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Britain, though so recently stripped of her American colonies, emerged as the chief victor of the Napoleonic wars and the mistress of a new Empire.' *

How, one may ask, was this emergence rendered possible, when, through weakness at sea, we had lost our world-power for a time, during the later years of the 18th century, through corruption in public affairs and our failure to maintain a sufficiency of sea-power? Why was our collapse not completed? Captain W. M. James has undertaken the task of providing us with a reply, in his 'British Navy in Adversity.' In the war of American independence, which 'gradually increased in intensity until all the principal European countries were involved in hostilities and the clash of arms was resounding in nearly every quarter of the globe,' the crisis discovered all the fruits of the genius of the Duc de Choiseul in the reconstruction of the navy of France.

'England had to meet a very formidable antagonist, and she had to meet him, moreover, in a disastrous hour when mediocrity and incapacity prevailed in the councils of State, and when the work of the Admiralty had fallen utterly behind. The contest became a grave menace to England's existence as a great power. In due course French, Spanish, and Dutch fleets were combined in opposition to her naval supremacy, and the Armed Neutrality of the Baltic aggravated the issue. Never were these shores in greater peril from an invader. Fortunately no leader appeared among the allies possessing the rare talent for command or the inspired gift of naval daring who was capable of turning the situation to the decisive advantage of their arms. In a sense this war is a classic. It is, perhaps, the best example in our history of the folly of allowing sea forces to decay because the political horizon for the moment seems clear.'

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In confirmation of this, Mr Trevelyan writes that 'in the hour of need, to which her fools had brought her, Britain was saved by her heroes.' Our admirals were handicapped, from the outset, by lack of ships, poor material, shortage of personnel; lack of docking and repairing facilities, and even, on occasions, an inadequate supply of provisions. Ships and naval equipment could not be improvised on the outbreak of hostilities. Captain

* Trevelyan.

James reminds us that, while the story of the Armada of the 16th century is familiar, the story of the insolent threat to the British flag when the French and Spanish fleets sailed unchallenged up channel in 1779 fills a comparatively obscure page in English history. He has set himself the task of filling the gap, and, in so doing, has produced a standard historical work, indispensable to students of the period. He has shown us how great seamen of the type of Howe, Rodney, and Hood saved us, when the nation had been betrayed by its leaders. He traces the reasons for this lamentable state of affairs, and adds that we may be thankful that the pitiful story of decline, falsified returns, misuse of patronage, and political intrigue is never likely to be repeated in our history.' He shows faith in the future.

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The rise and fall of Empires possessing world-power has formed a theme for many able pens. Amongst the latest books bearing upon such matters has come Prof. Rostovtzeff's 'Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire.' The author's laborious investigations were confined to social and economic conditions, they did not cover the spiritual, intellectual, and artistic life of the Empire, and after noting that the perennial problem of the Decline and Fall grows in complexity as the elements of expression increase in number with the progress of discovery, the 'Times Literary Supplement suggests that the non-specialist may perhaps turn to the end of the story first and attack the chapter on the decay of ancient civilisation, in order to find a clue to the enigma. Commander Bowles reminds us that four elements of superiority are sometimes suggested by historians as causes of the ascendancy of certain people over others. The temperate but energising air of England has been extolled in this connexion. Some peculiar merit in a dominating race itself has been another suggested cause. A long-continued possession of military talent and superior military forces have also been put forward as the underlying secret of the success of some nations; or a long succession of wise and prudent rulers has been indicated as the source of enduring power. His own theory is that the inherent strength and world-power

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of modern England are derived from four factors. Firstly, a teeming population; secondly, an overwhelming foreign trade; thirdly, great riches; and, lastly, a widespread political dominion and power.' He maintains that the combination of these factors at one spot on the surface of the globe must necessarily contribute at that spot the chief seat of material power in the world. He finds them to have been so concentrated for long periods only on the lower waters of the Tigris and Euphrates; in Egypt; at Rome; and in England. He thus accounts for the permanency of the Babylonian, Egyptian, Roman, and British Empires, each having its headquarters at spots located at the centre of sea-traffic of discovered territories. The movement of discovery to the westward has, he maintains, caused this westward movement of sea-centrality, and with it the movement of Empire-centres. Discovery of new land-areas having now ceased, he maintains that the centre of worldpower has now been fixed permanently with us, at the spot possessing 'sea-centrality' for world-trade, using, to support his argument, the analogy with the position of a man in a rich busy town who owns the land at the centre where all the main roads meet:

'It is evident at once that, apart altogether from any personal merits or demerits which he may himself possess, the economic situation of such a man is extremely strong. And the strength of his position will arise from this circumstance only, that he owns the land at the centre of the town. No movement or exchange of commodities from one district to another is possible, or at least commercially possible, except across his land. Upon this land, therefore, will necessarily arise all the chief seats and centres of that commerce in which the economic life of the town consists.'

After elaborating this with practical examples, he maintains that, if all this is true of the trading life of a town, it must all be equally true of the trading life of the world. The mere possession by a State of that position in the centre of the trading nations of the earth, and at the crossing of their chief roads, confers upon that State a great economic advantage over its neighbours. Within its borders, from the nature and necessities of trade itself, may be expected to arise in pre-eminent

degree the chief seats and the central apparatus of the commerce of the world.

Here we find one suggested cause of our great measure of economic stability, which has survived the supreme sacrifice entailed upon us by the Great War, and bids fair to survive the throes of a succession of economic crises in our industries. The conditions of this survival were specified by the Prime Minister, Mr Stanley Baldwin, in three speeches which he delivered in the House of Commons, at Birmingham, and at Leeds in March 1925, since collected in a small book, entitled 'Peace and Goodwill in Industry.' Coming, as they do, from one wielding supreme authority, who himself worked for many years in an industrial business of the old type (with 'strikes and lock-outs unknown... the last survival of that type of works which ultimately became swallowed up in one of those great combinations towards which the industries of this day are tending'), his speeches are of permanent value, well worth preserving in book form. He follows Mr Trevelyan's lead in attaching importance to the titanic forces that were let loose by the industrial revolution of the 18th century and changed the face of our country and all the features of our national life.' He sees also the aftermath:

'We owe our position and our place in the world largely to the fact that we were the first nation to endure the pangs which brought the industrial age into the world, but we are also paying the price of that privileged priority, and the price, in part, is that of our badly-planned and congested towns, of our back-to-back houses, our ugly factories, and our smoke-laden atmosphere.'

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He pleaded for an understanding of the inevitable changes that were coming over the industrial system of England. He pointed to the danger of trying to acquire knowledge from text-books which must be half a generation behind.' He saw signs of an industrial storm gathering, which, if it were to break, would spread misery far and wide, and sweep back, possibly for years, all chance of returning and reviving prosperity'; and he thought that future historians would take note of a more rapid industrial evolution than we, who live in it,

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can realise. He found, in our public life, the paradox that 'from the very lips which preach pacifism abroad we hear the cries for war at home.' He dreaded the subtle poison of hatred that was being preached, to weaken the faith of men in their own efficient service and sound workmanship-the very things which have built up the reputation of our great country, on which we still live.' He foresaw that if the great trade unions, such as the miners, the transport workers, and the railwaymen, united in a policy to enforce a demand for higher wages in their own trades by means of a strike, they would have it in their power to hold up at the same time many industries in this country and do them irreparable damage.

After congratulating Mr Sidney Webb on coining such a phrase as 'the inevitability of gradualness,' he pleaded eloquently for the application of such evolutionary principles, and for the solution of our urgent industrial problem in a spirit of goodwill, avoiding both secrecy in business methods and the suspicion which it engenders. The Prime Minister's speeches were made in March 1925. The storm which he foresaw broke over our heads with its maximum intensity in May 1926. We weathered it, in a manner which amazed the world, largely through his own leadership and character as a 'typical Briton,' who

'both showed and proved certain essential qualities which we claim are peculiarly British. It is because of them that we are proud of our imperial citizenship and heritage; and are confident that, so long as these characteristics continue, Great Britain and the British Commonwealth of Nations will remain the foremost spiritual and political power and influence for human good in the world.' *

We cannot apply, to so recent an event, the perspective of the historian; but it may be that, after passing through such an experience, Commander Bowles would join with Mr G. M. Trevelyan in the view that there are certain qualities in our race likely to serve us well in the world mission that the 'sea-centrality' has enforced upon us. Mr Baldwin deprecated the use of text-books to guide our views and our conduct towards

The British Spirit,' 'Quarterly Review,' July 1926.

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