Chapter V (4)

It should be remembered, too, that the present battleship is not a sudden invention, springing up in a night, like Jonah's gourd, or newly contrived by a council sitting for the purpose, like a brand-new Constitution of the French Revolution. The battleship of to-day is the outcome of a gradual evolution extending over forty years. Its development has been governed by experience, showing defects or suggesting improvements; and the entire process has been superintended by men of the highest practical and scientific intelligence, naval architects and seamen, constantly exchanging ideas, not only with their own countrymen, but, through the scientific publications of the day, with the whole world. What Ruskin said of the old ship of the line is still more true of the modern battleship: no higher exhibition of man's creative faculties is probably anywhere to be found. In view, therefore, of its genesis, and of the practical results of yearly cruisings, the battleship in its service of peace is entitled to the confidence we give to the work of competent men in all departments; nor should that confidence be withdrawn because of a single occurrence, if the _Maine_ prove to have fallen victim to internal accident. If, on the other hand, her destruction proceeded from an external cause,--that is, if she fell as ships fall in war,--it may safely be said that, in actions between ships, no means of injury now in use on shipboard could effect the instantaneous and widespread destruction manifested in her case, unless by a shell finding its way to her magazine. This is a remote possibility, though it exists; but when it comes to fighting, men must remember that it is not possible to make war without running risks, and that it is highly improbable that one-tenth as many seamen will die from the explosion of their own magazines, so occasioned, as from the direct blow of the enemy's projectiles.

NOTE.--Since this article was written, in January, 1898, it
has become known that the attitude of Japan towards the
United States, regarded as a power of the Pacific, has been
reversed, and that--as already remarked in the preface to
this volume--her leading statesmen, instead of resenting the
annexation of Hawaii, now welcome cordially the advance of
the United States to the Philippines. This change, occurring
as it has within four years, affords a striking indication
of the degree to which the attention of mankind has been
aroused by the character of Russia's progress in northeastern
Asia, and upon the Pacific, as well as of the influence
thereby exerted upon the currents of men's thoughts, and upon
international relations.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] From a telegram from Berlin of March 2, 1898.

_Uniform with "Lessons of the War with Spain and Other Articles."_

THE INTEREST OF AMERICA IN SEA POWER, Present and Future. By CAPT. A.T. MAHAN. With two maps showing strategic points. Crown 8vo. Cloth, gilt top. $2.00.

CONTENTS

I. The United States Looking Outward.
II. Hawaii and our Sea Power.
III. The Isthmus and our Sea Power.
IV. Anglo-American Alliance.
V. The Future in Relation to American Naval Power.
VI. Preparedness for Naval War.
VII. A Twentieth Century Outlook.
VIII. Strategic Features of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

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His paper on Hawaii is timely at this moment, as it treats of the annexation of the Sandwich Islands from the point of view which our statesmen might well take, rather than from the professional view which a naval officer might be expected to hold.--_Philadelphia Telegraph._

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No book of recent publication has been received with such enthusiasm of grateful admiration as that written by an officer of the American Navy, Captain Mahan, upon Sea Power and Naval Achievements. It simply supplants all other books on the subject, and takes its place in our libraries as the standard work.--DEAN HOLE, in "_More Memories_."

An altogether exceptional work; there is nothing like it in the whole range of naval literature.... The work is entirely original in conception, masterful in construction, and scholarly in execution.--_The Critic._

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An instructive work of the highest value and interest to students and to the reading public, and should find its way into all the libraries and homes of the land.--_Magazine of American History._

A book that must be read. _First_, it must be read by all schoolmasters, from the head-master of Eton to the head of the humblest board-school in the country. No man is fit to train English boys to fulfil their duties as Englishmen who has not marked, learned, and inwardly digested it. _Secondly_, it must be read by every Englishman and Englishwoman who wishes to be worthy of that name. It is no hard or irksome task to which I call them. The writing is throughout clear, vigorous, and incisive.... The book deserves and must attain a world-wide reputation.--COLONEL MAURICE, _of the British Army, in the "United Service Magazine_."

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A highly interesting and an important work, having lessons and suggestions which are calculated to be of high value to the people of the United States. His pages abound with spirited and careful accounts of the great naval battles and manoeuvres which occurred during the period treated.--_New York Tribune._

Captain Mahan has done more than to write a new book upon naval history. He has even done more than to write the best book that has ever been written upon naval history, though he has done this likewise; for he has written a book which may be regarded as founding a new school of naval historical writing. Captain Mahan's volumes are already accepted as the standard authorities of their kind, not only here, but in England and in Europe generally. It should be a matter of pride to all Americans that an officer of our own navy should have written such books.--THEODORE ROOSEVELT, in "_Political Science Quarterly_."

THE LIFE OF NELSON: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain. By CAPT. A.T. MAHAN. With 19 portraits and plates in photogravure and 21 maps and battle plans. 2 vols. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top. $8.00.

Captain Mahan's work will become one of the greatest naval classics.--_London Times._

The greatest literary achievement of the author of "The Influence of Sea Power upon History." Never before have charm of style, perfect professional knowledge, the insight and balanced judgment of a great historian, and deep admiration for the hero been blended in any biography of Nelson.--_London Standard._

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CAPTAIN MAHAN'S LIFE OF NELSON

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It is not astonishing that this standard life is already passing into a new edition. It has simply displaced all its predecessors except one, that of Southey, which is the vade-mecum of British patriotism, a stimulant of British loyalty, literature of high quality, but in no sense a serious historical or psychological study.... The reader will find in this book three things; an unbroken series of verified historical facts related in minute detail; a complete picture of the hero, with every virtue justly estimated but with no palliation of weakness or fault; and lastly a triumphant vindication of a theses novel and startling to most, that the earth's barriers are continental, its easy ad defensible highways those of the trackless ocean.... Captain Mahan has revealed the modern world to itself.--_American Historical Review, July, 1899._

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