nated fifteen years earlier, she had conquered Canada from the French, and had also driven them out of India, thus acquiring one Empire in the West and another in the East at the same time. The navies of France and Spain had been driven from the seas, their sea-borne trade had been ruined, and their colonies had been taken, one after another, while the "trade of England increased gradually every year, and such a scene of national prosperity while waging a long, costly, and bloody war, was never before shown by any people in the world." So it was in 1900, with the difference that the interval since the last great naval war was in this case eighty-five years instead of fifteen. The commercial supremacy of Europe had been in the hands of Great Britain since the decline of Holland about the beginning of the Eighteenth Century, and it had been put in a position, humanly speaking, of absolute security for a long time by the destruction of the French Navy in the war with Napoleon. During the eighty-five years of naval peace this supremacy had not only been maintained, but had been enormously extended till it had spread over the whole world, and before the growth of the commercial spirit in Germany during the last quarter of the nineteenth century it had been without a formidable rival. During the same period the British Empire, as we now know it, had come into existence, and the several parts were being gradually drawn closer together by ties of kinship and common interest, while various schemes for a more formal federation, on a military, commercial, or legislative basis were afloat. Once more the wealth and prosperity of Britain excited the cupidity of her neighbors, a fact which was evidenced not only by the outbreak of war with France and Russia, but still more markedly by the declaration of an Armed Neutrality of the other European Powers under German leadership, following the precedents of 1780 and 1801, and the "boycotting *Mahan, Influence of Sea Power upon History, p. 319. of British trade. We cannot consider this rivalry either unnatural or inexcusable, for the foreign Powers would argue that so large a share of the world's riches should not be in the hands of a single Power which, in their view, used its opportunities for its own selfish ends, and that other nations had as good a title as the British to the advantages of wealth. Another point of resemblance in the situations at the outbreak of the two wars is the relative strength of Great Britain and her adversaries. In the Eighteenth Century the standard of strength for the British Navy laid down by Hawke and his contemporaries had been equality with the combined fleets of the two Bourbon Powers, France and Spain; and in 1889 Lord George Hamilton, in introducing the Naval Defence Bill, announced that the then existing Government had decided that the navy must be kept at a strength equal to the combined fleets of the two strongest naval Powers on the Continent, these being France and Russia. This standard was verbally confirmed by successive Governments of both parties. In neither case, however, was the standard of strength laid down maintained, owing to causes into which it is not necessary here to inquire. Our adversaries, on the other hand, had in both instances been making special exertions to bring their naval forces up to such a state, both of numerical strength and of efficiency, as should enable them to meet the British fleet at least on terms of equality. Toward the end of the Seven Years' War, Choiseul, seeing that the only hope for France lay in restoring the navy, devoted his energies to that end, and when he was dismissed from office in 1770, seven years after the conclusion of peace, France had sixty-nine sail-of-the-line afloat. the same time he did all he could to maintain and strengthen the Family Compact with Spain. A parallel to this may be found in the great additions made to the French Navy during the closing years of the Nineteenth Century, and in the Russo-French alliance, which, though primarily in At more en from abroad. The maintenance, therefore, of a navy adequate for the protection of the principal trade routes was essential to the life of the nation, while the danger of the failure of the food supply was hanced by the fact that some 40 per cent. of the sailors manning our merchant fleet were foreigners, a considerable number of them Russians. In many cases these foreign seamen did not care to face the risks of war, in spite of the higher rate of wages paid, and taking possession of the ships they manned, carried them into hostile or neutral ports. tended as a set-off to the Triple Alliance, was in fact brought into play against England only. "When war openly broke out in 1778, France had eighty ships-of-the-line in good condition, and sixty-seven thousand seamen were borne on the rolls of the maritime conscription. Spain, when she entered the war in 1779 as the ally of France, had in her ports nearly sixty ships-ofthe-line. To this combination England opposed a total number of two hundred and twenty-eight ships of all classes, of which about one hundred and fifty were of the line." In 1900 England had fifty-six battleships completed, France thirty-nine, and Russia twentyeight. In the earlier war also the armament of our enemies' ships was both more numerous and of heavier average calibre than ours. So in our modern fleets the number of guns has been subordinated to capacity for storing coal and ammunition, and in most foreign navies the ships are heavily armed than in ours, but have less storage capacity. The result is that British ships have generally the greater "staying power" as regards both steaming and fighting, while foreign ships are able in an engagement to pour the greater weight of metalinto their adversaries at each discharge. The British ship can sustain the longer engagement, but the foreigner has the better chance of sinking the enemy with her first broadside. The foreign ship, also, is generally speaking less liable to be called upon for a long voyage, and so has not the same need for great coal capacity as the English ship. In one most important particular the situations at the two periods were very different. In 1778 Great Britain was self-supporting and, with a small population, was free from the danger of starvation through the interruption of her foreign trade. In 1900 the case was far otherwise. "Her island myriads fed from alien lands "** depended absolutely for their existence on the supply of food, especially wheat, At the beginning of the year 1900 there was no special indication of coming trouble, though in several parts of the world the situation had long been such as might at any time lead to a crisis. The Eastern question continued to be a cause of dissension in the European family. In regard to Africa there were various points of dispute between Great Britain and other Powers, the most important being connected with Egypt and West Africa, where French and English interests clashed, and with South Africa, where the dispute with the Transvaal was complicated by the growth of racial antagonism between the English and Dutch elements throughout the country, from the Zambesi to the Cape and by the support given by Germany to the Dutch. In the Far East, again, the rivalry between England and Russia might at any time come to a crisis, in which case Japan was expected to side with England, and France with Russia, while the attitude of Germany was considered doubtful, though it was anticipated that, in the event of war, she would refrain from active inter ference, in the hope of reaping the commercial benefits of neutrality at England's expense. In the event, however, the casus belli arose in none of these quarters. In April the British authorities on the northwest frontier of India arrested a Cossack officer, who had been travelling in the country, on a charge of espionage and of inciting the natives to rebellion. The Russian Government in 11 stantly demanded his release; but the evidence against him admitted of no doubt of the truth of the charge, and he was imprisoned in a fortress, the English Foreign Secretary intimating to the Russian Ambassador that the demand of his Government could not be entertained. It was a curious coincidence that at the time the Russian demand was made the Baltic Fleet, including twelve battleships, was paying a visit to Brest. Here all the battleships of the French Northern Fleet, with those stationed in the Bay of Biscay, and their reserves, amounting to eighteen in all, were concentrated in honor of their guests. On the British Government rejecting the Russian ultimatum, this fleet of thirty battleships, in addition to cruisers, steamed out of Brest without any previous declaration of war. The Allies hoped to obtain complete command of the Channel, while we were still unprepared, and, by shutting up the several portions of the British Channel Squadron in their ports, to land an invading army on the English coast without let or hindrance. The Admiralty, however, had not been altogether blind to the suspicious movements in French and Russian ports, and as soon as the arrest of the Cossack officer was reported orders were given that the Channel Squadron, which had lately returned from its spring cruise, should concentrate at Spithead, while the guard ships and the reserve ships in home ports were to be in readiness to join it, those in the more distant ports of the British Islands being at once quietly moved to the Channel. Notices were also served upon all Naval Reserve men at home to hold themselves in readiness for immediate mobilization; and the surrounding seas were patrolled by cruisers and destroyers. The personnel of the Royal Navy had now been brought up to one hundred and ten thousand men, and that of the Naval Reserve to fifty thousand, while the mobilization scheme had been greatly improved during the past two years. There were thirty-five battleships in home ports, but several breakdowns and delays took place, so, when orders to mobilize were issued upon Russia presenting her ultimatum, only thirty-one of these were able to assemble at Spithead. The rival fleets were thus almost exactly equal in regard to battleships. On the English cruisers warning the Commander-in-Chief of the approach of the enemy the British Fleet put to sea, and fell in with the Allies in the neighborhood of the Channel Islands. It was, however, no part of the Allies' plan to fight a hostile fleet equal in strength to their own, and when they found what the numbers opposed to them were, the signal for retreat was made, and the projected invasion of England was given up for the moment. The British followed with all possible speed in the hope of bringing on a general action, but only a running fight took place between the fastest and consequently most advanced English ships being those of the Majestic class and the rear of the Allies. This running fight lasted till the allied fleet was once more under the guns of Brest, and in the course of it the enemy lost three battleships, which broke down and were captured, and two destroyed, the British also losing two destroyed. Our advanced squadron, having seen the enemy safe into Brest, cruised in the offing, with an inshore squadron of fast cruisers and destroyers to watch the port more closely, and were joined before long by their slower consorts. These, in the meanwhile, had encountered the smaller craft of the Baltic Fleet on their way to join their battleships in the Channel, and many of these were destroyed and a few taken, and the rest retreated toward the Baltic followed by English cruisers. The British Fleet had now been joined by the remaining battleships in home ports, which brought its total strength up to thirty-three, while the enemy had been reduced to twenty-five. Eight battleships and a number of cruisers were now despatched to reinforce the squadron in the Mediterranean, where our fourteen battleships were opposed by twenty-nine of France and Russia, and the remaining twenty-five lay off Brest, watching the enemy in that port. The British Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean had been warned by the Government when our relations with Russia began to look threatening, and had concentrated his command at Gibraltar, but some days before the outbreak of hostilities communication by cable had been interrupted, and he had no further intelligence from home till a cruiser sent by the British Admiral in the Channel, which had evaded the allied fleet after the latter left Brest, brought him news that war had begun. At the same time one of his own cruisers reported that the Russian Black Sea Squadron, in which were five battleships, had passed unmolested through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, accompanied by many vessels of the Volunteer Fleet, and had joined their Mediterranean Squadron, also containing five battleships, in the Levant. The Russians were steering south, presumably to Egypt or the Suez Canal. At the same time the French Mediterranean Fleet, with its reserves, was reported to be concentrating at Toulon. The Admiral saw that his only hope lay in fighting the French before they could unite with their allies, and he at once got up steam and sailed in an easterly direction. Off Cape Spartivento the enemy were discovered steering southeast in charge of a large convoy of transports. The British had only fourteen battleships to the nineteen of the French, but the latter were somewhat scattered, not expecting to be overtaken, and were hampered by their convoy. To protect the transports the French Admiral detached two battleships and a number of torpedo boats, instead of concentrating his whole force against the British and leaving the transports to take care of themselves. The result was that the British, coming up somewhat in the rear of the French and in good order, were able to bring their whole strength against the rearmost ships of the enemy, and by the time the latter were able to collect all their available vessels the British had destroyed three of their battleships without losing any themselves, and the two fleets were now equal. The battle, which was exceedingly hard fought and accompanied by terrible destruction on known; but such a movement was made Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, the eight ships detached from our Channel Fleet had reached the Mediterranean, and after communicating with the Admiral at Malta, proceeded to Bizerta to complete the destruction of the remains of the Toulon Fleet in that port. By means of night attacks by torpedo boats five French ships were destroyed, and the English Commander, leaving three of his vessels to observe the other four, sailed with the rest to Malta to join the eight ships of our Mediterranean Squadron, which had survived the battle of Cape Spartivento, an attack being expected from the twelve ships of the Allies which had escorted the expedition to Egypt. At the end of the first month of the war the position in Europe was, therefore, as follows: The projected invasion of England had failed, at any rate for the time, and the twenty-five battleships left of the allied Northern Fleet were lying in Brest Harbor, under the observation of an English Fleet of equal strength. The Allies had occupied Egypt and Cyprus, both of which are included in the European theatre of war, but the Toulon Fleet was practically annihilated; and they had twelve untouched battleships in the Levant to oppose five sound British ships and eight, which were hors de combat, of the same class at Malta, while three undamaged British ships were keeping a close watch over four shattered French ones at Bizerta. The total forces of battleships in the Mediterranean were, therefore, sixteen British and sixteen of the Allies, but the latter had twelve fit for service, and the former only eight. Italy now began preparations for the mobilization of her navy, but it is understood that King Humbert received a private intimation from the German Emperor that, if he exposed his country to a French invasion by coming to the assistance of Great Britain, the terms of the Triple Alliance would not apply to the circumstances, and that Italy would be left to repel the invasion by itself. At any rate, the Italian preparations were discontinued, and a week later it was announced that the neutral Powers had, under German leadership, entered into an Armed Neutrality directed against England. The Powers which formed the League of Neutrals pledged themselves not only to resist rights of search and to insist on the effectiveness of blockades, as on previous occasions, but also to exclude British trade from the Continent under a system of tariffs which, taken in conjunction with the enor mous rise in insurance rates, was nothing short of prohibitive. While these events were taking place in Europe, there had been fighting in other parts of the world. In West Africa the British Colonies of the Gambia and Sierra Leone were occupied by troops from the neighboring possessions of France without great difficulty, for although the British naval forces were undisputed masters of the Atlantic on that coast, it was impossible to send any reinforcements from England as long as the maritime war in Europe was undecided. On the Gold Coast and in Nigeria, on the other hand, Her Majesty's troops, acting in consort with those of the Royal Niger Company, not only held their own, but took possession of a number of French posts in the Western Soudan and on the Ivory Coast, besides occupying the whole of Dahomey. In this region, therefore, gains and losses were pretty equally balanced. In East Africa the British possessions were at present unmenaced, largely owing to the understanding with Abyssinia, negotiated by Mr. Rennell Rodd in the autumn of 1897, though, if we had lost command. of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean they would have have been exposed to attack from the sea, more especially if the obstruction in the Suez Canal had been first removed. As it was, an expedition from Aden, slightly reinforced from Bombay, seized the French possessions at Obock. Asia was the scene of more important events. Till the Armed Neutrality was declared, Russia was prevented by fear of complications with the Central Powers from making any demonstration against India, but as soon as this fear was removed an army of two hundred thousand men invaded Afghanistan and seized Herat, while a smaller force besieged Chitral and Gilgit. was concentrated on the Pamirs and The Ameer was faithful to his promises to the Indian Government, and the Russian General hesitated to lead his army into the interior of Afghanistan, but obtained the consent of the Shah to its passage through Persia, in order, if desirable, to invade India by way |