11th October.
Tae withdrawal of the gunboats from police duty on the China station, and the virtual, if not complete, abandonment of Weihaiwei for naval purposes, have inevitably excited adverse comment in the Far East, where the immediate effects of these particular features of Sir John Fisher's naval reforms are forcibly felt. British residents in China are likely to be more interested in the maintaining of our national
this Empire than in any comprehen-prestige on the rivers and coast of sive scheme to meet the growing rivalry of Germany or any other Power in home waters, and we cannot but feel that, excellent as the new naval policy may be as whole, the laying up of the sloops and gunboats, which have done such useful work in this part of the world isa mistake, It may be readily admitted that for purposes of warfare with a European naval power they have little value; that they would probably have to make for the nearest British base, or neutral. port, and there remain interned till peace had been re-established though, if as would probably be the case, they should reach British ports the men would be available as relief crews for other vessels; and that they require the services of a number of men, who might be employed to man the larger and more modern vessels of the fleet, The men have been undoubtedly needed at home, but the fact that they have relieved the Admiralty of one of its problems does not alter the fact that they are also needed out here. Their services, it has to be remembered, are not so much concerned with the possibility of war with a European Power, as with the adequate protection of British lives and British interests in this great, and awakening, but: still very uncertain, Empire of China. The recent meute at Amoy shows that the time has not arrived when China can be trusted unaided to preserve order la the open ports. A proposal to abolish extraterritoriality would hardly. be conceivable as yet, and until China is able effectually to control not only her people but her own officials, the gunboat may still serve its purpose.
Once recognised that the circumstances in the Far East are exceptional, and. that' vessels may be usefully employed here, which would be an embarrassment rather than of value in home waters, and it is impossible not to be impressed by the markable strengthening of the defensive fleets of the British Isles, which the redistribution scheme has brought about. In an article in the current "Fortnightly Review," Mr, Archibald S, Hurd explains very exactly the changes that have been effected by this " gigantic triumph of organisation" on the part of Sir John Fisher. Whereas in September 1904 the naval forces ready for war in the "near seas" were twenty-eight battleships and ten armoured cruisers, there are available to-day forty-three battleships and twenty armoured cruisers, Moreover the main force of this immense fleet will cruise in future, not in the Mediterranean and the English Chanvel, but in the North Sea, and the Baltic, The reasons are obvious. "This frontier of the British Empire has been threatened by the growth of the German Navy, and it is as natural that Great Britain should safeguard her interests in this direction as that France, Russia, and Germany should patrol their land frontier with troops, The presence of the Channel Fleet in the North Sea is no more a menace to Germany than has been the old regime to France when the main fighting fleets of the British navy cruised in the Mediverranean and the English Channel... Germany hus nothing which we covet; we have no cause of quarrel with her, and desire none, policy of England is merely to hold steadfastly what she has won—and first among her possessions is the supremacy of the seas, the northern aswell as the southern seas, the North S-a as well as the English Channel arid: Mediterranean, It is the old traditional policy, and by it we morist stand,"
For the moment the world's peace is undoubtedly more threatened in Europe than in Asia, The air is full of excitement, and the situation has not. been improved by what we cannot: but regard as the unfortunate and sensation-monger.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.