[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—In your interesting article (December 1st) on this most important subject I note that you say :—
" The ideal, which need not be a distant one, is that the two navies should be joint guardians of the seas."
Will you permit me to point out that I tried to uphold this " ideal " more than thirty-four years ago '1 In March, 1894, the North American Review published my article, " A Naval Union with Great Britain," in which I wrote :- " Can there be any doubt that the supreme interests of the two nations at this moment is that the ocean routes should be inviolate and inviolable, or that this interest will increase with the years ? Is there not here a basis for a union which will endure?
I went on to point out in detail how such a " union " would work, and that :-
" No guarantee of peace on the seas could be comparably as effective. No other policy could open out to the American Navy such a noble prospect of world-wide beneficence."
I believe that, if this " Naval Union " had existed in 1914, the Great War would have been averted. Tempura mutantur, and I think that the present time holds out far less hope of this Union," or of the " Anglo-American Council " for the settlement of disputes, which I sketched out and strongly advocated in 1894.
I trust, therefore, that your view, that my " ideal need not be a distant one" is more accurate than any forecast which I can now cherish.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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