xii PREFACE 



surrender our overseas naval bases. Germany 

 seeks to increase her own sea power and 

 strength of naval attack and, at the same time, 

 to prevent Britain from enjoying the advantages 

 in war time of her membership of and communi- 

 cation with that association of scattered sister 

 States called the British Empire. Germany 

 would thus mean that the freedom of the seas 

 includes the domination of the seas by Ger- 

 many ; she would make the seas free for 

 Germany by dominating them herself. She 

 throws dust in the eyes of the world by ignor- 

 ing the fact that before the war she, like every 

 other nation, had complete freedom to use 

 the seas outside territorial waters for peaceful 

 purposes. Can she deny it ? Germany also 

 means by the expression, according to a recent 

 work by a German publicist, F. Naumann, that 

 she claims the right of entry in peace time into 

 British ports by German ships and German 

 cargoes on the same terms as British ships 

 and British cargoes. Unreasonable as such a 

 demand would be if made in the negotiations 

 for peace, it is none the less a fact that Germany 

 actually enjoyed those very advantages in the 

 ports of the United Kingdom till war was 

 declared in 1914, as a result of the repeal of the 

 Navigation Acts in 1849 ; indeed, she actually 

 received preferential treatment over our own 

 shipping. For example : German ships were 

 allowed to carry transatlantic passengers to 

 and from England and embark them or dis- 



