CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1917, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

HISTORY'S PARALLEL. There is an encouraging note in an interesting parallel recently pointed out | between the shipping losses of Great Britain during the Napoleonic wars and in the present still more terrific struggle. At that time, as now, Great Britain dominated the world's mercantile marine. France attempted to starve England 'by destroying its merchant ships, as Germany is trying to do now. The parallel goes even further. Professor W. R. Scott, of the Scottish University of St. Andrews, calls attention to the fact that in 1803. at the beginning of the twelve-year-war that ended at Waterloo, the British merchant fleet had almost precisely the same number of vessels as at the outset of the present war. To he exact, he linds that the United Kingdom, with its colonies, registered 20,893 vessels in 1803, and 20,933 in 1013. The number of vessels, of course, as Mr. Wm. S. Bridgman shows in a magazine article, gives no idea of the actual growth of the ctsablishment during one hundred and ten years. The average merchant ship now has nearly ten times the tonnage of the average merchant ship in ISO 3. Moreover, the steamships of to-day can mako several times as many trips in a year as could the sailing vessels of a century ago. The total British tonnage in 1803 was figured at a littie over two millions, while "that of 1013 was just under twenty millions. The historical parallel shows that then, as now, the power holnkng command of the sea must retain that command at a tremendous price. The nation which commands the sea, as Professor Scott says, risks its ships; sends them abroad to take chances with tho enemy's privateers and war-vessels; while the nation which gives up the effort to keep its merchant marine in operation is able to hold rts ships in port and save them. From ■IBO3 to 1814 the British lost to the French nearly twelve times as many, ships as the French lost to the British. During that period 5314 British ships were taken or destroyed by the French, while only 440 French vessels were captured or' destroyed by the British. Forty per cent, of the tonnage carried on the -British registry at the beginning of that period hatl disappeared. Great Britain saved herself then by dint of a tremendous increase in the construction of new ships. During those twelve years she actually 'built in new tonnage rather more than half as much as she possessed in 1803, so that tho new construction, together with the prizes taken from the, enemy, left the tonnage for 1814 slightly stronger than that of 1803. It was Britain's capacity to build ships faster than French privateers could destroy them that beat Napoleon. And to beat Germany now Britain and her Allies—above all, the United Statesmust prove that they can accomplish the same thing again. Of the result no one among the Allies can have much doubt.