The great highway on which thoughts and things travel are the high seas.
I can with full authority disclaim any ambition by my country as to
world dominion. She is much too modest, on the one hand, and too
experienced, on the other hand, not to know that such a state will never
be tolerated by the rest. Events have shown that world dominion can
only be practiced by dominion of the high seas. The aim of Germany is to
have the seas, as well as the narrows, kept permanently open for the
free use of all nations in times of war as well as in times of peace.
The sea is nobody's property and must be free to everybody. The seas are
the lungs from which humanity draws a fresh breath of enterprise, and
they must not be stopped up.
I, personally, would go so far as to neutralize all the seas and narrows
permanently by a common and effective agreement guaranteed by all the
powers, so that any infringement on that score would meet with the most
severe punishment that can be meted out to any transgressor.
(3) A free sea is useless except combined with the freedom of cable and
mail communications with all countries, whether belligerent or not. I
should like to see all the cables jointly owned by the interested
nations and a world mail system over sea established by common consent.
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