Page 127 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

io8 Possibilities of an

a source, not only of strength, but of irksome-
ness as well. Its analogue in our social con-
ditions is the marriage tie, — the strongest,
doubtless, of all bonds when it realizes in the
particular case the supreme affection of which
our human nature is capable ; but likewise, as
daily experience shows, the most fretting when,
through original mistake or unworthy motive,
love fails, and obligation alone remains.
Personally, I am happy to believe that the
gradual but, as I think, unmistakable growth
of mutual kindly feelings between Great Britain
and the United States during these latter
years — and of which the recent articles of Sir
George Clarke and Mr. Arthur Silva White in
u
the North American Review " are pleasant
indications — is a sure evidence that a common
tongue and common descent are making them-
selves felt, and are breaking down the barriers
of estrangement which have separated too long
men of the same blood. There is seen here
the working of kinship, — a wholly normal
result of a common origin, the natural affection
of children of the same descent, who have
quarrelled and have been alienated with the
proverbial bitterness of civil strife, but who all