nment, inspired in every action by the malice
of an unfriendly terrestrial Admiralty, and that, in short, by a
terrible reversal of the national motto for which we feel so just a
reverence, Britannia would cease to rule the waves, while the waves
would rule Britannia?' (Loud and prolonged Ministerial cheers, during
which another member of the Opposition rose and inquired the precise
policy of Her Majesty's Government towards the Selenites.)

'I am instructed,' said a Cabinet Minister, 'to inform the honourable
member that the Selenites have no existence. The step contemplated is
therefore a mere peaceful annexation, and war and bloodshed, such as
were pathetically alluded to by the honourable member for Putney, are
out of the question. I may here bring clearly before the minds of
the House the fact that, as the Moon is destitute of any atmosphere,
scientific men have unanimously declared the impossibility of animal
life upon it.'

'I should like to know,' said a member, rising below the gangway,
'whether the Government has given its attention to one point, namely,
that as where there is no atmosphere there can be no inhabitants, where
there can be no inhabitants there can be no representatives of rival
terrestrial Powers. Unless the forces of a certain Power are capable
of living without air, I fail to see that we have anything to apprehend
from their occupation of the Moon. Russians, for instance, are not
personally dear to me; and I should say that the more of them introduce
civilisation to that extinct and uninhabitable sphere the better; but
I utterly decline to go there myself, or to vote for sending even our
convicts there, much less our able-bodied unemployed. I should like this
little difficulty explained, for I confess that, to an unstatesmanlike
mind, this debate seems to be verging on nonsense.' 'I had not thought
it necessary, at this early stage of the debate,' observed the Prime
Minister plaintively, 'to remind the House that no such difficulty as
that present to the mind of the honourable member really exists. Has my
honourable friend below the gangway never heard of a mental or a
moral atmosphere? Is it not one which inevitably surrounds us, in the
incandescent Soudan or in the chill abode of departed Selenites? What he
regards as an insuperable drawback only furnishes me with another reason
for urging the Bill upon you. Would it not be a disgrace to the
British flag, ever the friend of civilisation and