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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 78

To Preserve the Supremacy of British Sea-Power?

To Preserve the Supremacy of British Sea-Power?

The answer has already been partially, if indirectly, indicated page 12 during the course of this article. But it will perhaps he better to indicate more definitely, and in greater detail, the lines on which the solution of the problem seems to depend.

In the first place, it seems evident that the Empire should be defended by the Empire. This apparent parados means that all parts of the Empire—Canada, the Commonwealth, New Zealand, South Africa, and all the other colonies and possessions, whether self-governing or not—should contribute according to their means to the support and maintenance of the Imperial navy.

In the second place, Great Britain should endeavour to form a strong defensive alliance with the United States of America, as well as with Japan. France is at present a friendly naval power, and might possibly be included in the proposed alliance. She is highly antagonistic to Germany, and has a strong naval force. It should be Great Britain's policy, however, to avoid, as far as possible, all chances of becoming involved or entangled in European continental complications; and an alliance with France might render such an entanglement unavoidable. America and Japan, on the other hand, like Great Britain, are isolated sea powers; and a strong defensive alliance with them would be less likely to produce frictional complications with other countries.

Let us first discuss the question of