The Irish standard., 1919-02-15

"Whosoever commands the sea
commands the trade; whosoever
commands the trade of the world
commands the riches Of the
and consequently, the world it.
self"
England has known the truth of Ra-
leigh's declaration for centuries and
has made her grip absolute and COM
plete. She chose the six great lanes
of interoceanic trade-the Straits Of
Malacca, the Red Sea, Cape of Good
Hope, the entrance from Suez into the
Mediterranean Sea, the Straits of Gi-
braltar and the English Channel, and
has captured the land and fortified
! the shores with such immense fort
resses and powerful batteries that
| America, with the rest, must dip its
flag to the English Jack and salute the
British gun in every water lane of
every sea, and from the land alone
England has placed the commerce of
the sea under the very shadow Of her
batteries. She has, moreover, builded
navy Of such proportions that even
the proudest nation cannot dispute the
control of the worlds waters with her.
This is the power. this is her grip up
on the world, this is her control of
peoples and nations that the English
prOpagandists in America want to con-
cede as matter of right to England
and offer in exchange therefor that if
England quarrels with us we hold
Canada as hostage to her good be-
! haviOr. Canada, our cousins, Joint
builders of democracy on the Western
Hemisphere, our co-builders of the new
world, our peaceful neighbors, to be
held as hostages to check the greed of
England, as though America could
ever think, or would ever look upon
the proposition in any other sense
than that of horror that America
should make Belgium of Canada to
accomplish her destiny or achieve her
military ends.
Why Does England Want a Mighty
Navy?
1t is because through that navy she
has possessed all the seas and rules a
quarter of the globe and her rule up
on the world would fail; her seizure
of the commerce of the world might
be lost; her intimidation of the weaker
cept by the broadsides of her giant
warships. 1t is not for protection, it is
for coercion; it is not for fair trade,
it is for unfair trade and unjust deal
ings among the nations of the earth to
her advancement and her aggrandize-
ment.
The men who speak against her
speak against mighty strength, but the
papers who write against her make
the great sacrifice as they are more
in her power than any individual may
possibly be.
How may these seas be made free?
The most effective way is by writ
ing into the treaty of peace now in
session in Europe and bringing it to
ful1llment and complete disarmament
as completely as the disarmament of
the Great Lakes and simply parole the
waters against the free hooters that
might infest the deep. If that be not
done and If the solemn promise of free
seas is not given to the world and If
Americas sacrifices on land and sea
in treasures and lives bring us no VIC
tory upon the waters, then their rem
edy must be supplied and that rem
edy calls upon the patriotism, the 10y
atty and the devotion of every Ameri-
can to his country and his flag. The
remedy is to build an American navy
out of our resources and our national
strength-to build it mighty, build it
strong, throw out the flag of Perry,
Farragut and Dewey from the mast
head of the greatest sea squadron, to
carry those banners into every sea
and curb or destroy the naval autoc-
racy that now grasps the oceans as
our sons destroyed the military autoc.
racy on the plains of France.
God speed the day when there Is
enough of patriotism, enough of self
sacrifice, enough Of devotion to Amer
lea found under her flag to place the
American nation as the leading nation
of the globe and bring the gift of free
dom to every race that hopes for light
and that prays for emancipation.
Ireland's liberty Is as essential to
America as the freedom of the seas.
In fact, the seas cannot be free unless
Ireland is free. She has the greatest
harbors in Europe. The entire fleet
of Great Britain rode at anchor in
Lough Swilly. She projects out into
the Atlantic. From her land-locked
harhOrR warahins can Dass ont into