Oct. 21. appears," wrote the man who was subsequently 10 become King William IV, "to be the merest boy of a. captain T ever Ieheld: and his dress was worthy of alton tion. He had on a full-laced uniform; his Yank, unpowdered hair was tied ina stiff Hessian "tail of extraordinary Yength; the old-fashioned Maps of his waistcoat added 10 the general quaintness of the gute, and produced an appearance which particularly attracted my notice; for T had never seen anything like it before, nor could T imagine who he was or what: he came. about. My doubts were, however. removed when Lord Hood introduced me' to him. There was, something irresistibly pleasing in his address when speaking on professional subjects, that showed he was not'n common being."
The "merest boy of a captain" was in fact a post captain at the age of twenty, and was awaiting promotion to flag rank which in those days came with seniority, He was Nelson who on this day in 1805. won that victory at Trafalgar which finally destroyed Napoleon's dream of invading Great Britain, and which ultimately paved the way for his complete defeat years later. He was the man who in the five-hour battle broke the allied French and Spanish navies, and gave Great Britain more than a century's command of the seas. Seven years before he had fought the battle of the Nile dispelling Napoleon's ambitions for the conquest of Egypt.
It is interesting when studying what sort of man this Nelson was to go back to the time when at the age of about sixteen years, when he was returning from the East Indies stricken in health, a trip which he made labouring under great depression, After a long and gloomy reverie in which T almost wished myself overboard, a sudden glow of patriotism was kindled within me, and presented my king and country as my: patron. My mind exulled in the idea, Well T exclaimed, 'I will be a hero and confiding, in Providence T will brave every dan-"He frequently spoke to his friends of the "radiant orb" which from that hour hung over before him and "urged him onward to renown." It is well in such days as these to recall what manner of man was this naval genius, a fighter of battles belonging to the race of Pyrrhus and the Prince of Conde, and especially to remember that selfless devotion to his King and country which animated Nelson throughout the whole of his life, Tt no mere whim of an immature boy which sot Nelson on the road to his glorious end, but the realization of duty by a mind remarkably mature for his years, Tt is of little use in days such as these to well overmuch on past victories, when such important ones have to be gained in the future, but reference to the man who died a manner so splendidly in keeping with his life is permissible. The story of this war as far as it has gone, has shown that the spirit which animated Nelson, still dwells in the British Navy, which in its various actions thas shown itself imbued with the Nelson tradition, In an arm of which he could not even have dreamt—the RAF.—the same glorious bravery is being demonstrated. The army is not one whit behind them, and lastly the civilian population of Great Britain is as clearly proving, as it proved 195 years ago, possession of that dogged determination to carry on against all odds until victory achieved. 'They all ave showing that' the heart of the British Empire is as sound now as it was then, and in these days of bitter struggle the manner in which the nation is carrying on, makes a Briton as proud of being irish as he was in those great days at the beginning of last century. Tt all arises from the devotion and loyalty of free men, firmly. determined that that freedom shall not be taken away from them, as contrasted with the brutish, unthinking servility with which they are opposed. And so long as the Nelson spirit animates the British people, so tong is they are prepared to do and dare ally as the great naval command was, to face odds and take risks where such are justifiable, there can be no fear of defeat. 'There never' has been since this war commenced for carly. reverses have failed to wea Nelson's nationals, but rather hav ed in strengthening that spirit of resistance which in time will sui naunt all obstacles, and bring peace again to Europe as it did over a century ago.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.