History has proved that such a purely military sea power can be built up by a despot, as was done by Louis XIV.; but though so fair seeming, experience showed that his navy was like a growth which having no root soon withers away.

But in a representative government any military expenditure must have a strongly represented interest behind it, convinced of its necessity.

Such an interest in sea power does not exist, cannot exist here without action by the government.
How such a merchant shipping should be built up, whether by subsidies or by free trade, by constant administration of tonics or by free movement in the open air, is not a military but an economical question.

Even had the United States a great national shipping, it may be doubted whether a sufficient navy would follow; the distance which separates her from other great powers, in one way a protection, is also a snare.

The motive, if any there be, which will give the United States a navy, is probably now quickening in the Central American Isthmus.