NAVAL COMPETITION.—THE WAY OUT. all the naval authorities know that
the American naval slogan is not " Eastward I " but still " Westward Ho ! "
" Now," say our apologists for the Alliance with Japan, " just see how useful the Alliance is going to be ! Neither we, nor the Americans, nor the Japanese, really want to fight, or to enter into a great naval competition. The Affiance with Japan, even if not worth anything on other grounds, does give us a most useful opportunity for saying both to our so-called allies and to our own kindred, Let us three peoples—the only three peoples left with world- wide oceanic interests (France's naval sphere is the Mediter- ranean, not the oceans)—come into conference and settle between them not to engage in the game of " Beggar-my- neighbour," but instead to adopt a limited competition. '
No doubt there is a good deal that is very attractive in this proposal, and we should be more than willing to see it acted on if both America and Japan would agree. If, however, that should unhappily prove impossible, then, in our opinion, we should deal direct with Washington in the matter not only of the Japanese Alliance, but of naval competition. We should say quite plainly to Washington, " We will put all our cards on the table. Even at the risk of being thought afraid of you, we say plainly we are not going to fight you. We will not destroy, be the provo- cation never so galling, the last chance of saving Western civilization. We will not make it certain that the future shall be for the East and not for the West—for Hinduism, or Confucianism, or Buddhism, or Mohammedanism, and not for Christianity, for the yellow races rather than for the white. Not only are we not going to fight you except under conditions of civil war, which we do not believe will ever come into existence, but we are not going to ruin ourselves and you irretrievably, even if you would be willing to do so, by a cut-throat competition in naval construction. Instead, we make you the following pro- posals. First, in order to make the position absolutely clear to the whole of the American people and also to the people of our own Empire, we shall not renew the Japanese Alliance, though we shall remain, of course, in perfect amity with Japan. Next, we propose a naval convention with you. You shall take over the command of the sea throughout the Pacific Ocean and the policing thereof. We shall make no attempt to keep a permanent naval force in that ocean, though, of course, we shall retain all our commercial rights and our Dominions, Colonies, and coaling stations. Our naval rights, that is, and the naval rights of Australia and New Zealand in the Southern seas, will of course remain entirely unimpaired. Just as you will be answerable for the Pacific, so we shall have the command of the sea in the Atlantic, which means not only all the Northern waters of Europe and the Mediter- ranean, but also the Indian Ocean and the waters encom- passing the Western and Southern coasts of Africa. Need- less to say, under such an arrangement the American Fleet will be as welcome to enter the Atlantic as our Fleet will be to enter the Pacific, when such a course is desired by either Power. Speaking generally, however, our sphere of oceanic influence will be in Western, that of America in Eastern, waters."
No doubt a proposal of this kind will be fiercely debated and furiously denounced by thousands of so-called naval experts in America and by quite as many in this country. All the same, it is the view that is going to win in the end. We are sure that it has the force of circumstances behind it—the force against which men and nations must always strive in vain. It is what is going to happen. The only question is whether it shall happen easily and speedily and with goodwill, or whether it shall come after fierce tumult and heartbreaking misunderstandings and too late ; whether it shall come in good blood or evil blood. Let us pray that it may come with good temper and come soon, for it is a settlement which, when it does come, will very much help the world on the road to peace. With the remaining tale of official discontents, and there arc plenty of them, we mean to deal in the near future.
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