In a personal interview before they left I had explained to the officers in command that I believed the trip would be one of absolute peace, but that they were to take exactly the same 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.
My prime purpose was to impress the American people; and this purpose was fully achieved.

The cruise did make a very deep impression abroad; boasting about what we have done does not impress foreign nations at all, except unfavorably, but positive achievement does; and the two American achievements that really impressed foreign peoples during the first dozen years of this century were the digging of the Panama Canal and the cruise of the battle fleet round the world.

But the impression made on our own people was of far greater consequence.

No single thing in the history of the new United States Navy has done as much to stimulate popular interest and belief in it as the world cruise.

This effect was forecast in a well-informed and friendly English periodical, the London _Spectator_.