ut the determining factor for England's future was her insular
position; this has been the case from the time Europe entered the
ocean-period. Since the year 1600 England, by her commerce and politics,
has influenced Europe from without, while she has maintained for herself
a position of independence, and directed her energies across the ocean
into the wide world. Successively she seized upon the Baltic, North Sea,
and Atlantic Ocean; gradually she became the merchant and shipbuilder
for most of the European nations.

"The sea has given her everything--independence, security and
prosperity--both in treasure and lands. The sea protected her and spared
her the unpleasantness of mighty neighbours. It was the ocean which
permitted free development to her internal life, parliament, government
and administration, and saved her from the continental form of
Government--a strong, armed monarchy.

"The sea has allowed the English to develop, undisturbed, the
peculiarities of their race--personal energy, trained by contact with
the ocean; personal freedom, favoured but not oppressed by the living
organism of the State. The sea afforded them liberty of action in every
direction without fear of attack from behind. Freed from the chains
which bound Europe, England went out into the wide world.

"Yet she remained constantly associated with the continent, not only
because Europe was her field of action. English statesmen have always
seized upon every opportunity to influence European policy; at first
this was from motives of defence, but afterwards from an ever-increasing
spirit of aggression. The balance of power on the continent has always
been one of the premises for England's security and existence.

"She is indebted to her insular position for the supreme advantage of
being able to exercise her influence in Europe without allowing her
forces to be tied to the continent; European countries were bound by
their own conflicts and differences, enabling England to exert her
influence upon them without active participation. England has become
thoroughly accustomed to a state of affairs under which she has no
neighbours and never permits any--not even on the sea. She has come to
consider this her God-given prerogative.

"The barriers of geographical position which hampered other lands,
nature did not impose upon England; the security afforded by her girdle
of waves seemed as it were to impel her to strike out into the
unbounded, and