THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1909. THE STAKES BETWEEN ENGLAND AND GERMANY.
Lord Charles Bereford takes his own way of impressing the vital importance of naval supremacy on the public. "If England gets beaten on the sea," he declares, "it will be good-n r ght." There i? ro extravaganc3 in this assertion. When Great Britain next closes with a foe on the sea she will not be fighting for anything less than her "national existence. If the contest should be with Germany, for instance, it will be like a game in which one player stakes his life against pari; of the other's property. Disaster on the sea would mean to Germany much iri the loss of trade and colonies; but these are her only stakes. Her sea-power could be ("estroyed without materially affecting her position as the dominating military Power in Europe. After one fleet was destroyed she could retire and set about building another in her leisure time. Not so England. In her case naval disaster would be irretrievable. No doubt the loss of her magnificent carrying trade would be a stroke of great misfortune to Germany; but whatever her losses, however great in trade and money, they would be immeasurably inferior to the penalty the British nation would pay for defeat on Such a defeat would, at one stroke, level the far-flung Empire in the dust, with all the vanished kingdoms of the earth. The British race would survive, for it is, humanly speaking, indestructible, and its civilisation is imperishable; but the defeat of the British navy Would, indeed, be "good-night" to the British Empire. It seems incredible that tjiere is a possibility that a Power which has filled, and still is filling, so great a place in history, could be struck down and disappear in a few hours perhaps, but the wisest minds in England to-day agree that nothing but unsleeping vigilance can obviate .such a possibility and that it is for a veritable life and death struggle that the Empire must keep itself preparsd. The warning is not new. In his poem on the "Fleet," suggested, curiously enough by the speech of a colonial | statesman, Sir Graham Berry, Tenny
son wrote of England's army, "scatter'd and so small. Her island myriads fed from alien hands"; and reminded his readers that "the fleet of England is her all-in-all," and that ir. the fleet of England is "her Fate." Presuming the destruction of the fleet, there would not appear to be any occasion for the foe to invade England, which would be in the position of a besiegejfl garrison awaiting reduction by famine. With such tremendous issues at stake, although there may be no cause for panic, there is every need for the most careful and elaborate preparation. The days of England's haphazard reliance on a capacity to "muddle through somehow" are over. The star which befriended her all through her marvellous history may not be in the ascendant when next the "sceptred isle" is menaced. Her present rival is one who trusts to science, and not to fortune. Although Great Britain may not be able to avoid attack, she can make ready to meet it confidently whenever the danger comes. Against the emphatic warnings of men like Lord I Roberts and Lord Charles Beresford the counsels of those who minimise the national crisis are not merely worthless, but absolutely dangerous. Whatever naval strength is necessary in order that England should make sure of being able to overpower and overwhelm her enemies on the water should be provided at any cost. There is no other standard tolerable by a nation whose existence is threatened. And, as the downfall of England would involve the whole Empire in a common ruin, our own concern in the complete adequacy of British defence should be as deep as that of the inhabitants of the . United Kingdom. For New Zealand, too, the British fleet ia the only guarantee of national . independence, whose destruction would be our "good-night" as well.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9526, 25 June 1909, Page 4
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669THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 1909. THE STAKES BETWEEN ENGLAND AND GERMANY. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9526, 25 June 1909, Page 4
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