We, too, are confident of this, for strenuous and faithful effort
always has its reward, and this is especially true of our fleet
organization. The United States realizes this as well as we, for it,
too, has built up a strong and admirably trained fleet by prodigious
labor. As is the case with the German fleet, the American Navy also is
not built for aggression, but for defense.
Neutrality by the Grace of England.
Janus, a mighty god of the ancient Romans, was represented as having two
faces. He could smile and frown simultaneously.
This god Janus is the personification of neutrality according to English
ideas. Neutrality smiles when violated by England and frowns when
violated by other powers.
The United States got a taste of England's neutrality when, a century
ago, the English impressed thousands of American sailors, taking them
from American ships on the high seas, when they searched neutral ships
and confiscated the enemy's property on board of them, until Congress in
Washington voted for the declaration of war against England.
In the great civil war, 1861 to 1864, England had counted on the victory
of the Southern States; she recognized them as belligerents and supplied
them with warships. This was not considered by England a breach of
neutrality until the Minister of the United States declared, on Sept.
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