The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-06-21

 strained relations between ourselves and the United States.
 It would be an exaggeration to pre- tend that we have entirely disarmed to- wards the United States. any more than we have towards any other country. The ,Inited States is a power which has De- come vulnerable by setting mp colonies across the seas. No one suggests, how ever. either that we covet these colonies or that the loss of them would weigh heavily in the terms of peace that might follow any possible collision. Canada, as a self-respeeting state. has an excellent military college and is slowly improving ter militia, without, however either set t'ng up a regular force or buying arms on scale which can for moments com rare with the establishments of her great neighbor. Substantially the fact remains that the British government has shown it's profound belief in the stability of the present friendly and, indeed, excellent re- lations which exist between ourselves and the United States and in the community of interests between the two great Eng lish-speaking powers. As one who wrote in favor of this policy in Greater Britain in 1868. when circumstances made it's adoption far more difficult I cannot but welcome the stupendous change. It is far less than a quarter of q century since Great Britain and France were still dis- cussing measures to prevent the United States controlling the waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific. The sudden rev olution in British opinion seems to have occurred between the commencement and the end of the Venezuela frontier dispute. How complete the change ill opinion is may be discovered by a comparison of the language used on all sides as to the later Canadian frontier difficulty with that commonly employed on all sides be- fore the Venezuela arrangement
 It may, of course, be pointed out in answer to my contention that although it is true that St Lucia is abandoned and the Jamaica backyard closed, at all events Halifax and Esquimalt have mere ly been taken over" by the dominion. This reply, however, would not be exactly true. Halifax and Esquimalt, considered as "dockyards abroad" of our navy esti- mates, are reduced to "cadres' '-i. e., left to caretakers or closed. The mili- tory defense of Esqtlimalt, such as it is, and of the strong fortress of Halifax is taken over by the regulars of the do- minion. But 1t had always been assumed by British and by foreign writers on politics and strategy that Halifax would remain British Gibraltar" even if the ultimate decision of Canada in some distant future were to sever her direct dependence on the crown and to become Ian allied nation" The change at Hali- fax points, therefore. in the same drec- ton as regards government policy as do the other changes which I have mem toned
 The Times naval critics and other high authorities have so frequently drawn from the fate of Port Arthur the moral that fleets are lured to destruction by fortified naval bases that it ought, per haps. to be added to what has been said of our American bases that the Port Arthur argument may apply to a fortress such as Halifax, but does not affect bases such as those in the West Indies. Even as regards Halifax, a British fleet. with it's fine traditions of never being caught by war in port, but of putting to sea whenever international relations become strained, would not be bird-lmed by such place as Halifax. The present war, so far from diminishing the importance att tached to naval bases. has once more demonstrated their absolute necessity to