XII 



A FORI'IGN INVASION OF I.NGLAND 



OUR worst enemies are not always the most 

 apparent ones. It is easy enongh to build 

 forts for tile protection of our towns and 

 harbours aj^ainst French or Germans, but it is 

 very difficult to devise means of defence aj^ainst 

 such insidious foreii^n invaders as the influenza 

 _<4erm or the Colerado beetle. France lost much 

 by the war with Germany, but she probaldy lost 

 more by the silent onslau<^ht of the tiny phylloxera, 

 which attacked her vineyards — attacked them, liter- 

 ally, root and branch, and paralysed for several 

 years one of her richest industries. Yet invasions 

 like these, bein_Lf less obvious to the eye than 

 the landinL^ of a boat-load of French or German 

 marines on some bare rock in the Pacihc claimed 

 by Britain, attract far less attention than aggres- 

 sions on the Niger or advances in Central Africa. 

 The smallness of the foe makes us overlook its 

 real strength — it has the force of numbers. We 

 forget that while we can exterminate hostile human 

 bands with Armstrongs and torpedo-boats, the re- 

 sources of civilisation are still all but powerless 

 against the potato blight, the vine disease, and the 

 destroying microbe. 



