My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleyhappiness in the longer range of experience. Even disaster in great spheres hassometimes opened to me a vista of knowledge and achievement I would neverotherwise have known.After the little world of boyhood sport I should never have continued boxing when Igrew up; a reluctantly developing appreciation of my capacities would soon have ledme to the conclusion that a head like mine was not for bashing. But internationalfencing, representing Britain in sport and entering into the camaraderies of the greatsalles d'armes throughout Europe was a joy of my manhood, and in my intellectualmaturity gave me some sense of the fullness of life in the Hellenic gymnasium; et egoin Arcadia vixi.That life began at Winchester. Every afternoon was an escape into another world, thecompany of the regular army. By far the most potent influences in my young life wereSergeant-Major Adam and Sergeant Ryan; the latter in charge of boxing and theformer of fencing. No schoolmaster had anything like the effect on me which wasexercised by this remarkable pair. They were products of the regular army, to which Ihad always been attracted from childhood. It had never occurred to me to be anythingelse than a soldier. Now I was in daily contact with a fine expression of the spirit Ihad admired from afar, and began to absorb the attitude to life which has stood me ingood stead in many different circumstances and countries. This Haltung, as theGermans call it, is indefinable, but you know it when you see it. It is one of mydeepest convictions, which time has never eradicated, that no man can have a betterstart in life than the regular army.It is true that I did not continue in the profession of arms, for reasons stated to mewith his customary lucidity by F. E. Smith when as a very young man I first met him.He had a remarkable gift, often present in men of outstanding talents, of bridging thegulf of generations by talking to the young as a contemporary would. He said: 'If youwere a Frenchman or a German your profession would clearly be the army, because inthose countries it is the great profession. In England it must, of course, be politics orthe Bar, or both.' The same point was put from a more professional angle by thebrilliant C.I.G.S. Sir Henry Wilson to new arrivals at the Staff College during theperiod when he was a senior instructor. General Fuller told me how discouragementwas tempered by entertainment at the opening words of the first lecture: 'Our funnylittle army has six divisions. Why has our funny little army got six divisions? Nobodyknows, and nobody cares.'The army was small, but perhaps by very reason of its limited size was composed ofan elite which was at least the equal of any in the world. Even prejudice does notimpel me to put it any higher, because now we are becoming Europeans we mustlearn not to brag in a fashion disagreeable to the ears of future partners. Never say, forexample, as English politicians continually do, that Britain will lead Europe; sayrather that Britain will play a vital part within Europe; in these large affairs he doesmost who boasts least. I will content myself with the claim that the British army hasnever had any superior. Yet I admit in the company of Sergeant-Major Adam andSergeant Ryan I might as a boy have been tempted to any hyperbole, which theirmodesty would have deprecated.There was no time wasted in talk on arrival at the gymnasium. Ryan would snatch you28 of 424