Page 230 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

Preparedness for Naval War. 2 1 1;

may be repeated, an insular power, dependent
therefore upon a navy.
Durable naval power, besides, depends ulti-
mately upon extensive commercial relations
consequently, and especially in an insular state,
it is rarely aggressive, in the military sense.
Its instincts are naturally for peace, because it
has so much at stake outside its shores. His-
torically, this has been the case with the con-
spicuous example of sea power, Great Britain,
since she became such ; and it increasingly
tends to be so. It is also our own case, and to
a yet greater degree, because, with an immense
compact territory, there has not been the dis-
position to external effort which has carried
the British flag all over the globe, seeking to
earn by foreign commerce and distant settle-
ment that abundance of resource which to us
has been the free gift of nature — or of Provi-
dence. By her very success, however, Great
Britain, in the vast increase and dispersion of
her external interests, has given hostages to
fortune, which for mere defence impose upon
her a great navy. Our career has been differ-
ent, our conditions now are not identical, yet
our geographical position and political convie-