Page 145 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

126 Possibilities of an

the preservation, advancement, and predomi-
nance of the race may well become a political
ideal, to be furthered by political combination,
which in turn should rest, primarily, not upon
cleverly constructed treaties, but upon natural
affection and a clear recognition of mutual
benefit arising from working together. If the
spirit be there, the necessary machinery for
its working will not pass the wit of the race to
provide and in the control of the sea, the benefi-
;
cent instrument that separates us that we may
be better friends, will be found the object that
neither the one nor the other can master, but
which may not be beyond the conjoined ener-
gies of the race. When, if ever, an Anglo-
American alliance, naval or other, does come,
may it be rather as a yielding to irresistible
popular impulse than as a scheme, however
ingeniously wrought, imposed by the adroit-
ness of statesmen.
We may, however, I think, dismiss from our
minds the belief, frequently advanced, and which
is advocated so ably by Sir George Clarke, that
such mutual support would tend in the future
to exempt maritime commerce in general from
the harassment which it hitherto has undergone