Is Britain Weak.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14284, 27 August 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

Is Britain Weak.

ADMIRAL MAHAN'S WARNING. A-profound impression, it is stated, was produced in England last month by the publication of some comments on the international situation by Admiral A. T. Malian, the author of the world-famous work, "'The Influence of Sea-Power upon History," and by universal acknowledgment the greatest and most philosophic of naval writers. Admiral Mahan. though he has always been a warm friend of England, is able to take a detached view of the position because his own c<iuntry, the United States, is nob intimately concerned with the present naval competition between Britain and Germany. The lingo development ot the German-navy within the past decade, and the assurance that the present rate of expenditure—over €2I),IKK),(XX) annually—v.- iii l>;maintained for several years to come, he points out, is a matter of general international importance. The point of Vl;, w to be taken, Admiral Malian urges, is not whether Germany has any far-reaching purposes of invading "* a Vßritain or dismembering her Empire, but a cold, uuemotional, businesslike recognition of facts, in their due proportions, and proceeding to make lis, he points out that a. democracy like that of Great Britain stands at a grave disadvantage towards a people hke the German, accustomed to a strong Government. "This is the fundamental condition which the British democracy of to-day has to recognise as regards their national security, upon wlnc.li tjieir dconomtic future—their food, clothing, and housing—depends: that they stand face to face with a nation one-fourth more numerous than themselves, and one more highly organised tor the sustainment bv force of a national policy. It is so because it has a Government more efficient in the ordering of national life, in that it can >e, and is more consecutive in purpose than one balanced unsteadily upon the shoulders of a shifting popular msiy" i' • i -pi , ' le P r °lo»Bed formal peace winch Europe has enjoyed for 30 years affords a precise illustration of the ineffectiveness of populaces to realise external dangers. Continuance of peace induces a practical disbelief in the possibility of war, and practical-dis-beliefs soon result in practical action or non-action. Yet observant men nou that there have been at least three wars in this so-called period of peace: wars none the less because 110 blows weie exchanged, for force determined , the issues." We read that "war has been averted," and at onco praise tlio adroitness of statesmen, whereas the existence and calculation of force have really been the determinative factors. . , 11 the Czar's Government last year yielded before the ultimatum of Germany and Austria, Russia abandoned her vital aims. AYhat happened was that the statesmen on each side calculated the number of battleships and army corps ready and organised for war and the Power with the fewer batt eslnps and corps surrendered rather than face a hopeless struggle The menacing feature in the outlook is. Admiral Mahon declares, the apparent indisposition and slackness of the new voters 111 Britain as against the resolute spirit and tremendous faculty for organising strength evident in Germany. Hie rise to political power of these voters lias been accompanied bv the growth of a spirit which threatens to leave Great Britain unprepared to hold her «wn even in European waters. He sees this spirit at work more particularly in the .Labor party. An impression that Great Britain may be unequal to the emergency before' her has, lie tells us, gained ground in iiis own mind against his steady previous convection that the British people would prove equal to their fortunes. - He fears that precautions, if taken at all, may ie taken too late. The postponement ot precaution, he says in an admirable passage, is the sure road to panic and also to defeat. He marvels the more 'i! 1 a l ,a th.v and- carelessness of tlio •British voters because in the ease of a national reverse it is these voters who will be responsible and it is these voters i who wdl suffer most. After review-! ing the British naval policy in concen- I tratmg its ffeet in Home waters, leaving ' six battleships of distinctly in- ' tenor power in the Mediterranean, I Admiral Mahan says: "The concentra- ' 1011 of the battle Meet in .homo waters I is correct; the relative abandonment of the Mediterranean for that purpose, if j lor the moment only, is likewise correct I especially as the "Atlantic" fleet may I >e considered an intermediate body, a I i.esei ve, able to move eastward or | southward-as conditions require; but! the clear reluctance to acquiesce in present naval requirements is ominous of a day when the Mediterranean may pass out of the sphere of British influence, centred round the British Islands ex- i clusively. This will symbolise, if it ! does not at once accompany, the pass- ■ jng of the Empire: for a, hostile force! in the Mediterranean controls not only I an interior liue—as compared with the route—but an interior position, ! V?," 1 "'hush it is operative against the rrr i' tr aS WelL as tllc Eust - It is > dilheult to overstate the effect of this i upon the solidity of the Empire, for ' tlie Mediterranean is one of the great central positions of the maritime world. A weakened Mediterranean force is the symptom that neither as principal nor as ail ally may Great Britain bo able to play the part hitherto assumed by . her 111 the great drama of which the ! awakening of the East is the present | act; while among the dramatis personae | 1 T' )t ' Australia, and New Aealand." The article, as we have said,- produced a profound impression. Even Radical journals began to urge that the Government should preserve a substantial margin of safety. It was pointed out that the Powers of the Iriple Alliance have actually in hand at the i>resent moment twenty-one Dreadnoughts to the twenty for the. British Navy, and four projected to the British five. The public appeal for a loan of 100 millions, to be devoted to national defence, which the Imperial Maritime League recently addressed to the Prime Minister, endorsed with the signatures of 158 flag and general offi- , cers, was stated to havo received support from no fewer than 135 additional I admirals, generals, peers, and members j of Parliament. Such a list of signa-

tures illustrates the anxiety prevailing as to the strength ot the navy. Summarising the situation. the ' "Daily Mail" raised the i>sue: "Once more we put lo our countrymen the great question of Torringtou, 'Will they he afraid now- while tlie danger may' he remed 1 <■»<■], <ir bo a I raid hercaftpr wlicn it ts past remedy and effort eunies 100 laic:''' On I heir answer U, that- question lian-s the fate and future of the United Kingdom and the. Empire."—(lCxe.liauge.l