant memories of him whom Lord
Redesdale rightly calls in the letter I printed above
“_The best friend you ever had_,”
I can’t but allude to a Trio forming so great a part of his Glory.
Not to name them here would be “King Edward--an Unreality.” I could
not ask Queen Alexandra for permission either to print her Letters or
her Words, but I am justified in printing how her steadfast love, and
faith, and wonderful loyalty and fidelity to her husband have proved
how just is the judgment of Her Majesty by the Common People--“the most
loved Woman in the whole Nation.”
And then Lord Knollys and Sir Dighton Probyn, those two Great Pillars
of Wisdom and Judgment, who so reminded me, as they used to sit side by
side in the Royal Chapel, of those two who on either side held up the
arms of Moses in fighting the Amalekites:
“And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands,
The one on the one side, and the other on the other side;
And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”
Yes! King Edward’s hands were held steady till the setting of his sun
on May 6th, 1910, and so did he “discomfit his enemies by their aid.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account