158 SEA AND LAND 



about to discuss may fairly claim the attention of our 

 people. 



Although by means of modern engineering devices it has 

 proved possible to construct, though at very great cost, toler- 

 ably good shelters for ships even on harborless coasts where 

 the physical conditions are not favorable for such undertak- 

 ings, there seems no reason to expect that any advance in the 

 engineer's art will ever exempt a country from the disadvan- 

 tages which the absence of good natural ports entails. While 

 defective harbors ma)' be improved by engineering devices at 

 reasonable cost, the creation of havens is impracticable except 

 under peculiar conditions, such as occur at either extremity of 

 the Suez Canal. We may therefore assume that hereafter, as 

 heretofore, the well-harl)ored lands of the world will remain 

 the seat of the dominant seafarers, and that the Northmen 

 folk —the English, Scandinavian, Dutch and Oermans — and 

 their descendants in other parts of the world, will remain 

 masters of the sea and thereby retain and extend their power 

 in the conduct of the world's affairs. 



The measure in which power rests upon the keels of ships 

 may be seen by contrasting the history of Great Britain and 

 that of Switzerland. In all that relates to manly qualities or 

 to intelligence in commercial affairs, the peoples of these two 

 countries may be regarded as equals. But the Swiss have 

 been limited to their mountains ; the power of the state has 

 never been felt more than a few hundred miles from its 

 borders, and its influence in the affairs of the world has been 

 accomplished altogether by its fame and its emigrants. On 

 the other hand, Great I)ritain, as before remarked, owing to 

 the long training in seafaring which its people have received, 

 has become the dominant power of the world. As will be 



