Mr. Roosevelt has pointed out this week that " the
freedom of the seas," if interpreted in the German sense, would have meant " the inevitable and rapid triumph of Germany " in this war. America, when she entered the war, adopted the same policy of blockade as Great Britain had enforced from 1915. Mr. Roosevelt approves heartily of our traditional policy. " Whatever were our views prior to the Great War, we are fools indeed if we have not learned the lessons these last four and a half terrible years have taught." " Freedom of the seas," in the German sense, " means the enslavement of mankind." We feel sure that President Wilson does not mean by his use of an ambiguous phrase what the enemy means, for he would scarcely have proposed a, very large American naval programme if he wanted to restrict sea-power by leaving the sea open to enemy merchantmen in time of war.
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