Page:Heresies of Sea Power (1906).djvu/187

Rh British Fleet will prevent every neutral harbour being used as a corsair base when convenient: certainly no belligerent will be sufficiently foolish to try and take prizes into his harbours through British cruisers certain to recapture. He will sink them first—just as the Russians (quite soundly) sank everything that they captured and could not take away in their war with Japan.

In a well-conceived guerre de course the capture of British merchant ships for gain will be quite a secondary object. The destruction of British commerce in order to produce financial straits and popular agitation will be the prime objective—and if there exists any Eternal Truth about the strategy of this form of war the prospects of British commerce going the same way as American commerce would be very strong.

Fortunately there is no Eternal Verity in this matter: and the teachings of history to the effect that provided you can escape the enemy you can destroy his merchant ships with impunity is no longer a truth.

With the advance of civilisation two entirely new things have arisen to interfere with the full success of commerce attack: —

(1) Public opinion.

(2) International complications,

(1) Public opinion. This has gradually become a source of grave inconvenience to the corsair. In M 2