Page 60 - The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future

Hawaii and our Future Sea Power. 41

tainous, broken country they may be very
many ; whereas in a plain devoid of natural
obstacles there may be few, or none save those
created by man. If few, the value of each is
necessarily greater than if many ; and if there
be but one, its importance is not only unique,
but extreme, — measured only by the size of
the field over which its unshared influence
extends.
The sea, until it approaches the land, real-
izes the ideal of a vast plain unbroken by
obstacles. On the sea, says an eminent French
tactician, there is no field of battle, meaning
that there is none of the natural conditions
which determine, and often fetter, the move-
ments of the general. But upon a plain, how-
ever flat and monotonous, causes, possibly
slight, determine the concentration of popula-
tion into towns and villages, and the necessary
communications between the centres create
roads. Where the latter converge, or cross,
tenure confers command, depending for impor-
tance upon the number of routes thus meeting,
and upon their individual value. It is just so
at sea. While in itself the ocean opposes no
obstacle to a vessel taking any one of the