been possible only through the security due to the fact that Great Britain, during the first half of the nineteenth century, had the only navy worth considering in the world, and that during the second half its strength greatly preponderated over that of any of the new navies which had been built or were building.  No wonder that when in 1888 the American observer, Captain Mahan, published his volume “The Influence of Sea Power upon History,” other nations besides the British read from that book the lesson that victory at sea carried with it a prosperity, an influence, and a greatness obtainable by no other means.  It was natural for Englishmen to draw the moral which was slumbering in the national consciousness that England’s independence, her empire, and her greatness depended upon her sea power.  But it was equally natural that other nations should draw a different moral and should ask themselves why this tremendous prize, the primacy of nations and the first place in the world, should for ever belong to the inhabitants of a small island, a mere appendage to the continent of Europe.

This question we must try to answer.  But before entering upon that inquiry I will ask the reader to note the great lesson of the age of Napoleon and of Nelson.  It produced a change in the character of war, which enlarged itself from a mere dispute between Governments and became a struggle between nations.  The instrument used was no longer a small standing army, but the able-bodied male population in arms.  Great Britain indeed still retained her standing army, but for the time she threw her resources without stint into her navy and its success was decisive.

VI.

THE BALANCE OF POWER

We have seen what a splendid prize was the result of British victory at sea, supplemented by British assistance to other Powers on land, a century ago.  We have now to ask ourselves first of all how it came about that Great Britain was able to win it, and afterwards whether it was awarded once for all or was merely a challenge cup to be held only so long as there should be no competitor.

The answer to the first question is a matter of history.  England was peculiarly favoured by fortune or by fate in the great struggles through which, during a period of three hundred years, she asserted and increased her superiority at sea until a century ago it became supremacy.  She rarely had to fight alone.  Her first adversary was Spain.  In the conflict with Spain she had the assistance of the Dutch Provinces.  When the Dutch were strong enough to become her maritime rivals she had for a time the co-operation of France.  Then came a long period during which France was her antagonist.  At the beginning of this epoch William III. accepted the British crown in order to be able to use the strength of England to defend his native country, Holland.  His work was taken up by Marlborough, whose first great victory was won in co-operation