amed for its horrors. History clearly declares
the contrary, and shows that the only role of armies and navies
has been to wage wars, and, by waging, to finish them.

It may be well here, in order to clear away a possible preconception
by the reader, to try and dispel the illusion that army and navy
officers are eager for war, in order that they may get promotion.
This idea has been exploited by people opposed to the development
of the army and navy, and has been received with so much credulity
that it seriously handicaps the endeavors of officers to get an
unbiassed hearing. But surely the foolishness of such an idea would
promptly disappear from the brain of any one if he would remind
himself that simply because a man joins the army or navy he does
not cease to be a human being, with the same emotions of fear as
other men, the same sensitiveness to pain, the same dread of death,
and the same horror of leaving his family unsupported after his
death. It is true that men in armies and navies are educated to
dare death if need be; but the present writer has been through
two wars, has been well acquainted with army and navy officers for
forty-five years, and knows positively that, barring exceptions,
they do not desire war at all.

Without going into an obviously impossible discussion of all naval
wars, it may be instructive to consider briefly the four naval
wars in which the United States has engaged.

The first was the War of the American Revolution. This war is
instructive to those who contend that the United States is so far
from Europe as to be safe from attack by a European fleet; because
the intervening distance was frequently traversed then by British
and French fleets of frail, slow, sailing ships, which were vital
factors in the war. Without the British war-ships, the British
could not have landed and supported their troops. Without the French
war-ships the French could not have landed and supported their
troops, who, under Rochambeau, were also under Washington, and
gave him the assistance that he wofully needed, to achieve by arms
our independence.

The War of 1812 is instructive from the fact that, though the actions
of our naval ships produced little material effect, the skill,
daring, and success with which they were fought convinced Europeans
of the high character and consequent noble destiny of the American
people. The British were so superior in sea strength, however,
that they were able to send th