menaced by an external enemy, it is my
opinion that you may count upon every man, every dollar, and every drop
of blood of your kindred across the sea."

The prediction came true in 1917, and traditional enmities were
extinguished in the crusade against a mutual and detestable foe. The
candid naval officer became Vice-Admiral William S. Sims, commanding
all the American ships and sailors in European waters, where the Stars
and Stripes and the British ensign flew side by side, and the squadrons
toiled and dared together in the finest spirit of admiration and
respect. Out from Queenstown sailed an American destroyer flotilla
operated by a stern, inflexible British admiral who was never known to
waste a compliment. At the end of the first year's service he said to
the officers of these hard-driven vessels:

I wish to express my deep gratitude to the United States officers
and ratings for the skill, energy, and unfailing good nature which
they have all so consistently shown and which qualities have so
materially assisted in the war by enabling ships of the Allied
Powers to cross the ocean in comparative freedom.

_To command you is an honor, to work with you is a pleasure, to
know you is to know the finest traits of the Anglo-Saxon race._

The United States waged a just war in 1812 and vindicated the principles
for which she fought, but as long as the poppies blow in Flanders fields
it is the clear duty, and it should be the abiding pleasure, of her
people to remember, not those far-off days as foemen, but these latter
days as comrades in arms.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Of the scores of books that have been written about the War of 1812,
many deal with particular phases, events, or personalities, and most of
them are biased by partisan feeling. This has been unfortunately true of
the textbooks written for American schools, which, by ignoring defeats
and blunders, have missed the opportunity to teach the lessons of
experience. By all odds the best, the fairest, and the most complete
narrative of the war as written by an American historian is the
monumental work of Henry Adams, _History of the United States of
America_, 9 vols. (1889-91). The result of years of scholarly research,
it is also most excellent reading.

Captain Mahan's _Sea Power in its Relation to the War of 1812_, 2 vols.
(1905), is, of course, the final word concerning the naval events, but
he also describes with