We have mentioned elsewhere Mr. Winston Churchill's speech on the
Navy at the Guildhall, in which he pointed out that in effect patience and vigilance must be the watch- words of our sailors now as heretofore. There seemed at one time a certain restlessness in the public mind in regard to the Navy, which if it had been reflected in our Fleets might have been of the utmost danger. Happily, however, public opinion seems now to have steadied, and there is no fear of any attempt on the part of the man in the street to try to force our Navy into premature action. Nothing could be more foolish or more ruinous than for the public to say : "Why doesn't the Navy do something ? " Out of a mood of that kind only disaster can result. As Lord Melbourne used to say : " When everybody says something must be done, it means that they are going to do something foolish." As a matter of fact, the Navy is always doing something. Though its work is out of sight, the Navy is never at rest for a moment. Its activities, if it were possible to make them known, would be seen to be tense to a degree which it is difficult to find words to describe. That activity may seem to be suppressed, or, more truly, compressed, at the moment, but when the proper time comes the Navy will visibly spring to action and strike with all its force.
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