Captain Mahan has written for publication a letter dealing with
the attitude of Americans towards Great Britain in con- nection with the war. After discussing the naturalisation laws of the Transvaal, and pointing out their unfairness, he condemns the holding of public meetings for the purpose of expressing views on the war. "There are many among us," he writes, "I myself am one, who feel as strongly in favour of England as others do for her opponents. Let us be careful not to provoke one another by immoderate expressions." He warns Americans that problems await them in the near future which make a good understanding with England too important to permit the creation of an impression that Americans are all against her, and he con- cludes by declaring that "not only is the cause of England just, but to have failed to uphold it would have been to fail in national honour." All Englishmen will feel a sense of pride and satisfaction in Captain Mahau's words. His is an opinion which it is worth while to have on one's side, and especially since he is so staunch and so typical an American, —the last man in the world to suffer from inflated senti- mentality about England. We do not doubt that Captain Mahan means by the problems that await America in the near future, those problems connected with the maintenance of the Monroe doctrine to which we alluded a fortnight ago when dwelling upon German aspirations in regard to a Colonial Empire.
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