In fact, ever since England organized a regular navy (1512) the encircling arms of the ocean have been her closest and surest friend.  They have exempted her from keeping up a large standing army and so preserved her from the danger of military despotism at home.  They too have made her the greatest sea power,[1] and, at the same time, the greatest colonizing power[2] the world has yet seen.  They have also made her the greatest commercial power on the globe.[3]

[1] The English navy far outranks that of any other nation in the number of its warships. [2] The English colonial possessions and “spheres of influence” cover an area of more than 11,400,000 square miles. (See map between pp. 422, 423.) [3] The total commerce of the United Kingdom in 1910 was nearly 912,000,000 pounds and that of the British Empire exceeded 1,990,680,000 pounds.

It is true that the use of steam for vessels of war has diminished the natural protective service of the Channel, since a hostile fleet can now move against England in almost any weather.  Still, the “silver streak,” as the English call that waterway, will always remain, in some degree, a defense against sudden invasion, except, of course, from a squadron of military airships.

15.  England as a Commercial Center.

In closing this period, the position of England, with respect to facilities for commerce, deserves particular attention.  In the first place the country has many excellent harbors; next, it is situated in the ocean which is the great highway between the two continents having the highest civilization and the most constant intercourse.  Finally, a glance at the maps on pages 185 and 420 will show that geographically England is located at about the center of the land masses of the globe.

It is evident that a large island so placed stands in the favorable position for easy and rapid trade communications with every quarter of the world.  For this reason England has been able to attain, and thus far to maintain, the highest rank among maritime and commercial powers.  It is true that since the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) the trade with the Indies, China, and Japan has considerably changed.  Many cargoes of teas, silks, spices, and other Eastern products, which formerly went to London, Liverpool, or Southampton, to be reshipped to different countries of Europe, now pass by other routes direct to the consumer.  Furthermore, it is a question what effect the completion of the Panama Canal will have on English trade in parts of the Pacific.  But for the present England retains her supremacy as the great carrier and distributor of the productions of the earth,—­a fact which has had a very decided influence on her history, and on her relations with other nations, both in peace and war.

[Industrial Map of England (S9)]

THIRD PERIOD[1]

“Force and Right rule the world:  Force, till Right is ready.” 
                                                Joubert