Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/441

THE 17T11 OF OCTOBEK. 411 returned it to his chief, and at once decisively chap. XIII said, ' Sir, this leaves you no option.' L Where freedom of choice was thus wanting, blame could not be justly imputed. But as regards the dilemma in which Dundas was placed by Hamelin's visit on the morning of the engagement, a different opinion must be formed. It was, no doubt, plain that a want of concerted action on the part of the two allied fleets might have an ill aspect politically, and, in that way, become pernicious ; but Dundas seems to have thought that, because the avoid- ance of such a result was indeed a great object, he therefore must act as though it were of all things the greatest. There, he erred. Other than any blessing of such proportions as that, there was one which had descended to the England of that day from the England of greater times. The renown of our navy was a treasure unspeakably precious. By our whole people, and, above all, by an English admiral, it deserved to be guarded with jealous care; for, if it be cer- tain that the very life of England depends upon the strength of her navy, it is also true that the strength of her navy is in some sort dependent upon its sense of power; and again, that that sense of power must always depend in part upon the sacred tradition which hands down a vague estimate of the things our navy has done and the things it has failed to do. At the time I am speaking of, it was less than ever right that, for mere policv's sake, the v/arlike renowii of our