The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1912. A NATIONAL HABIT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 187, 27 December 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1912. A NATIONAL HABIT.

All the talk of the building of battleships and of two-Power standards, and the incidental hysterics concerning them really makes one wonder whether the charge that Britain is peculiarly susceptible to scares is correct, or whether this is not a device of the enemy to lull her into a quiet calm sense of security by pure suj'jestion. "Oh, those English! They are afraid of everybody and everything," was the comment of Li Hung Chang when he heard that Britain had refused to allow the Channel tunnel to be completed lest it should be used by a Continental enemy. We need not accept the view of the famous Chinaman, who may have bp.cn prejudiced by the fact that he was a very bad sailor, but it certainly is a trifle disturbing to the national vanity to be reminded by no less an authority than Mr. F. T. Jane, the author of "Fighting Snips" and other important naval works, that the British people have always been susceptible to "scares." This has been the case particularly in naval matters and the periods of intense activity in' the shipbuilding yards have usually been preceded by alarming reports regarding the growth 01 some foreign navy. Mr. Jane's latest book traces the.history of the British Navy and places on record the strange

faet that the modern armored fleet had its inception in a "scare" which came from Germany, though not under circumstances even remotely resembling those of to-day. The German Empire had not come into existence in the late fifties of the last century, and the States which were to compose it were not factors to he taken into account by the naval Powers. Britain and France were the rivals, with Russia as a third force of unknown value, and the British Government had just discovered that Louis Napoleon was building battleships at high speed. The appearance of the powerful French fleet in the Crimean war had given a shock to insular nerves and a naval committee set up by the Derby Government had reported that "increased efforts and increased expenditure" in connection with the fleet -'ere imperatively necessary. It was at this stage, when the nation was looking anxiously at the fleet that the "Conversations Lexicon" of Leipsic, published an article commenting on the decline of the British fleet and the rise of the French. The writer showed that Britain's claim to sea supremacy was based on numerical comparisons, which included old and useless ships, that France had at least equal strength in vessels fit f«r the line of battle, and that French artillery and French seamanship had been brought to a high standard of excellence. The result of this article was a "scare" in Britain, and the attack was rendered more severe hy a report that France had begun to build "iron-plated" ships. The Admiralty was hurried into activity, and in 1859' Britain's first armored ships, the Warrior and the Black Prince, were kid down, The Germans were the candid friends of both countries at the time, and they induced Britain to pour out millions for new warships by representing France as the dangerous enemy. Now they are achieving the same end by a method which is more expensive, but not less effective.