The Washington herald., 1915-03-28

the island Of Malta. which he captured
from the French.
At the farther end Of the tideless sea
the British island Of Cyprus mounts
guard, while at the exit of the Mcdi-
terranean John Bull is astride the Suez
Canal. which the French dug for him.
Steer into the Persian Gulf and the Brit
ish shore of Baluchistan is the upper
lip of its mouth: or continue eastward
and the British Island of Ceylon IL
found lying in the very path round tho
Indian Pininsuia. Pass on to the China
Sea. and one of the shores Of the Malacca
Just ahead. And where the China Sea
begins to narrow for the Strait of For
mosa. the British hull dogs are pulling
on their lcashes in the harbor of Hong
kong.
The American revolution and the Mon
roe doctrine together have caused the
links in the chain to lengthen somewhat
in the New World: but even here it
fort in the upper Pacific. convenient to
Puget Sound. and Halifax. with its
searching eye. leans out over the North
Atlantic. while across the front Of the
United states and its Panama Canal
BritainS picket line OF islands is flung
out from Bermuda to Trinidad. with
British Honduras and British Guiana for
their bases on the southern mainland.
II was by no blind chance OF war that
a German squadron was caught and
strait Of Magellan England almost
came to blows with Spain in ITO to gain
there. She had her sails UP and ready
to fight for possession of that key to
the strait: but sh" got the islands with
out having To fire a shot
She was still more determined to COM
mand the southern cape of the other
hemisphere. Napoleon insisted on her
restoring to the Dutch that Cape of
Good Hope at the Peace OF Amiens in
q n nlxa ont a (,
She seized it once more and thence she
has steadily worked her way to her vast
African empire.
The Arbiter OF the Land.
Thus by sea power alone the fIotl,
part of the habitable globe has possessed
itself of a full third of the earth. Nor
does it matter thai a half of that tiny
the United Kingdom. is unproductive and
much of the remaining half Is left to
the deer and the sheep. For England
sows on the waters and gathers her
golden crops from their remotest shores.
II is the choicest humor OF history that
while a little island Was subjusatinG the
seas and restlessly picline up land by
the million square miles. the continental
themselves over worthless baubles in
eNhausting wars Of dynastic succession
or cutting one another's throats over
Alsa Lorraine. the division of Poland
ann OtneT OD1ettS
still England's unfailinS readiness 10
subsidize their wars out Of her boarded
spoils is perhaps equally humorous
Renounc!ng and despising any con-
quests on the European continent. she
has been in a position at all times to cry.
Go II bear. go IL man. Her withers
could not be wrung: her fields could
not he overrun and her cities burned.
Indeed. she has prospered all the more
In the widst of many of the conflicts that
loft her neighbors helpless and pros
trate.
Her one interest. her one .unchanging
object has been to thwart the ambition
Of any nation. whether Spain or Ger
many. the France of Louis XIV. or the
France of the Revolution and the empire.
to dominate the mainland and rule IL as
she rules the sea. The little A1Vfp of
marshlands lying opposite her always
has been the test of her policy and she
has been the unrelenting enemy OF any
nation that has attempted to annex that
shore. which Ia her door stoop on the
Continent. First she aided to drive Spain