Page:The empire and the century.djvu/251

 allied fleets to do but to scan Russian coasts. Bitter is the remembrance of those days when England was rudely awakened from the vision of perpetual peace to contemplate the starving, tattered remnant of an army of heroes, sacrificed by her folly and neglect Hardly had that war closed when the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny occurred. Here again sea-power found no visible expression, for the sea-line of communication was not in any shape or form even threatened. The sympathy of the civilized world was with us then, while France generously facilitated the transport of our troops. So the impression in the popular mind by the splendid achievements of our troops in India naturally and necessarily confirmed, in the mind of the public, a purely military conception of war. Next came the descent of Napoleon III. on Italy, followed by an invasion panic in England. In the excitement of hysterical commotion a new theory determining principles guiding preparations for war was suddenly developed. That the navy was 'the first line of defence' remained still a pious opinion, but that this first line of defence could be relied upon was officially and deliberately denied. A new national policy was thus led up to, and became inevitable, by popular misconception of the method and manner by which sea-power operates. Having now sketched minor causes producing this result, it remains to draw attention to a still more potent influence, less discernible on the surface of our modern history.

The spirit of compromise is the characteristic and the strength of popular civil government It is the great contributor to British political stability in everything but preparation for war, which is the inexorable and uncompromising teacher of realities. The fear of facing necessities honestly by attempting compromises with hard facts and rugged truths has, when put to the proof by war, to be paid for in human life and national disaster. Now the obvious failure of Britain's great peace programme compelled attention to things appertaining to war. Unhappily, as already mentioned, it was born of