position, which inherently belongs to the military
mind? In the case of both navies and armies something depends on
geographical conditions, and something on financial possibilities. The
first represents, as it were, the minimum required for safety; the second
the maximum burden which a state can endure without going into
bankruptcy.[12] Our own country, we should say, requires fleets, so far as
geographical conditions are concerned, for the protection of her shores,
and, inasmuch as she is a scattered empire, we must have our warships in
all the Seven Seas. France, in her turn, requires a navy which shall
protect her in the Mediterranean, and especially render access easy to
her North African possessions. On the supposition that she is good friends
with England, she does not require ships in the North Sea or in the
English Channel, while, vice versa, England, so long as France is strong
in the Mediterranean, need only keep quite small detachments at Gibraltar,
Malta, and elsewhere. Russia must have a fleet for the Baltic, and also a
fleet in the Black Sea. Beyond that her requirements assuredly do not go.
Italy's activities are mainly in the Mediterranean. Under the supposition
that she is conquered, Germany stands in some danger of losing her navy
altogether.

[12] Brailsford's _War of Steel and Gold_: Chap. IX.

PROTECTION OF COMMERCE

It is obvious, therefore, that if we confine ourselves purely to
geographical conditions, and adhere to the principle that navies are
required for the protection of coasts, we can at once reduce, within
relatively small limits, the building of armoured ships. The reason why
large navies have hitherto been necessary is because it has been assumed
that they do not merely protect coasts, but protect lines of commerce. We
have been told, for instance, that inasmuch as we cannot feed our own
population, and our national food comes to us from Canada, America, the
Argentine, Russia, and elsewhere, we must possess a very large amount of
cruisers to safeguard the ships that are conveying to us our daily bread.
If we ask why our ships must not only protect our shores, but our
merchandise--the latter being for the most part a commercial enterprise
worked by individual companies--the answer turns on that much-discussed
principle, the Right of Capture at Sea, which was debated at the last
Hague Conference, and as a matter of fact stoutly defended both by Germany
and ourselves. If we look at th