the kingdom to the other must go by sea, and be exposed to capture by
the way. As regards purely internal trade, this danger has generally
disappeared at the present day. In most civilized countries, now, the
destruction or disappearance of the coasting trade would only be an
inconvenience, although water transit is still the cheaper.
Nevertheless, as late as the wars of the French Republic and the First
Empire, those who are familiar with the history of the period, and the
light naval literature that has grown up around it, know how constant
is the mention of convoys stealing from point to point along the
French coast, although the sea swarmed with English cruisers and there
were good inland roads.

Under modern conditions, however, home trade is but a part of the
business of a country bordering on the sea. Foreign necessaries or
luxuries must be brought to its ports, either in its own or in foreign
ships, which will return, bearing in exchange the products of the
country, whether they be the fruits of the earth or the works of men's
hands and it is the wish of every nation that this shipping business
should be done by its own vessels. The ships that thus sail to and fro
must have secure ports to which to return, and must, as far as
possible, be followed by the protection of their country throughout
the voyage.

This protection in time of war must be extended by armed shipping. The
necessity of a navy, in the restricted 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