They should resent, as a now quite out-of-date and invidious
distinction, any difference in qualification for entry, locality
of service, or remuneration for any rank or rating. Self-respect
and a dignified confidence in their own qualities, the excellence
of which has been thoroughly tested, will prompt the King's colonial
subjects to ask for nothing but equal chances in a force on which
is laid so large a part of the duty of defending the empire. Why
should they cut themselves off from the promising career that
service in the Royal Navy opens to the capable, the zealous,
and the honourable aspirant of every grade? Some of the highest
posts in the navy are now, or lately have been, held by men who
not only happened to be born in British Colonies, but who also
belong to resident colonial families. Surely in this there is a
strong moral cement for binding and keeping the empire together.
It is unnecessary to expatiate on the contrast between the prospect
of such a career and that which is all that a small local service
could offer. It would soon be seen towards which the enterprising
and the energetic would instinctively gravitate.
In the defence of the British Empire the fleet holds a twofold
position. To its general belligerent efficiency, its strength
and activity, we must look if the plans of an enemy are to be
brought to nought. It, and it only, can secure for us the control
of the ocean communications, on the freedom of which from serious
interruptions the prosperity--indeed, the existence--of a scattered
body must depend.
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