precautions against sudden attack of any kind as if we were at
war with all the nations of the earth; and that no excuse of any
kind would be accepted if there were a sudden attack of any kind
and we were taken unawares." Prominent inhabitants and newspapers
of the Atlantic coast were deeply concerned over the taking away
of the fleet from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The head of the
Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, who hailed from the State of
Maine, declared that the fleet should not and could not go
because Congress would refuse to appropriate the money; Roosevelt
announced in response that he had enough money to take the fleet
around into the Pacific anyhow, that it would certainly go, and
that if Congress did not choose to appropriate enough money to
bring the fleet back, it could stay there. There was no further
difficulty about the money.

The voyage was at once a hard training trip and a triumphant
progress. Everywhere the ships, their officers, and their men
were received with hearty cordiality and deep admiration, and
nowhere more so than in Japan. The nations of the world were
profoundly impressed by the achievement. The people of the United
States were thoroughly aroused to a new pride in their navy and
an interest in its adequacy and efficiency. It was definitely
established in the minds of Americans and foreigners that the
United States navy is rightfully as much at home in the Pacific
as in the Atlantic. Any cloud the size of a man's hand that may
have been gathering above the Japanese horizon was forthwith
swept away. Roosevelt's plan was a novel and bold use of the
instruments of war on behalf of peace which was positively
justified in the event.