Page 129 - The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future

no Possibilities of an ;

departure from the normal in either direction is
never very great.
There is yet another noteworthy condition
common to the two states, which must tend to
incline them towards a similar course of action
in the future. Partners, each, in the great
commonwealth of nations which share the
blessings of European civilization, they alone,
though in varying degrees, are so severed geo-
graphically from all existing rivals as to be
exempt from the burden of great land armies
while at the same time they must depend upon
the sea, in chief measure, for that intercourse
with other members of the body upon which
national well-being depends. How great an
influence upon the history of Great Britain has
been exerted by this geographical isolation
is sufficiently understood. In her case the
natural tendency has been increased abnor-
mally by the limited territorial extent of the
British Islands, which has forced the energies
of their inhabitants to seek fields for action
outside their own borders; but the figures
quoted by Sir George Clarke sufficiently show
that the same tendency, arising from the same
cause, does exist and is operative in the United