many's declaration of war. At last the
moment had come when it would be seen what fruit the tree of the
Russian-English-French Entente was to bear.

CHAPTER V

ENGLAND

In two respects England, or, more correctly speaking, the United
Kingdom of England and Ireland, occupies a peculiar position among
the great European nations. In the first place, it differs from all
the other European countries in that it is an island. This fact, of
course, makes a great many of its political and economic problems
altogether different from those which the other countries have to
face. Its defenses, both military and naval, are naturally greatly
influenced by its geographical location, and so are the policies
which England has followed in connection with foreign politics.
Nature, having put vast oceans between it and the rest of the world,
gave thereby to England the strongest possible natural defenses. On
the other hand, this gift of Nature necessitated that the island's
government should at all times maintain a navy, strong and efficient
enough to defend it, not only from the attack of any one other
nation, but from the attack of any possible combination of
countries. Inhabited as it is by almost half a hundred million
people, crowded into a space of only 120,000 square miles, its
economic problems also are strongly influenced by its geographical
location. For it stands to reason that on comparatively so small a
space it is impossible to raise sufficient food for the inhabitants,
and it also stands to reason that many of the raw materials which in
modern times are required by civilized nations have to be secured
from outside sources. This is a second reason why an immensely
strong and efficient navy has been indispensable to England at all
times.

A second peculiarity of England is found in the fact that, although
England itself--by this we mean the United Kingdom of England,
Scotland, Ireland--is exceeded in extent by every one of the other
important European nations except Italy, it possesses more numerous,
more scattered, and more profitable colonies than any of the other
countries. Just as it was said of the old Spanish colonial empire at
the time of Charles V that the sun never set on it, this claim can
now be made for the English colonies. Large parts of every one of
the three continents--Africa, Asia, America--are ruled either
directly or indirectly by England, and the fourth continent,
Australia, it possesses ent