THE  PRECEDENT  OF  KAMRANH   575
scornfully and replied that their fleet would only move on a few miles and would act very much as it chose. So it befell, and the armada brought up again only forty miles to the north of Kamranh at the next convenient anchorage off Port Dayet and in Binkhoi Bay, and has since been lurking in the same waters. Some fifteen ships under Admiral Nebogatoff, who had left Jibuti on April 7, were reported off Penang on April 27 and passed Singapore at 5.30 a.m. on May 5. By this time they are doubtless in touch with their friends, thus having profited in their turn from the advantages offered by French hospitality.
The situation, apart from its political aspects, cannot fail to inspire some unpleasant reflections. If we are to assume from this precedent that the ships of any Power with whom we are at war propose to make use of neutral waters in this impudent fashion, the necessity for some international compact on a question of such great delicacy becomes decidedly urgent. But it is also certain that a neutral will only permit these infractions of the duties pertaining to his position if the belligerent, to whose disadvantage the action takes place, is unable to enforce just regard for his legitimate rights. Therefore it is correct to say that the precedent of Kamranh is but one argument the more in favour of a strong navy.
The view advocated by Le Temps is that " Continental Powers " are less well equipped with naval bases abroad than " the insular Powers," and that, therefore —alas ! poor logic!—the former must invent a theory of deportment all their own, by means of which they can make full use of neutral waters for belligerent operations.
The premises are inaccurate and the conclusions are the very last we should have expected to see endorsed by a responsible French newspaper. For, whatever may be the case with other Continental Powers, France has an admirable network of naval bases about the world—Corsica, Algeria, Tunis, Jibuti, Martinique, West Africa,  Madagascar,  French  Indo-China,  New