The feelings in the United States with regard to the preparations for war in 1891 was concisely put in the opening clauses of the "Report of the Policy Board," which had been assembled in Washington in 1890 to consider the policy that should be pursued by American Navy Department in the construction of a new fleet, to be commensurate in powers and dimensions with the requirements of the United States. It ran as follows: - "For the United States, it may be confidently asserted that the chances of war are much less than for most European nations… The isolated position of this country removes many incentives to war. We fear no encroachments, nor are we tempted at present to encroach upon that of others. Our territory does not obstruct the free passage to the sea of the commerce of any nation, nor is our own obstructed in any similar way. We have no colonies, nor any apparent desire to acquire them, nor will this desire probably arise until the population of this country has overflowed its vast limits, or its great resources become strained to maintain it…"