tricted sense of the word, springs,
therefore, from the existence of a peaceful shipping, and disappears
with it, except in the case of a nation which has aggressive
tendencies, and keeps up a navy merely as a branch of the military
establishment. As the United States has at present no aggressive
purposes, and as its merchant service has disappeared, the dwindling
of the armed fleet and general lack of interest in it are strictly
logical consequences. When for any reason sea trade is again found to
pay, a large enough shipping interest will reappear to compel the
revival of the war fleet. It is possible that when a canal route
through the Central-American Isthmus is seen to be a near certainty,
the aggressive impulse may be strong enough to lead to the same
result. This is doubtful, however, because a peaceful, gain-loving
nation is not far-sighted, and far-sightedness is needed for adequate
military preparation, especially in these days.

As a nation, with its unarmed and armed shipping, launches forth from
its own shores, the need is soon felt of points upon which the ships
can rely for peaceful trading, for refuge and supplies. In the present
day friendly, though foreign, ports are to be found all over the
world; and their shelter is enough while peace prevails. It was not
always so, nor does peace always endure, though the United States have
been favored by so long a continuance of it. In earlier times the
merchant seaman, seeking for trade in new and unexplored regions, made
his gains at risk of life and liberty from suspicious or hostile
nations, and was under great delays in collecting a full and
profitable freight. He therefore intuitively sought at the far end of
his trade route one or more stations, to be given to him by force or
favor, where he could fix himself or his agents in reasonable
security, where his ships could lie in safety, and where the
merchantable products of the land could be continually collecting,
awaiting the arrival of the home fleet, which should carry them to the
mother-country. As there was immense gain, as well as much risk, in
these early voyages, such establishments naturally multiplied and grew
until they became colonies; whose ultimate development and success
depended upon the genius and policy of the nation from which they
sprang, and form a very great part of the history, and particularly of
the sea history, of the world. All colonies had not the simple and
natural birth and gro