It is not for Englishmen, who have talked for twenty years of a
Two-Power standard for their navy, to reproach Germany for maintaining
her army at a similar standard. Had she not done so the peace of Europe
would not have been preserved, nor is it possible on any ground of right
or justice to cavil at Germany's purpose to be able in case of need to
defend herself at sea. The German Admiral Rosendahl, discussing the
British and German navies and the proposals for disarmament, wrote in
the _Deutsche Revue_ for June 1909:--
"If England claims and thinks permanently necessary for her an absolute
supremacy at sea that is her affair, and no sensible man will reproach
her for it; but it is quite a different thing for a Great Power like the
German Empire, by an international treaty supposed to be binding for all
time, expressly to recognise and accept this in principle. Assuredly we
do not wish to enter into a building competition with England on a
footing of equality.... But a political agreement on the basis of the
unconditional superiority of the British Fleet would be equivalent to
an abandonment of our national dignity, and though we do not, speaking
broadly, wish to dispute England's predominance at sea, yet we do mean
in case of war to be or to become the masters on our own coasts.
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