England, Canada and the Great WarDesjardins, L. G. (Louis Georges)
History
England, Canada and the Great War
Desjardins, L. G. (Louis Georges)
Great Britain -- Colonies -- Canada; Imperialism; World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- Canada
Mr. Bourassa's argument to prove his assertion is based on the efforts
of England to maintain and develop her naval forces so as to guarantee
her supremacy on the high seas of the world. How he failed to realize
that Great Britain, on account of her insular position, close to the
European continent, is by nature itself bound, of sheer necessity, to
protect herself by the strength of her military naval power, is beyond
comprehension. Supremacy on the seas is for the Mother Country a mere
question of national existence,--to be or not to be. But supremacy on
the seas cannot, and will never, permit England to attain anything like
universal domination. And why? For the obvious reason that Great Britain
is not, and never can become, a continental Power, in the exact sense of
the word.
I explained, conclusively, I believe, that the case would be very
different if Germany succeeded in her efforts to supplant England's
supremacy on the seas. When the Berlin Government undertook to build a
huge military fleet, Germany was the greatest continental military
Power. What were her expectations when she adopted that threatening
naval policy? The Berlin authorities were very confident that when they
would decide to bring on the great war for which they had been
strenuously preparing for half a century, they would in a few months
have continental Europe at their feet and under their sway. Triumphant
over Europe they would have at once dominated Asia and a great part of
Africa. The next surest way for the German Empire to reach universal
domination was to break England's power on the seas. What is impossible
for England to accomplish, on account of her insular position, Germany,
being a continental Empire, could achieve if she became mistress of the
seas.
The present war is the proof evident that the mighty power of England on
the seas has been the salvation of her national existence and, almost
equally, that of France and Italy. It kept the oceans open for the trade
of all the Allied and neutral nations. He is willingly blind,
intellectually, the man who does not see that deprived of the matchless
protection of her naval forces, Great Britain could be starved and
subdued in a few months by an enemy ruling the waves against her.
Is it possible to suppose that any man aspiring to help moulding the
public opinion of his countrymen, ignores that with the relatively small
extent of the territory it can devote to agricultural production, Great
Britain can never feed her actual population of over forty-five
millions, most likely to reach sixty millions in the not very distant
future. Consequently how unjust, how extravagant, is it to accuse
England of any aspiration to dominate the world by means of the
sacrifices she is absolutely bound to make for the only sake of her
self-defence, her self-protection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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