fresh expedients for accelerating the work of preparing their armies to take the field.  The most pacifically inclined nation must do in this respect as its neighbours do, on pain of losing its independence and being mutilated in its territory if it does not.  This rivalry has spread to the sea, and fleets are increased at a rate and at a cost in money unknown to former times, even to those of war.  The possession of a powerful navy by some state which has no reason to apprehend over-sea invasion and which has no maritime interests, however intrinsically important they may be, commensurate with the strength of its fleets, may not indicate a spirit of aggression; but it at least indicates ability to become an aggressor.  Consequently, for the British fleet to fill its proper position in the defence of the empire it must be strong.  To be strong more than large numbers will be required.  It must have the right, that is the best, material, the best organisation, the best discipline, the best training, the best distribution.  We shall ascertain the position that it should hold, if we examine what it would have to do when called upon for work more active than that of peace time.  With the exception of India and Canada no part of the empire is liable to serious attack that does not come over-sea.  Any support that can be given to India or Canada by other parts of the empire must be conveyed across the sea also.  This at once indicates the importance of ocean lines of communication.

War is the method adopted, when less violent means of persuasion have failed, to force your enemy to comply with your demands.  There are three principal ways of effecting this—­invasion of his country, raids on his territory, destruction or serious damage of his sea-borne commerce.  Successful invasion must compel the invaded to come to terms, or his national existence will be lost.  Raids upon his territory may possibly so distress him that he would rather concede your terms than continue the struggle.[90] Damage to his sea-borne commerce may be carried so far that he will be ruined if he does not give in.  So much for one side of the account; we have to examine the other.  Against invasion, raids, or attempts at commerce-destruction there must be some form of defence, and, as a matter of historical fact, defence against each has been repeatedly successful.  If we need instances we have only to peruse the history of the British Empire.

[Footnote 90:  Though raids rarely, if ever, decide a war, they may cause inconvenience or local distress, and an enemy desiring to make them should be obstructed as much as possible.]