of intellect in the
Army to do it. The two together, with the Advisory Committee--there are
talented people there--and the manufacturers in the country; between us
all we could devise something. We did not have great difficulty with the
submarine boats; and that was all new at first.' The problem of the air,
he held, was vital for the Navy; and when he was asked whether we must
try to command the air as well as the sea, he replied, 'I think it will
come to that. I do not say that we wish to do so, but I think we will be
forced to do so.' In a memorandum submitted to the same sub-committee by
Captain Bertram Dickson the meaning of the command of the air is more
fully explained. 'In the case of a European war', he writes, between two
countries, both sides would be equipped with large corps of aeroplanes,
each trying to obtain information of the other, and to hide its own
movements. The efforts which each would exert in order to hinder or
prevent the enemy from obtaining information ... would lead to the
inevitable result of a war in the air, for the supremacy of the air, by
armed aeroplanes against each other. _This fight for the supremacy of
the air in future wars will be of the first and greatest importance_,
and when it has been won the land and sea forces of the loser will be at
such a disadvantage that the war will certainly have to terminate at a
much smaller loss in men and money to both sides.'

The whole matter is clearly stated in these passages. The people of
Great Britain live in an island. They do not desire--they have never
desired--to dominate the world, or to dictate to other peoples how they
shall live. They do desire to be free of the world, and to take their
luck in it, passing to and fro without hindrance. This freedom of theirs
has repeatedly been imperilled by foreign powers, who have always
desired a greater degree of uniformity and control than is tolerable to
Britain. In order to keep their doors open the people of this island
have been compelled to fight at sea, and have attained a measure of
naval power which is sometimes called the mastery of the seas, but
which, in essence, is no more than the obstinate and resolute assertion
of their right to be the masters of themselves. They have been
adventurers and pirates; they have never been tyrants. They fight
desperately because they know that even on distant seas they are
fighting for their lives, and for all that makes their lives worth
living. The