The current number of Leslie's Weekly contains an interest- ing
paper by Captain Mahan on " The Monroe Doctrine and our Navy." Touching on the Nicaragua Canal, he points out that if America intends to make the Monroe doctrine effectual in resisting the pretensions of such nations, especially Euro- pean, as are interested in using the canal, and, for the sup- port of their interests, in gaining positions, she must be prepared to resist by force, if need be, any attempt to obtain adjacent territory or ports which may serve as stations for a navy hostile to her. "The Monroe doctrine," he continues, "does not depend upon legal right, but upon the moral right of our indispensable interests, deriving its chief support from the fact that it is not worth while to incur our enmity, pushed, perhaps to the extent of war." The necessity for strengthening the American Navy thus becomes paramount, and while to make it as strong as Great Britain's in the near future is out of the question, he holds that America can easily afford to rival the navy of France or Germany, "the only European States, besides Great Britain, whose interests might lead them actively to dispute the maintenance of the Monroe doctrine." Captain Mahan's views entirely fall in with what we wrote a month ago ; the only way to secure the absolute neutrality of the canal is to place it in the hands of a Power strong enough to enforce that neutrality against all corners. And as for the Monroe doctrine, let us repeat that though Great Britain has virtually admitted it, no other nation has done so.
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