UNITED STATES FLEET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 130, 25 February 1908, Page 7

UNITED STATES FLEET.

AUSTRALIA'S INVITATION. . dt i£i,ECßArn—rr.ESs association—copyright, Melbourne, February 24. It transpires that Mr. Deakin, in December last, wrote to the Hon. Whitelaw Rcid, Americau Ambassador to the .Court of Jaiiies, whom ho mot several times when in England, asking his opinion about a visit , from Admiral Evans's fieot. 'Thoi reply being favourablo, Mr. Deakin then, through the Governor - General (Lord Northcoto), forwarded the invitation. , AfJ AUSTRAL!AH VIEW. " WELCOME: THE WHITE ARM.'! What docs tbo American fleet mean to Australia? In tbo " Standard " of January 10 appears a thoughtful article from an Australian' correspondent, whoso remarks aro full of interest. He writes: —' "We .havo before us 1 the spectacle! of a nation- ' changing' front—swinging ■ slowly round, as it were, from the Atlantic so as to faco tlio Pacific. So the world-drama shifts to its last and biggest. stage: the iEgean, the Mediterranean, the broad Atlantic, and now tho broader Pacific. . THE LOST EQUILIBRIUM.

"The American fleet will be tho sccond great naval host to enter "The Poaceful Ocean" sinco the century began.. The Russians.,entered from tho West, and wero destroyed by the one Power which c&icentratos its' whole forco in the Pacific. The 'American fleet now moves from the East to reestablish the equilibrium lost in tho battle of the Sea of Japan. Will it preserve that equilibrium? Or will it meet the.fato' of Rojdestvensky's ships, and, if so,' what naval Power will remain to challenge tho predominance of Japan in tho \ Pacific Ocean? ' '

"That is the question many 'Australians aro asking themselves. It is not an idle quostion, for the nation that dominates the Pacific 'will dominate our relations with the outside world. We do not believe that the Motlior Country could send a fleet large enough tocopo with a Japan victorious over America, with the German menace it Homo, and tho possibility always of somtj new turn of the European kaleidoscope. From i\;hateyer standpoint wo look at it, thero can bo no doubt, that there is a Power growing in tho Pacific, which will soon if allowed to grow uncheckcd, becomo more powerful than Englaud That Power is, Japan, .who, within threo years from now, will have trebled tho number of tho battleships with which she attacked Russia. JAPAN'S. SOUTHWARD TREND. " Australians can scarcely question the certainty of a ivjar between America and Japan. : Of all people, we can best-realise tho antagonism between tho Whito and tho Brown. Wo know that when East and West meet, as they aro now mooting in the Pacific, provided the Asiatic'is able and unafraid, there must bo a' light. When Amorica took the Pliilippiues, she gave hostages to war. Tho law of geography is inexorable. Australia, too, is realising it in tho knowledge that .sho is the furthest outpost of European civilisation; that no matter how she may strivo to,keep her White blood pure, sho lies under the shadow of Asia. " Supposing the American fleet destroyed, the Philippines would become, stepping stones to the East Indian Archipelago, which is tho natural prey of the insular power that aspires to become tho England of the East;'and to maintain a Greater Japan founded on her own naval supremacy. Then, with Japaneso emigration deflected southward so as to reinforce tho thousands of tho Mikado's .subjects already settled, on our northern, coasts, tho time for us to light for our Whito Australia would bo close at hand. That our leading men foresee tho possibility' of a Japaneso invasion is shown by tho Premier's schema to arm 1 every able-bodied man in tho country. Thero is talk of building an Australian navy, too, but that would be quito another matter. Even if wo could raiso the money to purchase the necessary ships, wo could not man them. , Wo are not a maritime country. We aro a continent—tho young blood goes inland. A KINSMAN'S POWER. / "What is going to bappon? Wo look in vain for tho sense of security wo orico enjoyed. Wo find ourselves part of an Empiro in allianco with tho one Power on earth wo dread.- And that Power is growing at a greator rato, in our waters, than tho: ono to which wo must look to defend them for a generation at. least to oomo. 1 Mako 110 mistake about it: wo will fight to the death if .need bo. Tho spirit of our free, courageous peoplo is equal to any destiny. And Wo will bo loyal, sink or swim, to tho dear old Motherland; But the entry of the American Uoet into tho Pacific is for us something moro than a stately procession of ships; it is tho stretching forth of an arm that is. "\Vhito, and through which our own good Saxon and Celtic blood runs. Wo would bo well content if tho balnnco of power could bo maintained between our kinsmon in America and our 'official all.ir,' but if tho strugglo must como —as wo boliovo it must—with whom shall wo' sympathise? " That is a question which, I think, most of my compatriots would bo prepared to answer now."