tely reversed, and our fleet was served by a great
flotilla of magnificently armed leviathans of the Mercantile Marine,
including two of the fastest steamships in the world, all subsidized by
Government.

We know now that exact official records of these facts were filed in
the Intelligence Department at Berlin. But German arrogance prohibited
their right comprehension, and Britain's declaration of war was
instantly followed by an Imperial order which, in effect, divided the
available strength of the German Navy into eight fleets, and despatched
these to eight of the nine British ports garrisoned by German troops,
with orders of almost childish simplicity. These ports were to be taken,
and British insurrection crushed, ashore and afloat.

If the German Navy had been free of its Imperial Commander-in-Chief, and
of the insensate arrogance of his entourage, it could have struck a
terrible blow at the British Empire, while almost the whole fighting
strength of our Navy was concentrated upon the defence of England. As it
was, this fine opportunity was flung aside, and with it the greater part
of Germany's fleet. Divided into eight small squadrons, their ships were
at the mercy of our concentrated striking force. Our men fell upon them
with a Berserker fury born of humiliation silently endured, and followed
by eight or nine months of the finest sort of sea-training which could
possibly be devised.

The few crippled ships of the German fleet which survived those terrible
North Sea and Channel engagements must have borne with them into their
home waters a bitter lesson to the ruler whom they left, so far as
effective striking power was concerned, without a Navy.

Here, again, critics have said that our tactics showed an extravagant
disregard of cost, both as to men and material. But here also the
hostile critics overlook various vital considerations. The destruction
of Germany's sea-striking power at this juncture was worth literally
anything that Britain could give; not perhaps in England's immediate
interest, but in the interests of the Empire, without which England
would occupy but a very insignificant place among the powers of
civilization.

Then, too, the moral of our bluejackets has to be considered. Since the
invasion and the sinking of the _Dreadnought_, ours had become a Navy of
Berserkers. The Duty teaching, coming after the invasion, made running
fire of our men's blood. They fought their ships as Nelson's men fo