and Mercantile Marine gained eleven million tons during
the war, exactly half each. But as the Mercantile Marine lost nine
millions sunk, it ended three-and-a-half to the bad, a terrible handicap
in the race with the shipping of countries which, like the United States
have made stupendous fortunes by the war, besides gaining enormously in
shipping and oversea trade. Norway, Japan, and the States gained most.
The States came out of the war three and three-quarter million tons to
the good, thus gaining over seven millions as compared with the British.

The case of the Navy was one of life or death for us and all our Allies;
so the merchant fleet, fishing fleet, and shipbuilding yards had to let
the Navy come first, no matter what the cost might be. But we must never
forget that the Navy is only one-half of our British sea-power, that the
Mercantile Marine is the other half, and that all kinds of British
sea-power must work together or be lost. So we cannot separate one kind
from another here; and we would not if we could.

Nor should we forget that British sea-power was itself only one of the
many kinds of war-power put forth by Britain in the cause of freedom.
Britain raised by far the largest force of volunteers ever raised by any
country in any age or for any war--five million and forty-one thousand
men for the Army alone. This takes no account of conscripts, or of
naval, air force, or civilian Services; nor does it include one man
belonging to any part of the British Empire overseas.

Then she forced into the ranks those that could but would not go as long
as they got others to do their fighting for them. In the meantime her
whole population, except those slackers every country had, had put its
strenuous hand to war work of one kind or another. So, whether by sea or
land or air, whether as warriors or as civilians, the people of Great
Britain gave their united all to the noblest cause on earth. And, when
the war ended, Great Britain had the biggest army as well as the biggest
navy in the world--biggest not only in absolute numbers but also biggest
in proportion to the whole number of men fit to bear arms. Nor was this
in any way due to her having lost less than others; for she had the
greatest total loss in killed and wounded of all the Allies--greatest on
land, greatest by sea, and greatest in the air.

Besides all we have seen before, in following the more purely naval
fortunes of the war, the Navy did pr