William Laird Clowes

“ As a critical naval historian, we have, I am afraid, no Englishman, either naval or civil, who approaches in accuracy, lucidity, and charm of style Captain A. T. Mahan, of the United States Navy. Another American naval historian who, however, is a civilian, has, it seems to me, shown a measure of intentional honesty and fairness which, unhappily, does not always characterise those British writers who have dealt with the same subject. I mean Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, the writer of the history of the war of 1812. ”

“ Nicolas began such a history, but lived to complete only two volumes of it.
So much for the failures to complete. The failures to satisfy are more numerous. I find that Schomberg and others fail because they are grossly and carelessly inaccurate. Brenton fails because he is prejudiced and injudicial. James partially fails because, although he is painstaking and, with few exceptions, fair, he is a chronicler rather than a historian; he does not sufficiently attempt to explain causes and motives; he does not adequately dwell upon results and deductions. ”

“ Those among us who have studied the subject at all have known the truth about these wars for many a long year, and although we may not be uniformly proud of the parts which Great Britain has played as against the United States, we have no reason for desiring the suppression of any one of the facts. Like all the great characters of history, nations have ever had their weaknesses and their shortcomings. ”

“ The task which my fellow-workers and I have undertaken is one full of difficulties and pitfalls. Some periods of our naval history are now comprehensively dealt with for the first time. Others, which have been dealt with over and over again, have been cobwebbed with myths and errors. I know not whether it be easier to compile new records or to remove the dust and defacement from old ones, but I know by experience that the labour, if conscientiously performed, is, in each case, such as few who have not attempted it can realise. ”

“ And for the benefit of him who cannot read while running, and who must halt and laboriously spell out the records of which he would know something, there are brief and popular general histories, not all free, perhaps, from inaccuracies of details, yet, for the most part, full and fair enough to impart a tolerably just impression of the share borne by these kings, statesmen, reformers and soldiers in the creation of the splendid social fabric in which we live. ”

“ Our greater historians deal very sparingly with those subjects. Many of them seem to have been deterred by an exaggerated estimate of the attendant difficulties, or by an impression that naval history is far too technical to be understood by lay people. Others have altogether failed to awaken to the importance of the matter, and have, by that very failure, convicted themselves of incompetence. ”

“ It has been our business to meet and vanquish these and other difficulties to the best of our ability, and we have spared neither time nor pains in searching for the truth. But the mass of material to be consulted is so colossal that errors of omission as well as of commission cannot but abound in a work like the present. ”

“ Having carefully surveyed what has been done, and having examined into the causes of failure, where failure or comparative failure has resulted, and into the causes of success, where success has been conspicuous, I have had certain convictions forced upon me. One is that a general naval history framed upon the scale of Nicolas's, is too huge for practical use. People will not now-a-days purchase a book in twenty volumes. ”

“ The contradictions to be found in two or more authorities, apparently of equal weight and equal trustworthiness, are often so serious and fundamental as apparently to defy reconciliation or explanation. ”

“ J. K. Laughton has said, "I am unhappily too well acquainted with the surpassing ignorance of the average young man." [1] And other professors of history, with whom I have communicated, fully bear out the lament of Professor Laughton. The general ignorance of the facts of modern British history is particularly insisted upon by all.
Yet, even if British students were in the habit of thoroughly digesting the ordinary British histories which are within their reach, they would still know little about the nature and services of the British Navy. ”

“ His education does not specially encourage him to study history, nor, during his active career, does he usually enjoy many opportunities for reading, still less for original research. The executive officer, therefore, who can ultimately, like Nicolas or Colomb in the British, or like Mahan in the United States Navy, free himself from the grooves of his professional vocation, and attain distinction in the new walk of life, must be a man of exceptional qualifications, and must always be a rara avis. ”

“ As for the popular historians, the compilers of school histories, text-books, and such-like, they have for the most part, and indeed almost without exception, bungled, where they have not shamefully scamped, the facts of our naval story. ”