Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 11, 1895 - Miscellanies, Volume III

THE ENGLISH ADMIRALS
cheers, and cried ' God bless the king ! ' Now, one
or two of those who were in the boat escaped, against
all likelihood, to tell the story. That was a great
thing for us ; but surely it cannot, by any possible
twisting of human speech, be construed into any-
thing great for the marines. You may suppose, if
you like, that they died hoping their behaviour would
not be forgotten ; or you may suppose they thought
nothing on the subject, which is much more likely.
What can be the signification of the word ' fame '
to a private of marines, who cannot read, and knows
nothing of past history beyond the reminiscences of
his grandmother ? But whichever supposition you
make, the fact is unchanged. They died while the
question still hung in the balance ; and I suppose
their bones were already white, before the winds and
the waves and the humour of Indian chiefs and
Spanish governors had decided whether they were
to be unknown and useless martyrs or honoured
heroes. Indeed, I believe this is the lesson ; if it is
for fame that men do brave actions, they are only
silly fellows after all.
It is at best but a pettifogging, pickthank business
to decompose actions into little personal motives,
and explain heroism away. The Abstract Bagman
will grow like an Admiral at heart, not by ungrate-
ful carping, but in a heat of admiration. But there
is another theory of the personal motive in these
fine sayings and doings, which I believe to be true
and wholesome. People usually do things, and
suffer martyrdoms, because they have an inclination
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