transporting easily, not without an
element of danger, but hitherto safely and successfully, great numbers
of soldiers across the seas from all quarters of the world to be
directed upon the decisive theatre of the land struggle. [A voice,
"Russians," and laughter.] And we have searched the so-called German
Ocean without discovering the German flag. [Cheers.] Our enemies, in
their carefully worked out calculations, which they have been toiling
over during a great many years, when the people of this country, as a
whole, credited them with quite different motives, ["Hear, hear!"] have
always counted upon a process of attrition and the waste of shipping by
mines and torpedoes and other methods of warfare of the weaker power, by
which the numbers and strength of our fleet would be reduced to such a
point that they would be able to steel their hearts and come out and
fight. [Cheers.] We have been at war for five or six weeks, and so
far--though I would certainly not underrate the risks and hazards
attending upon warlike operations and the vanity of all
overconfidence--but so far the attrition has been on their side and not
on ours, [cheers,] while the losses which they have suffered greatly
exceed any that we have at present sustained.

I have made careful inquiries as to the condition of our sailors in the
fleet under the strain put upon them, and this continued watching and
constant attention to their duty under war conditions, and I am glad to
say that it is reported to me that the health of the fleet has been much
better since the declaration of war than it was in time of peace, [loud
cheers and laughter,] both as to the percentage of sickness and the
character of the sickness, [laughter,] and that there is no reason why
we should not keep up the same process of naval control and have the
same exercises of sea power, on which we have lived and are living, for
what is almost an indefinite period.

The Nose of the Bulldog.

By one of those dispensations of Providence, which appeals so strongly
to the German Emperor, [laughter,] the nose of the bulldog has been
slanted backward so that he can breathe with comfort without letting go.
[Laughter and cheers.] We have been successful in maintaining naval
control thus far in the struggle, and there are also sound reasons for
believing that as it progresses the chances in our favor will not
diminish but increase. In the next 12 months the number of great ships
that will be compl