316 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



nuisance by both parties in the State, and is anathema 

 at the Admiralty. Every piece of work it has done, 

 every single item of admittedly much-needed reform 

 of which it has been the means, has been accomplished 

 in the face of direct and almost virulent opposition 

 by the Government of the day. Any recognition of 

 its services to the nation by any member of the Eoyal 

 Family, to say nothing of the king himself, is un- 

 thinkable, and yet, in Germany, with a need infinitely 

 less than ours for such an institution, how eagerly 

 does the kaiser tender to the Navy League his power- 

 ful patronage. I hold no brief for our Navy League, 

 not being even an honorary member, and thus reserv- 

 ing my right to criticize its operations ; but I do 

 believe that the treatment it meets with in this country 

 is a fair sample of the attitude of our people towards 

 anything which concerns their best interests. 



Fortunately, we have had of late years a sympa- 

 thetic appreciation of the Navy's needs in the highest 

 Governmental quarters, and a reorganization of the 

 headquarters of naval affairs, the Admiralty, which 

 is full of hope for the future ; for although, as a people, 

 we are careless and culpably ignorant of what the 

 Navy really is and what it means to us as a people, 

 we pay whatever is asked for its extension and upkeep 

 without a murmur, and resent nothing so much as any 

 suggestion of its being weakened for any considera- 

 tion, political or otherwise. Indeed, there are not 

 wanting signs that, owing to the indefatigable labours 

 of certain journalists in influential organs of public 

 opinion, aided immensely by the efforts of the Navy 

 League, the general public is being awakened to some 

 intelligent interest in the Navy and its duties. So 



