Page:The Next Naval War - Eardley-Wilmot - 1894.djvu/73

 national debt upon their armies, which were to them the security our Navy is to us! We never questioned their right to put the whole population under arms. How could they in turn object to our maintaining a Navy—upon which our existence depends—equal, if necessary, to that of the world combined? In fact such a necessity had been recognised by a ruler of the country we were now fighting against. Napoleon III. said once to some peevish complaints we made as to his building ironclads, "Let each build what he considers the right number; you ought to have twice as many as I, for they are your principal protection."

If we wished to maintain thirty ironclads in the Mediterranean, why should any other question but that of our own interests be considered?

By such cogent arguments the excuses of the administration were pulverised, and it fell ignominiously. But no political change could avert dire distress. It was only natural that a state of war should dislocate that immense traffic over sea on which we depend daily for so much food. Only the year before, half a million tons of meat—independent of live stock—had been received from abroad. Just stop the importation of wheat for a month, or reduce it by half, as now actually occurred, and note the effect of a dear loaf. Successful war means much misery and great expenditure. An unsuccessful struggle brings horrors untold, and these we soon began to experience. We had to