The Domnion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1913. IMPORTANT CHANGE IN NAVAL POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1821, 6 August 1913, Page 6

The Domnion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1913. IMPORTANT CHANGE IN NAVAL POLICY.

It is not surprising that tho report that Great Britain intends to establish a great naval base in the Bermudas, a group of islands in the West Indies, is being keenly discussed in the United States, for hucli a step would be one of the most important naval developments of recent years. According to a cablegram "which ,we published yesterday,' information to the above effect has been received by one of the State Departments of- the United States, and it is Understood tha.t Britain's object is to provide adequate protection for her interests in view of the early opening of the Panama- Canal. The' general opinion in American official circles is that if effect is given to the proposal other European Powers may feel called upon to take, similar action, which would involve a revolutionary change in the naval policy of the Western Hemisphere. Whether the report is correct or not, and the latest news to hand would seem to indicate that it is at least an exaßKeraticm, it ia quite ccrtain tSat the

opening of the Canal will be followed by the diversion of a, large amount of British shipping from other routes, and this fact cannot he ignored by the Naval authorities, for one of the principal reasons for which the Navy exists is to protect the seaborne commerce of the Empire. New Zealand and Australia would be keenly interested in any such change as that said to be under consideration by the Admiralty, because a large amount of their trade with Britain is sure to pass through the new canal. An important change in the naval arrangements of one great Power cannot be a matter of indifference to other nations. They also have interests to protect, and the disposition of the warships of some at least of the other Powers must be affected by the establishment of a British naval base in the Bermudas and the presence of a British fleet in American waters. This is of course a matter of special interest to the United States, and already the Monroe doctrine is once more being brought to the front, and wc arc told that its very life is involved. The United States has always resented any action by a European Power which might enable it to interfere in the political affairs of the American Continent, and this attitude found definite expression in what has become known as the Monroe doctrine, first officially declared by President Monroe in 1823. It was a declaration of policy aimed at foreign intervention in the political affairs of independent American States, and a warning against future European colonisation on the American Continents. The assertion that this doctrine would be infringed by the establishment of a naval station in the Bermudas may be connected with its interpretation in the Clayton-Bulger. Treaty agreed to in ISSO by which ' Britain and the United States mutually renounced the right of colonising, fortifying, or occupying any portion of Central America. But this could hardly apply to the British West Indies. The Monroe doctrine has never been stated in exact or legal terms, and judging by the different interpretations which have been given by different statesmen at different, times it seems to be very clastic in its applicability. It is now broadly regarded as asserting the principle that the whole American Continent must be free from the control of or interference by European Powers. Read in connection with the reported intention of Britain to establish a naval base in the West Indies certain statements contained in the London Daily Telegraph's review of the naval position acquire additional significance. According to a cablegram which we published yesterday this review declares that "the British fleet is becoming too domestic, a policy unsuitable to it as a fighting forcc. With world-wide responsibility it is ineumbsnt upon Britain to resume her primacy of all seas, not the North Sea alone." Is there any connection between this statement and the rumour regayling the Bermuda base? Whether tliers is or not, it is certain that the changed conditions regarding British shipping which tho new Panama route will involve must be occupying the attention of the Imperial Government, ••.f«HV)Briti&h interests in that part..o£ tho. world will be increased almost as much as thev were in' the' Mediterranean when the Sups: Canal was opened. The- United States may feel that it, is her special duty to police the Panama Canal and neighbouring waters, and may regard a strong foreign 'naval station as an unwelcome intrusion; but Britain of course -ha.s the right to make use of her, possessions in any part of the world for the purpose of safeguarding her interests, and if the report that she is taking action in the West Indies with this object in view proves to be correct it is difficult to see what just ground any other nation has for complaint, however much it may dislike the new state of things likely to result.