(_December, 1918_)
Our safety from invasion, our daily bread, every means whereby we
maintain our existence as an independent people, our unity as an
Empire, or federation of commonwealths and dependencies--all these
float from hour to hour upon our naval defence.
. . . . . . . . . .
If that defence is neglected, weakened, or fettered, we should be in
continual danger of subjugation or starvation. We should be forced to
live in continued anxiety. If that naval defence were overthrown or
outmatched by any other Navy or probably by a combination of navies, we
should hold, not merely our possessions, but our lives and liberties
only on sufferance.
Where else in the whole world can such conditions be paralleled? We
have the right to demand from all other nations, friends and foes
alike, full recognition of these facts. We are also entitled to
point out that this naval strength that we require, and which we
are determined to preserve, has never been used in modern history in
a selfish and aggressive manner, and that it has, on four separate
occasions, in four separate centuries--against Philip the Second of
Spain, Louis the Fourteenth, Napoleon, and the Kaiser--successfully
defended civilization from military tyranny, and particularly,
preserved the independence of the Low Countries.
In this greatest of all wars, the British Navy shielded mighty America
from all menace of serious danger; and, when she resolved to act,
it was the British Navy that transported and escorted the greater
proportion of her armies to the rescue and deliverance of France.
Our record in a hundred years of unquestioned naval sway since
Trafalgar, proves the sobriety of our policy and the righteousness
of our intentions. Almost the only ports in the world open freely to
the commerce of all nations were those of our Island. Its possessions
and our coaling-stations were used freely and fully by ships of all
nations. We suppressed the slave trade. We put down piracy. We put it
down again the other day. Even our coastwise traffic, so jealously
guarded by every Power in the world, was thrown open to all comers on
even terms, by that ancient people in whose keeping the world has been
wisely ready to intrust the freedom of the seas.
. . . . . . . . . .
We are sincere advocates of a league of nations. Every influence
Britain can bring to bear will be used to make such a league a
powerful reality. This fine conception of President Wilson has been
warmly welcomed by British democracies all over the world. We shall
strive faithfully and loyally to carry it into being, and keep it in
active benefit and existence. But we must state quite frankly that a
league of nations cannot be for us a substitute for the British Navy in
any period that we can foresee.