JOHN BULL'S NAVAL VADE MECUM.
(Prepared for his use by the Authorities at the Admiralty.)
Question. Does not England possess the best possible fleet?
Answer. Certainly, and always has enjoyed that advantage.
Q. But do not the iron-clads comprising this fleet frequently turn turtle?
A. Assuredly. In fact, whenever they have the smallest opportunity.
Q. And do not the guns with which the ships are armed occasionally burst?
A. Not only occasionally, but frequently.
Q. And are not the commanders of the fleet sometimes guilty of errors of judgment?
A. To be sure, and sometimes these errors of judgment lead to absolute disaster.
Q. And are not the ships considerably undermanned and some of the companies of inferior material?
A. Quite so. In fact, when there is a special strain—manœuvres on a large scale, or for a kindred reason—crews have to be obtained from here, there, and everywhere.
Q. And is it not quite a question whether some dozen of our first-rate men-of-war are practically valueless?
A. Well, scarcely a question, because it is all but certain that they are practically valueless.
Q. And isn't there bullying in the Britannia, and a general laxity in the training of young officers to take important commands?
A. Yes, but this is a matter of small importance, as all naval officers are merely machines, and have no right to think or act on their own responsibility.
Q. And does not a commander-in-chief sometimes make a grave and obvious mistake, and do not all his subordinates, knowing the consequences, implicitly obey him?
A. Of course, for this is the rule of the service.
Q. And is it not a fact that the navy is in want of the appliances to repair ships that have suffered damage abroad?
A. Assuredly.
Q. And is not our officers' acquaintance with the characteristics of the sea rather indefinite and distinctly limited?
A. It is bound to be with defective charts and other false guides to naval knowledge.
Q. Then may it be justly assumed that we cannot count upon our ships, guns, and commanders?
A. Why, certainly.
Q. And yet you declare that England possesses the best possible fleet?
A. I do, and the little drawbacks I have admitted have no force in qualifying the assertion.
Q. Why have they not?
A. Because all the drawbacks exist in the piping times of peace, and consequently the British navy will prove its superiority in the more dangerous days of war.
