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at which foreign policy and naval policy touch, but so far as the public is concerned-that is in the matter of the necessary provision of ships, men, and stores-there is no association between them. They are-or should be-as far apart as the Poles. Foreign policy is dragged in when the Government is thought to be "weak on the Navy"!

The nation, as a whole, can usefully bring pressure on a weak Government to maintain the Two-Power Standard, and can judge its acts by rule of three. It is the simplest formula possible, "A" being Great Britain, and "B" and "C" being the next two naval Powers, "A" must equal in ships and men “B”+ "C"+10 per cent.—which is the margin of safety on which the nation insists. Sometimes "B" will be France and "C" Russia, and sometimes "B" will be Germany and "C" France, not as our relations with this or that neighbouring Power are cordial or the reverse, but simply and solely in accordance with the naval strength which each happens to possess. The Two-Power Standard is founded on the assumption that every fleet is, or may be, a menace to England, and that in the rapid re-grouping of the Powers two or more may find themselves at one in a policy repugnant or injurious to England. It is not an excessive scale of naval strength for a country which, first, is an island and a sea-divided Empire; and secondly, an eating house for forty-four millions of people without "visible means of subsistence" beyond the day after to-morrow (save as the seas supply its needs); and with no bulwark against invasion save the fleet.

We have to buy our sea power in a market which is sometimes highly competitive. Now and again this or that Power may put up the price against us; to-day it is "B" and then "C," and a few years hence it may be "D." Twenty years ago France had an idea that she wanted a larger fleet, then it was Russia, and now it is Germany. With each new development we have wasted our anger on our foremost competitor without succeeding in deflecting him from his aims by one hair's breadth as a result thereof. We become irritable and impute motives-purely a matter of foreign policy-because this or that rival Power attaches a high value to sea power and by competition raises the cost of our naval supremacy against us. We are continually the victims of this form of imitation, which is really the sincerest-if very costly-form of flattery, and indulge our anger. We fail to secure from the contest the very solid satisfaction which we might obtain if we remembered that, owing to our shipbuilding, engin

(1) This interpretation of the Two-Power Standard-that is, a 10 per cent. margin-the Prime Minister, in the name of the Government, has accepted without reservations.

eering, and manufacturing resources, we buy our sea power at a lower price per ton than any other country and, having obtained it, secure better value from its employment than any rival because the Navy is our one and only line of defence.

The interview with the German Emperor and the statements of Prince Bülow illustrate the evil consequences which follow inevitably upon the unnecessary confusion by the public of British naval and foreign policy-two distinct issues. It is held that because Germany is building a large fleet, therefore Germany must necessarily be our enemy. There is no such necessity, and as a nation we may well strive to improve our relations with Germany. There was every reason why English and German publicists, journalists, and municipal representatives should exchange visits, because such visits lead to good feeling between the two peoples. But the fatal mistake on this side of the North Sea of late has been in holding out the hand of friendship mainly in the interest, not of peace and good fellowship, but of economy. The German guests and hosts recognised the motive which underlay the "peace movement" in this country. It was the manœuvre of a trader anxious "to corner the market." The movement was doomed to failure because it was actuated by a spirit unworthy of a great people, and throughout the German Empire its real hollowness was recognised. "It is not our friendship you want to win," they said to themselves, "but your pockets which you want to save by prevailing upon us to build fewer ships." And quite openly the German Press explained that such visits, while they were pleasant as social amenities between kindred peoples, could have no influence on German shipbuilding policy. They were interpreted as an attempt to balance party aspirations with party performances; in effect, Germany was asked to build fewer ships in the interest-not of herself, but of British social reform as it commends itself to one party in England. Germany refused because she has no part or lot in our internal affairs. She was fully justified in refusing. England has no right to balance Dreadnoughts with offers of friendship. If it had been realised that this aspect of naval policy has no relation to friendships or alliances, this country would not have had to submit to the humiliation which these efforts drew upon her. The truth was crystallised in a phrase by Mr. Augustine Birrell at Brighton when he said "we are entitled to build as many ships as we want, Germany or no Germany; and Germany would never dispute our right so to do." Similarly, Germany is entitled to build as many ships as she wants, England or no England; and England, of all countries, for she has an automatic Two-Power Standard, should not dispute her right so to do.

Possibly the Emperor's interview might have produced more

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conciliatory results if the "ex-diplomatist," in committing his "calculated indiscretion," had prefaced the Emperor's statements by a short résumé of his Majesty's personal relations towards England, the English Royal House, and the English people, for our memories are short. The peace of the world and the stability of national friendships would be encouraged if those who write and speak, particularly if they be caught by every passing emotion of love and fear, would occasionally turn back and read anew opinions which they expressed in former years. In the present circumstances the reception of the Emperor's statements would have been very different, surely, if some of those who have figured in public life for many years had turned up the newspaper files, now becoming musty with age, and had read the opinions which were expressed when the Princess Royal of Great Britain was married to the Crown Prince of Germany, father of the present Emperor. The happiest auguries were indulged in as to the influence of this marriage upon the peace of the world and particularly upon the future welfare of the British and German peoples. On January 27th, 1859, the German Emperor was born, and once again those who interpreted the aspirations and feelings of the British people recalled the many bonds of sympathy which united the two Teutonic races, and extended a welcome to the young prince as a herald of peace between the two empires. It is now common knowledge that Queen Victoria placed great confidence in the influence which her favourite grandson would exercise. "The Queen," it is recorded, "had been deeply interested in him from birth. She always showed him marked affection, which he fully reciprocated, but, at the same time, she freely asserted her authority in her intercourse with him, and frankly expressed disapproval of his actions when she felt it needful."

When by the early death of his father, the young Crown Prince became the German Emperor and King of Prussia, his accession was welcomed in England because it placed upon the throne of a nearly related people a ruler who by parentage and by early training was half British. In his early years William II. was a frequent visitor to England. He came to this country with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Germany on many occasions. Most of these visits were of an informal and family character. The future Emperor spent many months in the Isle of Wight when Osborne was Queen Victoria's favourite summer residence. He has himself admitted that he owes not a little to the early impressions which he thus gained. He was the daily and almost hourly spectator of the sea power of England moving to and fro across Spithead and up and down the Solent, when

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England was the only country in the world, except France, devoting her attention to the creation of naval power. In the boyhood of the Emperor, rulers of Europe, deceived by the lessons drawn from the Peninsular campaign, the war in the Crimea, and the Indian mutiny, set great store by their armies and regarded their fleets as of little importance, for the mere protection of coasts and harbours against the possibility of invasion by sea. It was on the banks of the Solent that the present Emperor first began to realise the part which fleets had really taken in modelling the world's history. As recently as 1904, when King Edward was present at the Kiel regatta, a new institution which in itself is an index mark in the story of the Kaiser's education of German opinion, he recalled that, as a youth, he had had many a sail in the old British yachts Dolphin and Alberta, and at Portsmouth had seen mighty ironclads constructed which had since served their time and disappeared from the navy list; and he added, “When I came to the throne I attempted to reproduce on a scale commensurate with the resources and interests of my own country that which had made such a deep impression on my mind when I saw it as a young man in England."

The seed of the German naval movement was sown in England, and the great ambition which fired the young Emperor when he was called upon to rule the German people was the creation of the sea instinct in his people. It is certain that the Kaiser reciprocated heartily the friendly feelings which the English people entertained towards him, and he made no secret of the admiration he had for many of their inherent qualities. He ascended the throne in 1888, and among the first State visits which he made was one to his august grandmother, Queen Victoria. The Queen cherished her old hope of laying securely and firmly the foundations of a lasting friendship between the two peoples. She determined that no effort on her part should be wanting to fix and render permanent the happy relations which at that time existed. In her Majesty's Life, it is recorded that the visit greatly interested her, and she arranged every detail of her eldest grandson's reception. Though the Emperor came to England to visit Queen Victoria at Osborne, he arrived surrounded by all the pomp and circumstances of his newly-acquired imperial State. He travelled in his yacht Hohenzollern, accompanied by no fewer than twelve warships, and the Queen, well knowing his enthusiasm for everything nautical, commanded a naval review at Spithead in his honour, and next day inspected the seamen and marines of his Fleet at Osborne. At the same time her Majesty caused the German Emperor to be gazetted as an Honorary Admiral of the Fleet in the British Navy, a unique

honour, which was paid to the Emperor, not only as the ruler of a friendly State, but as a close connection of the English Royal family. In return, the Emperor himself gave proof of private and public friendship by appointing her Majesty Honorary Colonel of the First Regiment of Horse Guards, on which he bestowed the title of "Queen of England's Own." The visit passed off happily, and Queen Victoria congratulated herself on the cordial relations which thus early in the Emperor's reign had been established between the two countries. Throughout the United Kingdom her Majesty's satisfaction and her hopes for the future were shared with enthusiasm.

As the months passed there seemed no reason to doubt that the entente with the German Empire had become a permanent factor in the European situation. In the autumn the Emperor visited Athens to attend the marriage of his sister, Princess Sophie, to the Crown Prince of Greece. He determined as a mark of his friendship to hoist the Union flag which he had received on his appointment as British Admiral of the Fleet, and with all due ceremony it was broken at the main in the old battleship Dreadnought, and for the time being the Emperor was the senior officer of the British Mediterranean Fleet. "One of the best days of my life, which I shall never forget as long as I live," the Emperor remarked on a later occasion when visiting the British battleship Royal Sovereign, "was the day when I inspected the Mediterranean Fleet when I was on board the Dreadnought and my flag was hoisted for the first time." In the following November, King Edward, then Prince of Wales, paid a short visit to Berlin in company with Prince George, the present Prince of Wales, and everywhere they were received by the German people with the greatest cordiality. When Lord Charles Beresford, fresh from the personal triumph marked by the introduction of the Naval Defence Act, afterwards arrived in Berlin, he was received by Prince Bismarck, and the Emperor gave a dinner in his honour. The same summer the Emperor again returned to Cowes, and at Aldershot witnessed a sham fight.

The friendship existing between the two peoples was marked at this date by the grant to Germany of Heligoland-for a quid pro quo-than which nothing can be quoted as more conclusive evidence of the desire on the part of the British Government at the time to do all in its power to conciliate the German nation. A visit to the newly-acquired outpost of the German Empire was paid by the Emperor on the conclusion of his visit to England, and he personally took possession of it. Though the cession of this island was regarded with some disfavour, and was indeed carried out by Lord Salisbury without consultation with the

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