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MAJOR ISSUES BULLETIN |
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Wave the FLAG and if the FRENCH don’t like it they can catch the EUROSTAR home from WATERLOO
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DAILY MAILThursday. June 23, 2005
Let’s celebrate this victory. If the French don’t like it, they can go home on the Eurostar – from WATERLOO.
by
Max Hastings
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Lord Nelson expects…a decent naval review
Admiral Sir Alan West, First Sea Lord and head of the Royal Navy, is a fine sailor and uncommonly nice man, who had a frigate sunk under him in the Falklands War.
This week however, he has caused generations of sea dogs to turn in their graves.
Describing next week’s grand Fleet Review, he said:
‘I don’t want a great triumphalist thing for the Battle of Trafalgar.’ * That’s not the point of it.
Trafalgar is a fact of history, but this is a wonderful opportunity for defence diplomacy.
Thus at Spithead, for this 200th anniversary, rival tall ships which enact a naval battle of the Napoleonic period (or as we prefer to call it, the Nelsonian period) will be tactfully depicted as the Red and Blue Fleets, rather than the English and French/Spanish.
An English admiral will fall to a musket ball, but the outcome will assuredly be deemed a draw.
France is a modern ally. With President Chirac’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in attendance, it would never do to rub French noses in little embarrassments a couple of centuries old.
Tyrant
Recalling Tony Blair’s apology for the Irish famine a few years back, it would not be surprising if he chose this moment to tell the French and Spanish how deeply he regrets the fact that misguided English tars spoilt their fleet in 1805, destroying ten French and ten Spanish ships. Compensation might be discussed. A service of reconciliation could be arranged.
I mean, you know, even the word ‘victory’ sounds hopelessly not 21st century, doesn’t it?
It seems to echo the sentiments attributed to Genghis Khan eight centuries ago:
‘The greatest happiness is to vanquish your enemies, to chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth, to see those dear to them bathed in tears, to clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.’
Nowadays, we are supposed to have got past all the barbaric stuff, to go to counselling rather than seek triumphs over our enemies; to make our servicemen peacekeepers rather than warriors; to ship them smartly off to the Old Bailey if they put a step wrong in Iraq.
New Labour’s approach to history is either to pretend that it does not exist, or to aerosol it into a non-partisan blur.
Yet if ever there were an anniversary, which deserves to be celebrated without inhibitions, it is England’s – for few then said ‘Britain’s’ – victory at Trafalgar.
Since the 19th century, some strange English people, as well as the entire French nation, have continued to admire Napoleon Bonaparte.
In truth, of course, he was a tyrant who brought greater misery and bloodshed to Europe than any before Hitler.
It is neither here nor there that he was a military genius who ruled France efficiently and that the Bourbon monarchs who followed him were sorry creatures.
Bonaparte was an absolutist who sought personal glory and European domination, and was prepared to destroy all who stood in his way.
When William Pitt declared towards the end of his life:
‘England has saved herself by her exertions and will, as I trust save Europe by her example’
He spoke no less than the truth. I admire Andrew Roberts as a historian, but I was dismayed by his recent book comparing Wellington and Bonaparte. Nowhere did he mention the obvious distinction:
Wellington was the servant of a Constitutional monarch,While
Bonaparte was a Dictator who killed his opponents without scruple.
Wellington and Nelson played glorious and critical roles in saving Europe from French domination, the principal aim of British foreign policy for almost three centuries.
The truth is that it is the French who should be embarrassed today. They continue to revere as their greatest hero a Corsican tyrant whose purposes were unfailingly selfish and base.
The British beat breasts about our alleged historic shortcomings – our empire notable among them – with an enthusiasm that bewilders other nations.
The shelves of every bookshop in the land are stacked with works that pick over the sores of our past misdeeds.
There is even a row when Our Island Story, a splendid Edwardian celebration of British achievement, is republished in a new edition.
Bitterness
By contrast, France is the only major participant in World War II never to have published an official history. Even Germany has done this, with exemplary fairness and scholarship. Yet the modern French state still cannot bring itself to address its failures and humiliations of the 1939-45 period.
A few years ago, a French intellectual said to me:
‘To understand our two nations you must understand that the French are accustomed to fail, while the British are accustomed to succeed.’
I said that it often did not always seem so to us. He responded by reciting the catalogue of French defeats and disasters in their wars of modern history – most of course, at British hands.
French bitterness towards the Anglo-Saxons is a fact of life. A Frenchman has recently published a book about his country’s anti-Americanism. It seems both undignified and futile to seek to appease French rancour, especially about an event as remote from us today as Trafalgar.
The history is indisputable:
Bonaparte wished to invade and conquer England, the most substantial threat to his hegemony over the Continent.
Masterly
At the time of Trafalgar, the emperor had temporarily turned his attentions to the Russians and Austrians, whom he crushingly defeated at Austerlitz on December 2, 1805.
There is little doubt that he would have resumed operations against England had not the French and Spanish naval power been broken by the Royal Navy on October 21-1805.
Nelson fought his great battle in pursuit of the freedom of England. It represented a triumph of seamanship and fighting power of the Royal Navy, in a just cause. How could any of us fail to have pride that we are descendants of the men who achieved such great things?
Yet all sorts of people who should know better continue to shrink.
N.A.M. Rodger, author of a masterly recent history of the Royal Navy, writes ruefully: ‘It is many years since British historians have felt comfortable in celebrating their country’s triumphs…No modern university historian could possibly write the life of a famous hero and hope to preserve his reputation, unless he destroyed that of his subject.’
The success of Rodger’s most recent volume, which culminates with Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, suggests that the British public is ready for a new attitude, shrugging off the baggage of Euro-correctness.
If the bands of the Royal Marines do not play Rule Britannia! Under the bows of the Charles de Gaulle next week [Tuesday 28th June] then somebody in charge is missing the point of the Fleet Review. There is a time for soft soap and a time simply to wave the Union Jack, clap each other on the back and say:
‘Didn’t we do well then, 200 years ago?’
And if the French don’t like it, they can catch the Eurostar home from
WATERLOO
* * * JUNE/05
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The abolition of Britain * Veteran parliamentarian TONY BENN speaks of the absolute necessity of a REFERENDUM HEAR HIM ON http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=o0I-ZdvQz1o *
13th October,2007
So You Want Out Of The EU
THEN WHY NOT SIGN THE RENUNCIATION of EU CITIZENSHIP http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/OptoutDetails from petition creator With the signing of the Maastricht Treaty the people of Britain were given DUAL CITIZENSHIP -both EUROPEAN and BRITISH The extra tier of citizenship was thrust upon the people without their consent -and in many cases knowledge. The PEOPLE of GREAT BRITAIN should be allowed the option of opting out of the EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP if they so wish. The GOVERNMENT will then be able to provide those who have opted out with BRITISH DOCUMENTATION -only such as British (not EU) passports, driving licences and other national documents. EU laws will also NOT APPLY to those who HAVE OPTED OUT OF EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP
[PETITION OPEN UNTIL OCTOBER 08]
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[Latest Addition - June07] * * *
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Daniel Hannan - Forming an OPPOSITION to the EU
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VOTE MAY -2007
WITH THE ONLY PARTY WITH A MANDATE TO SET YOU FREE
THE UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY
TO RECLAIM YOUR DEMOCRACY DON'T VOTE FOR THE TRIPARTITE PARTIES IN WESTMINSTER BUT SMALL PARTIES THAT SPEAK THEIR MINDS WITHOUT SPIN AND LIES. *
ONLY WILL BRING DEMOCRACY BACK TO THE ENGLISH PEOPLE * WHY NOT
* MAY/07
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