The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-02-25

Review OF January i, 1902, challenges
the originality. but not the force, OF
Captain Mahan's view. He says that
the Captain was not "the origna-
tor. inventor. and creator Of the princi-
pie or the first to enunciate Il" and he
say that this Is really "the crux of the
cause. He establishes his contention
easily. In the first place he quotes
from Pericles. the greatest ruler the
Creeks ever had. Mr.. Benjamin states
tina this great ruler. when Athens was
engaged in a life and death struggle
for supremacy. formulated this princi-
pie as OF universal application In these
words: That those who command
the sea may also become masters on
land" There we have the very essence
Of the entire theory Of Captain Mahan
uttered twenty-four centuries ago."
But he skips the more than the TWEEN
ty-three intervening centuries, and
comes down to our own land and but
little more than a forty years ago. He
says that in 1858. a work was published
entitled "a Manual of Naval Tactics"
1t was by James H. Ward. and was
published by the we'll known house Of
D. Appleton & Co. That book present.
ed "a more elaborate, precise. and en-
phatic statement of this principle Of
sea power" bv ar American naval off,
Ger. and thirty years ahead Of Mahan.
1t is stated tina he was an experienced
m a gallant officer. who probably
had no superior in our service in the
matter OF naval history and the litera-
ture OF naval worfare at least until
CAPTAIN Mahan came forward as a
writer on those subjects. Commander
Warl was uEf %rtunatsly killed On beard
his gunboat in May. 1861, while Smelling
the rebel batteries at Matthias Point"
Many a brave man lost his life in try
ing to mutilate, ~impoverish and rob the
south of it's rights. monuments and lib
critics under the constitution.
Mahan's book appeared in 1890. MI
Baniamin gives the following from
Wards book as to the importance Of
sea power"
But whatever is to be the constitu-
ton of the future fleet. 1t must not be
forgotten that, from the days of ancient
Rome to those of modern England. from
Actium to Lepanto and Trafalgar, the
empire OF the world has depended upon
and followed. and has been lost and
won with the empire of the seas; and
that this empire always has been, and
always will be contested with large
fleets. little Influenced by the guerrilla
fighting Of single ships"
He says here is the theory advanced
by Mahan. But the Captain gave no
credit to his f%orerunner while citing
other naval authorities. Mr.. Benjamin
says that ct seems most
unlikely. that Captain Mahan should
be w of "the book of Ward, and
his naval work. do not rob the dead.
The great historian Edward Gibbon, in
his splendid historic work on power. |
describing the destruction of the navy
Of Totila by the Byzantine fleet in the
century. 1000 years after Pericles.
says: Their w experience confirmed
the truth Of a maxim. that the master
Of the sea will acquire the dominion OF
The land
Since writing the above In our head
ng WI have come across several other
evidences showing that the sea power
vas long ago recognized. Sir Walter
distinctly wrote of it. We have
lot bv us now what he said. A writer
n The New York Saturday Review tells
# a auarto he has written long ago
nd published in 1915 in Madrid. 1t
vas by Nichols de Castro. governor Of
Panama, at the close Of the eighteenth
entury. A quatrain by him translated
this:
This you must understand,
The axiom needs no plea:
Whoever rules the sea
Will also rule the land"
Doubtless many other examples can
70 found to how that the Mahan idea
not new with him but old with the
rorld.