And who can say
that they could have done better than this?
Such was their past both remote and near. It has been stubbornly
consistent, and as this consistency was based upon the character of men
fashioned by a very old tradition, there is no doubt that it will endure.
Such changes as came into the sea life have been for the main part
mechanical and affecting only the material conditions of that inbred
consistency. That men don't change is a profound truth. They don't
change because it is not necessary for them to change even if they could
accomplish that miracle. It is enough for them to be infinitely
adaptable--as the last four years have abundantly proved.
III.
Thus one may await the future without undue excitement and with unshaken
confidence. Whether the hues of sunrise are angry or benign, gorgeous or
sinister, we shall always have the same sky over our heads. Yet by a
kindly dispensation of Providence the human faculty of astonishment will
never lack food. What could be more surprising for instance, than the
calm invitation to Great Britain to discard the force and protection of
its Navy? It has been suggested, it has been proposed--I don't know
whether it has been pressed.
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