the accomplishment of that in one week was our object.
It was done in four days; and, notwithstanding the unexpected turn of
events afterwards, no military man will ever doubt that the achievement
was worth the price paid. It strengthened Britain's hand as nothing else
could have strengthened it. It gave us at the outset that unmistakable
lead which, in war as in a race, is of incalculable value to its
possessors."

And, the General might have added, as so many other writers have, that
no civilized and thinking men ever went more cheerfully and bravely to
their deaths, or earned more gladly the eternal reward of Duty
accomplished, than did _The Citizens_, the "raw levies," with their
stiffening of regulars, who fell at Portsmouth and Devonport. They were
not perfectly disciplined men, in the professional sense, or one must
suppose they would have paid some heed to General Sir Robert Calder's
repeated orders to retire. But they were British citizens of as fine a
calibre as any Nelson or Wellington knew, and they carried the Sword of
Duty that day into the camp of an enemy who, with all his skill, had not
learned, till it was written in his blood for survivors to read, that
England had awakened from her long sleep. For my part, if retrospective
power were mine, I would not raise a finger to rob those stern converts
of their glorious end.

It is easy to be wise after the event, but no Government could have
foretold the cynical policy adopted by Berlin. No one could have guessed
that the German Government would have said, in effect, that it was
perfectly indifferent to the fate of nearly three hundred thousand of
its own loyal subjects and defenders, and that Britain might starve or
keep them at her own pleasure. After all, the flower of the German Army
was in England, and only a Government to the last degree desperate,
unscrupulous, and cynical could have adopted Germany's callous attitude
at this juncture.

Britain's aim was not at all the annihilation of Germany, but the
freeing of her own soil; and it was natural that our Government should
have acted on the assumption that this could safely be demanded when we
held a great German army captive, by way of hostage. The British aim was
a sound one, and it was attained. That it did not bring about the
results anticipated was due to no fault in our Government, nor even to
any lack of foresight upon their part; but solely to the cynical
rapacity of a ruler whose ambition ha