WHAT THE OCEAN MEANS TO GREAT BRITAIN 317 



much so, that it is possible now to hear, whenever 

 men are gathered together for conversation, some more 

 or less intelligent remarks made upon the status and 

 functions of the Navy, and sundry comparisons made 

 between the work of the Admiralty and the War 

 Office, the sailor and the soldier much to the dis- 

 advantage of the latter, in each case. Which is all 

 to the good, because, with the stress of national com- 

 petition now existing, it is more than ever essential 

 that Britons shall know what the command of the sea 

 means to Great Britain, and that public opinion upon 

 this all-important matter shall be intelligently guided, 

 its great force concentrated in a right direction, and 

 not dissipated or swayed about in useless directions 

 through lack of knowledge. 



Before leaving for a while this most important 

 phase of what the ocean means to Great Britain, it 

 will be well to take a cursory glance over the march 

 of naval affairs during the last quarter of a century. 

 At the beginning of that period the principle of the 

 ironclad had been firmly established, and the de- 

 velopment of the turret had also begun. But Britain 

 lagged behind, as usual, in taking up new inventions 

 for the Navy, and, consequently, the strange spectacle 

 was seen of our having up-to-date ships armed with 

 obsolete muzzle-loaded guns and antiquated machinery 

 for working them, while our then great rival at sea, 

 France, was pushing on, feverishly adopting almost 

 every new invention, although quite unable to keep 

 pace with our rate of building ships. But stranger 

 still was the fact that our private shipyards were 

 turning out fully equipped men-of-war for foreign 

 countries, which in speed, in armament, in stability, 



