Page 136 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

Anglo-American Reunion. 117

repelling those whom they seek to convince.
They are clear, plain, business-like proposi-
tions, based upon indisputable reasons of
mutual advantage, and in the case of the
former quickened, as I have the pleasure of
knowing through personal acquaintance, by a
more than cordial good-will and breadth of
view in all that relates to the United States.
Avoiding criticism of details — of which I have
little to offer — my objection to them is simply
that I do not think the time is yet ripe. The
ground is not prepared yet in the hearts and
understandings of Americans, and I doubt
whether in those of British citizens. Both
proposals contemplate a naval alliance, though
on differing terms. The difficulty is that the
United States, as a nation, does not realize or
admit as yet that it has any strong interest in
the sea; and that the great majority of our
people rest firmly in a belief, deep rooted in
the political history of our past, that our ambi-
tions should be limited by the three seas that
wash our eastern, western, and southern coasts.
For myself, I believe that this, once a truth,
can be considered so no longer with reference
even to the present — much less to a future so