ship-propulsion and for many minor services--mere _matériel_
being thereby raised in the general estimation far above really
more important matters--makes the danger mentioned more menacing
in the present age than it has ever been before.




II

THE COMMAND OF THE SEA[50]

[Footnote 50: Written in 1899. (_Encyclopoedia_Britannica_.)]

This phrase, a technical term of naval warfare, indicates a definite
strategical condition. The term has been substituted occasionally,
but less frequently of late years, for the much older 'Dominion
of the sea' or 'Sovereignty of the sea,' a legal term expressing
a claim, if not a right. It has also been sometimes treated as
though it were identical with the rhetorical expression 'Empire
of the sea.' Mahan, instead of it, uses the term 'Control of
the sea,' which has the merit of precision, and is not likely
to be misunderstood or mixed up with a form of words meaning
something different. The expression 'Command of the sea,' however,
in its proper and strategic sense, is so firmly fixed in the
language that it would be a hopeless task to try to expel it;
and as, no doubt, writers will continue to use it, it must be
explained and illustrated. Not only does it differ in meaning
from 'Dominion or Sovereignty of the sea,' it is not even truly
derived therefrom, as can be briefly shown. 'It has become an