The Washington herald., 1915-03-28

First TO Challenge Tier since irsi
sar-The Grim Game Of starre Out.
Mr. Morgan today tells. the wonderful Story .,
EiElands long control Of the "a and me rS'
harIc-ts she has respcd on the waters Mhih, "
.hc and iieT1rsry are entering unrn.
Nmcri,a and the will lie tn shl"f OF ,,'-
article next SRI day in this scr7Is u sAttches u Tue
great backgrounds of the war
The rock of Gibraltar. as it rises
400 feet from the waters. is the loft
lest and most ma jcstic of war 3lonu-
ments 1t is at once the trophy and
symbol of En-lamds conquest of the
seas
When n shin crossing the Atlantic
is III the last stage OF her voyage 10
Gibraltar, she sometimes sigh
through 4 clear night the twinkliT2
light of Cape st. Vincent, where the
horizon bends TO the Portuguese head
land. off that cape on st. Valentines
Day in 1877 an English fleet defeated
:. Spanish and Won control of the
MedIterra mean.
As the trans-htIantic vessel draws
nearer still TO where the Pillars OF
UerCl.eS stand like gate posts De
tween the ocean and the s"a. the
hrea kers are seen rolling upon Inc
sandy beach of Cape Trafalgar. In
sight of that stretch of Spanish shore
France yand Spain lowered their allied
flags ID tho British Con1I4ror III 1903
and acknow lodged his supremacy on
all the seas
UnchnIIcnEcd for a Century.
Thenceforth for 1O9 years britannia
ruled the wave without foe rising
to dispute her dominion. Steam sue
eeeded sail; iron suppiant"d WOOD;
ships and weapons underwent COM
plete revolution. Yet. without firing
a shot to defend it. England main
tanned unquestioned her sovereignty
of the waters until 1914. when Ger
many challenged the victor Of ira
falEar.
IL is true the mistress OF the seas
did not remain wholly unasSaIled
through that century and more She
fought the United States in 1872 10.
but the naval engagements In that
war generally were combatS between
single ships and never between squad
rcns. She also Joined virtually all the
other European powers against kus-
STA in lSsi-5J. hut on the water there
was nothing amounting to battle In
he course of the Crimean War. For
INC rest. Englands only naval opera :
tons were limited to conflicts with
Turkey, China. Egypt ard other nom
maritime and uncivilized nations.
Nor does this wonderful reign date
merely from Trafalgar. II really be-
gan fully 100 years before. and Ira :
falrar only indicated and confirmed
Il Britannia. therefore, has securely
sat her tossing throne Tor more than
TWO centuries in all.
From Tyre to London.
The trident of sea power. as it has
passed from hand TO nand. ever has
been borne on before in the advanc-
ing march OF civilization. Yet its
true importance remained to be e1-
planned and established by the lats
Rear Admiral Mahan of the American
navy only a quarter of century ago,
when, in 1890 he published a series Of
lectures, delivered by him as presI-
dent of tn" Naval War College. in
which he developed and expounded for
tho first time the Immense determin-
In= influence" OF sea power upon the
history of the Norld." The modest Of
ncer. then = captain, was astonished 10
find himself hailed round the world
shower Of honorary degrees rataed
upon him by Harvard and Yale. OK
ford and Cambridge. and other uni
yrrsities at home and abroad.
when history first opened her eyes
upon the Cesseless struggles of ma =
Kind Tyre was the mistress of the
seas and her Phoenician oarsule IN
rowed the length OF the Mediterran. t 1
and even TO the mouth OF the English
FLANNEL In the days OF Pho"nicia
degeneracy and her subservIency to
the conquering Persians, the rulership
Of the wave passed to the Greeks IN
go y. G. At the battle OF SalamiS
after which it became the prize of vic
N"xt islam rose to cast its shadow
on the waters. and for centuries the
cross was upheld on the seas chiefly
ny the valiant sailors OF a few ltal,
ian towns. Venice. Genoa. Pisa and
ANA ii waxing INFO great maritime
highway however. never was fully
won by Christendom until 1871. when
Spaniards and Italians vanquished the
Turk at Iepanto.
rhc vision of man.. III" Mediterranean
ceased 10 he the battlefield Of the M
lions. The Spamiards victorious al
Lepanto. bore the trident past the ril-
lars Of Hercules and out upon the At
faurl" There. however. the buCCan'
GERS Of Britain laid pillaCiUg hands on
~" galIeons Or Spain as they came
freightcd with tn" gold and silver OF
Tho New World whICh~tolumhus had
discovered for her. and in 1898 Sh.
hurled her Grand Armada n the lit
tic island that had dared 1" dispute
her Controf OF the seas.
Deaf TO the Call Of the Sea.
In these later times, when Engia nd
looms larger than any other maritime
power in all history. il is common
and easy to res son after the fact that
she won her prirracy because her PEG
pie were islanders and therefore took
TO the waller as naturally as ducks. II
= the prosaic fact. !owevcr. that they
were amazingly SLOW to hear the call
Of tho encircliug seas and rsnCely
late in finding their home upon tEe
deep.
Tho islanders were not at all ira
rincrS by nature. when Caesar came
horseback to repcl from the saddle a
feet of Roman Eallcys. Equally nm
challenged by any Inhabitant afoat
the invading An les and SaNons land.
Cd at the mouth of the Thames when
IN turn. those sea rorers from the
Baltic themselves had become island
crs. they lost their Wen rect and stood
vikings of the north beached their
black boats. Nor did an island craft
appear to challenge William the Con-
uueror when he sailed into levensey
Bay.
In the wonderful age of the grea,
ahame with zeal for the discovery
and exploration of hidden seas and
continents, the islanders were the las,
TO catch the spirit of the hunt. II
was the men from the mainland who
hurst the watery bounds OF the known
world and belted tho earth. The only
companion o. Columbus and Vasco
Magellan and vespucius who sailed
from a British port was Sebastian
Cabot, and he was Venetian
While Spain and Portugal were plant
ing their flags around the globe and little