“England’s modern history begins with the Tudors and her world policy with Elizabeth.  First of all, England had to liberate herself, economically and politically, from a position of dependence on the other Powers; then she took up her particular attitude to the world.  Her separation from the Roman Catholic Church was exceedingly rich in consequences; this step assigned to her a peculiar place in the camp of the nations, and exercised a deep influence upon her intellectual development.  It gave her an impetus towards internal and external independence.

“But the determining factor for England’s future was her insular position; this has been the case from the time Europe entered the ocean-period.  Since the year 1600 England, by her commerce and politics, has influenced Europe from without, while she has maintained for herself a position of independence, and directed her energies across the ocean into the wide world.  Successively she seized upon the Baltic, North Sea, and Atlantic Ocean; gradually she became the merchant and shipbuilder for most of the European nations.

“The sea has given her everything—­independence, security and prosperity—­both in treasure and lands.  The sea protected her and spared her the unpleasantness of mighty neighbours.  It was the ocean which permitted free development to her internal life, parliament, government and administration, and saved her from the continental form of Government—­a strong, armed monarchy.

“The sea has allowed the English to develop, undisturbed, the peculiarities of their race—­personal energy, trained by contact with the ocean; personal freedom, favoured but not oppressed by the living organism of the State.  The sea afforded them liberty of action in every direction without fear of attack from behind.  Freed from the chains which bound Europe, England went out into the wide world.

“Yet she remained constantly associated with the continent, not only because Europe was her field of action.  English statesmen have always seized upon every opportunity to influence European policy; at first this was from motives of defence, but afterwards from an ever-increasing spirit of aggression.  The balance of power on the continent has always been one of the premises for England’s security and existence.

“She is indebted to her insular position for the supreme advantage of being able to exercise her influence in Europe without allowing her forces to be tied to the continent; European countries were bound by their own conflicts and differences, enabling England to exert her influence upon them without active participation.  England has become thoroughly accustomed to a state of affairs under which she has no neighbours and never permits any—­not even on the sea.  She has come to consider this her God-given prerogative.

“The barriers of geographical position which hampered other lands, nature did not impose upon England; the security afforded by her girdle of waves seemed as it were to impel her to strike out into the unbounded, and to look upon every obstacle as a wrong.  There is a thread of daring lawlessness running through all England’s world-struggles, through all periods of her history, right down to the present day.