Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-04
BY EDWARD PRICE BELL

Deen SHOWN IN broadeSt outline. We
have seen that sea power depends upon
depths and number of harbors, length
and navigability of rivers, extent and
richness of territory, size and quality
Of population and character Of govern
ment. Wealthy or of high excellence
in these things. a nation we'll may
aspire to position of Importance on
the sea.
If such are the constituents of sea
power, what does it do?
Mahan says it rules, and always has
ruled, the world. Authoritative opinion
agrees with him. We have quoted the
British authority, Admiral viscount Jel-
licoe: 1T had fallen to the lot of dis
tinguished officer in a foreign navy
(Nahan) to point out the all-important
influence which sea power had eXerted,
and would exert, on history" And we
have quoted the French expert, Auguste
Moireau: 1T was seen clearly (from
Mahan's works. that sea power was the
principle which, adhered to or departed
from. would determine whether empires
should stand or fall
BLOCKADE POWer1uI weapon.
Instructed as to what sea power con-
SiSts in and what it does, We are led to
the next question-How does 1t do it?
Mere matter or form or theory by no
means attaches to the questions we are
examining. They are practical. They
are agitating the thought of the spe-
cialists in statecraft and war in every
firSt-rate foreign Office in the world.
They lie at the back of the whole
manifestation which governments and
delegates to the forthcoming London
Noval Conference are preparing for the
international public. Naval nations par
ticularly, America prominently among
them, should do what they can to APP
prehend at least the elements of the
maritime problem.
Sea power, as Mahan caused it to
be seen clearly" (Moireau's phrase),
determines the course of history par
TALLY by blockade. Blockade Is an in
strument thrown athwart the lanes OF
ocean transport. It stops both exports
(Which are vital to a nations war
finance) and imports (Which are vital
to a nations stamina and equipment for
action in the field. You shall not
trade" says blockade. You shall not
use the oceans for warlike purposes.
The worlds productive labor and its
wealth are closed against you"
Nations Seek Sea Outlet.
That is what blockade says; and, to
the extent of its effectiveness, what 1t
says is final. Think for a moment of
one of the deepest aspirations-perhaps
the deepest aspiration-of land-com-
passed nations. 1t is the yearning for
unobstructed access to the sea. Russia
has, and long has had, this yearning;
remember her pushes toward the BoS-
porus and the Yellow Sea. Poland
and Jugoslavia have 1t. Bolivia has it.
Every non-maritime nation must have
it, because national longing for the sea
is part and parcel Of national passion
for the fullest possible life.
Ancient. medieval and modern annals
furnish many instances Of sea power
as the tombstone of political fortune
Those peoples of classical times who
knew how to use, and did use, the seas
martially were victorious Their rivals
failed. The middle ages, amazingly
opulent In historical potentially (the
chief glories Of art and of civilization
were germinant them, saw no remark
able development at sea.
British Take Lead.
Immediately afterward. however Tin
the age of discovery, great maritime
activity reappeared in the world and
empires rose and fell. Portugal, Spain
and Holland came and went as sea-
ruling states. Nelson overwhelmed the
French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar
$1,000, and the British Empire, navally
and colonially, assumed the premiership
of the world
Let us wave aside ancient and me-
dieval history. Let us wave aside mod
ern history also, except for the triumph
of Nelson with its military complement
10 years later at Waterloo, when We'll
lington and Butcher tore the mantle of
conqueror from the shoulders of Ma
poleon). the victory of the North over
the South in the American Civil War
Q861-1865) and the overthrow Of Ger
manic autocracy by the allied and asso-
c1ated powers IN the Great War 1914-
1919, the three events signalizing-th
triumph of Nelson and the defeat OF the
autocracies OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES what
deadly effect naval power can be used
in conflict with land power, however
great the land power may be.
Napoleon Defeated at Sea.
To the end of time, probably, the pro-
longed struggle between the France OF
Napoleon and the England of Nelson
will remain the classic example of what
happens when land power and sea
power meet in life and death combat.
I have referred to Wellington and
Butcher as divesting Napoleon of his
conquerors mantle at Waterloo. But
did they? Not truly. Napoleon lost
that particular garment elsewhere.
He lost it on the sea. Admiral Rod
ney got piece of it at Cape St. Vim
cent in 1880, and Admiral Nelson firmly
gripped the rest of it a quarter of a
century later, as he died on his flagship
at Trafalgar.
Nor is this fact too easily understood.
for as late as July, 1907 (naariy two
years after Trafalgar Napoleon was
at the zenith of his career. He had
had his conversations with Gar Alex
ander and Frederick William of Prussia
on raft moored in the River Niemen,
the peace Of Tilsit was arranged, Cen
trail Europe lay PROSTATE before him,
and Russia was his ally in the East
Never before or since has a single man
stood lonelier or loftier on a military
eminence.
Sea Power Victorious.
Yet his power. military and not ma
val-endin" with the Shore---De was
doomed. All his genius for politics and
war he threw against England, the sole
nation still defying him. He tried to
ruin her commerce by the so-called
continental system. IL was a boomer
ang. In 1912 America joined Napo-
leon, in effect. but the American Navy
was not sufficient to reoress the baI-
ance. The great trick against the
Little Corporal had been turned at
! Trafalgar. Waterloo was merely the
military contamination.
Admiral Mahan: They were dull,
weary, eventless months-those months
OF waiting and watching of the big
ships before the French arsenals Pur-
poseless they surely seemed to many,
but they saved England. The world
has never seen more impressive dem
onStration of the influence of sea power