achieved. Great results often are brought about by very small forces,
as when some state of equilibrium is disturbed, and vice versa. The
comparison attempted is simply between the _power_ of a certain
army and the power of a certain fleet. And while it is true that,
for some purposes, such as overcoming small resistance, great power
may not be as efficacious as feeble power or even gentleness, yet,
nevertheless, it must be clear that, for the overcoming of _great_
resistance quickly great power must be applied.

The existence of a certain power is quite independent of the
desirability of using it. The existence of the power is all the
writer wishes to insist upon at present; the question of its employment
will be considered later.

Not only is the power of a fleet immeasurably greater than that of
an army, but it must always be so, from the very nature of things.
The speed of an army, _while exercising the functions of an army_,
and the power of a musket, while exercising its functions as a
weapon of one soldier, cannot change much from what they were when
Sherman went marching through Georgia. But, thanks to mechanical
science, there is no limit in sight to the power to which a fleet
may attain.

The power of a navy is of recent growth, but it is increasing and
is going to continue to increase. Every advance of civilization will
advance the navy. Every new discovery and invention will directly
or indirectly serve it. The navy, more than any other thing, will
give opportunity for mechanism and to mechanism. Far beyond any
possible imagination of to-day, it will become the highest expression
of the Genius of Mechanism, and the embodiment of its spirit.