Page 94 - The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future
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The Isthmus and Sea Power. 75
fold abuses within to be corrected, manifold
miseries to be relieved. Let the outside world
take care of itself. Defend yourself, if attacked
;
being, however, always careful to postpone
preparation to the extreme limit of imprudence.
Sphere of influence/ 'part in the world/
4
'national prestige,' — there are no such things;
or if there be, they are not worth fighting for."
What England would have been, had she so
reasoned, is matter for speculation ; that the
world would have been poorer may be confi-
dently affirmed.
As the strength of Spain waned apace during
the first half of the seventeenth century, the
external efforts of Great Britain also slackened
through the rise of internal troubles, which
culminated in the Great Rebellion, and ab-
sorbed for the time all the energies of the peo-
ple. The momentum acquired under Drake,
Raleigh, and their associates was lost, and an
occasion, opportune through the exhaustion of
the great enemy, Spain, passed unimproved.
But, though thus temporarily checked, the
national tendency remained, and quickly re-
sumed its sway when Cromwell's mighty hand
had composed the disorders of the Common-
