THE NAVY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 79, 5 April 1910, Page 3

THE NAVY.

The following is an extract from the London letter of the Navy League to tho local hon. secretaiy (Mr. C. W. Palmer) :—: — "We have now said 'good-bye' to the Fisher regime at the Admiralty, although not to his policy. History will certainly apportion the praise or blame due to that distinguished officer with more fairness than we can at the present moment, but of this we can be certain, afld that is that no man of modern times is more universally respected, both as a seaman and an administrator, than Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson (the new First Sea Lord), who is commonly spoken of as & silent man, a demon for work, and an unsparing taskmaster. But for all that, there is not a man in the Navy who would not sooner serve under him in the event of war than any other man that could be chosen. So far as one can judge, he has accepted the subordinates left by Sir John Fisher, and there is no circumstance at the present moment which leads to the belief that he contemplates or will inaugurate any drastic changes. I think I should bs safe in saying that if his representations on the state of the Navy are not attended to, the country will hear of his views in a very straightforward fasl-f n. "In conclusion, there ma) be a pessimistic note running through this letter, but I should be sorry if it led you to think in any way that things were going badly with this country. I do not think so. We are having our troubles in a world in which events are moving /rapidly, and great affairs call for settlement in the near fnturt*. \\ c hear many speakers who suggest that the virility of the British race is exhausted, and that we may have to yield the position in the world that we have held po long. Personally, and I think with reason. I do not believe this. Everything points the other way. We Britons* have before us the prospects of an Empire such as was never dreamed of by Rome in the height of her glory, and although our friends on the other side of the North Sea suggest that the twentieth century is for them, even as the nineteenth was for us, I cannot help thinking that the day is yet far off when we shall have to lower the colours we have carried so successfully for so long."