The Power of Great Britain 431 



has built many new ships of late, has even doubled her navy ; 

 but Mr Goschen himself had to admit lately that she has 

 only 100,000 seamen in active service, and a reserve of 

 25,000 men and 10,000 pensioners, and that all the men 

 needed, over and above, would have to be got from abroad. 

 But foreign countries know very well that 25,000 men were 

 wanting even before the doubling of the navy, and this deficit 

 has, of course, proportionately increased in consequence of 

 that measure." Many of us will be surprised at the exten- 

 sive and precise information which foreign nations possess 

 with regard to our supplies of men and material, and not 

 a few will be shocked at their want of generosity in calling 

 attention to the holes, and even rents, in our armour, instead 

 of admiring the beautifully polished pieces which we love 

 to contemplate. The Hamburg newspaper strikes the root 

 of the whole matter when it continues "The British navy 

 suffers from the same evil as the British army. Without 

 conscription a nation can no longer maintain its position 

 in the world, and it is now too late for England to adopt 

 that method, as it takes many years to train an adequate 

 number of men. We have repeatedly shown, moreover, that 

 the British army does not suffice for the protection of the 

 mother country and the colonies when England has to deal 

 with antagonists up to date both on land and at sea." Ex- 

 ception must here be taken to the word "conscription." It 

 is, no doubt, a mistranslation, and should be " universal 

 service," because conscription, which implies selection, and 

 was tried and failed conspicuously in the Franco-German 

 war, is as out of date as the voluntary system in practice in 

 this country. Had we done what every other nation after 

 1870 felt it its interest and its duty to do, and adopted the 

 principle of equality in the defence of the country, under 

 which rich and poor alike contribute a man, what a position 

 we should now occupy! With admittedly by far the most 

 powerful navy, and with an adequate supply of men, it 

 would be twice as powerful, and all our male population, 

 which is at least as good as that of any other country, 

 trained and in readiness, to put forth effectively its force 



