Page 177 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

158 The Future in Relation to

action. It is on the score of due preparation
for such an ultimate contingency that nations,
and especially free nations, are most often
deficient. Yet, if wanting in definiteness of
foresight and persistency of action, owing to
the inevitable frequency of change in the gov-
ernments that represent them, democracies
seem in compensation to be gifted with an
instinct, the result perhaps of the free and
rapid interchange of thought by which they
are characterized, that intuitively and uncon-
sciously assimilates political truths, and pre-
pares in part for political action before the
time for action has come. That the mass of
United States citizens do not realize under-
standingly that the nation has vital political
interests beyond the sea is probably true;
still more likely is it that they are not tracing
any connection between them and the recon-
struction of the navy. Yet the interests exist,
and the navy is growing ; and in the latter fact
is the best surety that no breach of peace will
ensue from the maintenance of the former.
It is, not, then the indication of a formal
political purpose, far less of anything like a
threat, that is, from my point of view, to be