Despite a certain great original superiority conferred by our geographical nearness and immense resources,—­due, in other words, to our natural advantages, and not to our intelligent preparations,—­the United States is wofully unready, not only in fact but in purpose, to assert in the Caribbean and Central America a weight of influence proportioned to the extent of her interests.  We have not the navy, and, what is worse, we are not willing to have the navy, that will weigh seriously in any disputes with those nations whose interests will conflict there with our own.  We have not, and we are not anxious to provide, the defence of the seaboard which will leave the navy free for its work at sea.  We have not, but many other powers have, positions, either within or on the borders of the Caribbean, which not only possess great natural advantages for the control of that sea, but have received and are receiving that artificial strength of fortification and armament which will make them practically inexpugnable.  On the contrary, we have not on the Gulf of Mexico even the beginning of a navy yard which could serve as the base of our operations.  Let me not be misunderstood.  I am not regretting that we have not the means to meet on terms of equality the great navies of the Old World.  I recognize, what few at least say, that, despite its great surplus revenue, this country is poor in proportion to its length of seaboard and its exposed points.  That which I deplore, and which is a sober, just, and reasonable cause of deep national concern, is that the nation neither has nor cares to have its sea frontier so defended, and its navy of such power, as shall suffice, with the advantages of our position, to weigh seriously when inevitable discussions arise,—­such as we have recently had about Samoa and Bering Sea, and which may at any moment come up about the Caribbean Sea or the canal.  Is the United States, for instance, prepared to allow Germany to acquire the Dutch stronghold of Curacao, fronting the Atlantic outlet of both the proposed canals of Panama and Nicaragua?  Is she prepared to acquiesce in any foreign power purchasing from Haiti a naval station on the Windward Passage, through which pass our steamer routes to the Isthmus?  Would she acquiesce in a foreign protectorate over the Sandwich Islands, that great central station of the Pacific, equidistant from San Francisco, Samoa, and the Marquesas, and an important post on our lines of communication with both Australia and China?  Or will it be maintained that any one of these questions, supposing it to arise, is so exclusively one-sided, the arguments of policy and right so exclusively with us, that the other party will at once yield his eager wish, and gracefully withdraw?  Was it so at Samoa?  Is it so as regards Bering Sea?  The motto seen on so many ancient cannon, Ultima ratio regum, is not without its message to republics.