THALASSA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1491, 13 July 1912, Page 9

THALASSA.

"The decent obscurity of a dead language" .is an , immortal- phrase. .Not few arc the occasions when an impressive 'effect may be created by the apt introduc- : Kon of three words of Greek or Latin. But "decent,"' .though no doubt 'anepithet of praise, doe 3 not convoy the ' iense of enthusiastic admiration; and the ■ dead" languages abound in living words, 'Which, quite apart-from their meaning, captivate' one by their sound. Such' a word, to my ear, is "Thalnssn"—infinitely niDi'o beautiful than the monosyllabic "Sea," or the- hopelessly prosaic "Salt Water,'.which is its strictest equivalent. Nay,'the word seems to carry its sense in its sound, and that btmse belongs to the very ' beginnings ' of . human Jii'e, when Earth was emerging out of chaos into the.forms and"aspects which we know. "The living, feeling, obsorving Child ,01. Nature, without deliberation, influencedonly by sensation or the imitative instinct, produces a sound to represent his conception; and this soiind, so originated, is instantly intelligible, by virtue of its natural force, .to a fellow-man, similarly organised, standing on the same step of nicntal development, and surrounded by precisely, the same, conditions,- circum'starices," and of : climatic influences.." This may, 'or. may. not,'be a' valid' theory oi'• 'liiigiiistic origins, and it has long afforded a fighting,'ground for ' . ( I'liose learn'd-philologists, .loye jto I'j: ;-cha«6 f ;''.'-' ,'•'': -'-r ' ! - ( 'U ''••','■'' : '!,: ,"■-' . J .. space > ! •fatart: ■it:'at;Kome;:,"rfM' , liuiit'-.'it 'iiii' ? the '■:■■ fiA-Wi<£i-;i?&iis* : i?\:' *■>;<& i'.,' ! .'i- ■ To Guilt, to''■ Greece;. and ' into ' Kbah'* r';;;Arkv:\—C ' ;<.?■-, I-'.; ';:; '-'.. i'-^'-.;- • .'.'•■B.iit/'.'pedantry'apart; 'there.',';",is':''soinje,thing . pieasanV.iri' the" '.thd.right" that; -ni ,'flhal-assa"."'Vd,'catch' an', echo,''of ':the ( Jrediterraiiean orthe.Eiixine; as ht breaks on"the pebbly 'beach,'.or' laitglts hnd;,foains rouiid" % tae:prow,'of 'The :single;Wi'dv'Thrilassai" as 'the. rapturous: iqry 'of'tpitWoi'A>':menf'whu seo 'at'length i the object .towards..which they have , been straining,'.'belongs ;to; 'one'of : tho iiob'lest' (jpiso'desin-history. , <ls it fanciful'to.siig-. gesf that , "thie.Sheroic-. memory' was- prethe mind of , the'■ "niighty'teuman" ,wKo penned'the , following'advertisement? '/"Sea' Officer, , witli exemplary'testimonials' and -unique experience 'in Eoyal Navy, and' 'Merchant Service, requires good, hard sea-work, anywhere, , but above all'.a good congenial, useful fighting job,, executive ,-or administrative,' or ".both: (fry'.shore billet, will' only be-accepted K)Jip : oMn'ly,'."aiid ; then-.6nly if'closely associated ;'with -arid leading: directljV to tho .sea, : rmoney : ; no.great object.'.' Persons in any . way whatsoever- connected .'with .-ignorant, indolent, futile, eo-called Peace Societies will, greatly oblige by NOT'communicating with !THALASSA,' etc."

SuTely this is eloquence, and of the most 'moving: kind. Would- that all human 'wishes- could be eo .easily granted, all human desires-so 'certainly- attained.! I ' cannot 'imagine- ■ anything less likely '. than that members' of-. "Peace Societies' I among whom the present writer, has; long been ■enrolled) will feel moved to communicate with; a "Sea Officer" who wants "a fighting job."; The mention of, the -Merchant ■.Service- might- indeed hnve. suggested more benignant notions, for the Argobas a .-.tradition -as gallant as- any Dreadnougat,! and . "each of' us- has a Golden Fleece to seek, and' a wild sea to Bail over ere we reach it." But tho'gentler associations of the Merchant Service 6eem in this case to have been ousted by the sterner, passions -of the Royal Navy. -Our "Sea Officer" will have no more to do with mere trade or travel. He is "out for fighting," arid, in the true spirit of, the born fighter, ho, tells -,us. that "money is no great object.":"'. Surely ..he- must have been-reading Kingsley, : and I am sure thaUKingsley .would have liked him. .

Tell us how our stout : Crusading fathers , Fought and died for-God,'and not for .' r-501d;. , ;-'--' ■;■■:■..'•■ .-y.v.;. ■ .. Let.their, love, ■ their faith, their boyish r daring, ■.'■'.':•■ ■'', • ■-■•■'., , •\ 'Distahce-mellowed,-gild the days of old. , Our' Sea Officer' ."requires, -abave all, ,a' good,,.congenial,-useful, fighting job." ■■Now here, in.my humble judgnient, we 1 touch' the, worst, 'attribute ,of the sea. Buskin describes, in. language.of his own, "the power, majesty, and dtathlessness of the open, deep,'illimitable sea"; but the sea has yet '..another.-and' a more characistic quality—it , .makes us warriors, even in ,'spito of ourselves.. Some ages and spnio races have disliked .the sea because it'is',treachoro'ijs"arid-_criie},' with, false smiles and. hidden' passions'; some because ij; is the symbol' and "instrument , of separation. Others for other reasons; I, be-, cause it is bellicose. _The very sight and smell of the sea incline the most pacific people to thoughts of war. Even a Quaker, if'you'sent'him out to sea on a quarter-deck of his own, would only too probably behave like Lieutenant Belaye in the famous balladLieutenant Belaye commanded tho gunboat Hot Cross Bun. - She was Kcven-and-si'vcnty feet in length, arixl sho carried a gun; • , And as ho was proud of hU gun—such pride is scarcely wrong,— The Lieutenant was blazing away at intervals all day long. As in nature, so in art. Painters seem to care nothing for the best-appointed liners, or tho richest merchantmen; except, incised, that accursed Slaver on which the greatest of sen-painters cinntied the_ vials of his auocalyptic wrath, and which lias now been nnnexnd by America. It is the same with Poetrv. Fonts—nnd T use the word dolil>»rnfely and in an exclusive. °en>:e^- Poet? ilo not, us n. ruin, pxpatinte on Fishing FlenU or Emicrant-shins or suchlike peaceful travellers on the ocean-highway, but on "tnwnring squadrons." nnrt bridling fir*?, and "the linstock lighting, ami the round shot■ bitine." and blood nnd <l<-ntli nnd victory. And. if the fen lias this stranse power over the men. of Art.-w]io«"> smi>'» ought to lift tbnm hiih above (li<r ruck of. human nature, it can do wo'l <vhat it likes with ordinary Hcs'i nnd blood.- The niprc. mention of the «a pet? nil our veins aglow with Hie Ire of fiehtiii!». We picture an ruomv n-h Pn wo cannot «ee him. and we., fanny that Hie rros' ■ gloriou; experience nf liuinan lifp, or death, would be to send hie warship

to the bottom. And the worst of it all is that the artists in form and colour combine with the artists in word and metro to quicken these ferocious passions, mid to make tho supreme evil appear tho chiefest good.' Is there a more glorious picture in tho world than i'he Fighting 'J'emerairc," a.s Turner saw her, towed to her Inst berth and battled in an atmosphero beautiful and serene ? As we gaze on her, we are blinded by her loveliness to all the ghastly scenes through which sho passed to her venown. Though she is drifting to her rest, she still bears about her the glamour of contest and victory, and the water and the sunset seem to be reeking with the blood-red glories of her aclh-e days. There's a' far boll ringing .At tho setting of tho sun, And a pliantom voice is singing Of the great days done. There's a far boll rinijin^, And phantom voice is singing, Of renown for ever clinging To the ' great days done.

■Now the summer breezes shiver, Tomeniire! Temeraire'!' And she's fading down the river", Temeraire! Temeraire! ■•• Now the slimmer breezes shiver, And she's fading down tho river, But in England's'song for: ever She's the Fighting Temeraire. I protest that I cannot read those words of Mr. Jsewbolt or gaze. upon Turner's masterpiece without a lnmp in my throat; and if the verbal or - painted'semblance of-a Battleship can thus injuriously affect a member of "ignorant, insolent, futile, so-called: Peace Societies." what chance is there for such as'"Thalassa," who have been brought in contact with the reality? • : Ruskin 'affirms that "the pensive farewell to- the , old Temeraire . was also "farewell to that order of things." By "that order of things" he -meant only a particular- kind of ship, and a particular mode of .'fighting. Would God we had also bidden • farewell to the insensate ambitions of. statecraft and diplomacy; to the greed of gain,, to., tho, madness of.: territorial expansion, and to all those "cruel and '..clamorous.-.-:jealousies of the nations" which, time out of mind, have incarnadined the multitudinous sea.—Rt. Hon. G. W. Jv. liiijsell, in. the "Manchester Guardian." I .... ■ ■,