184 ALL AFLOAT 



' victories of peace,' but simply to the fact 

 that the British Navy represented the survival 

 of the fittest in a previous struggle for existence. 

 More than two centuries of repeated struggle, 

 from the Armada in 1588 to Trafalgar in 1805, 

 had given the British Empire a century of 

 armed peace all round the Seven Seas, and its 

 colonies a century's start ahead of every rival. 

 But in 1905 the possible rivals were beginning to 

 draw up once more, thanks to the age-long naval 

 peace; and the launch of her first modern 

 Dreadnought showed that the mother country 

 felt the need of putting forth her strength again 

 to meet a world of new competitors. 



The critical question now was whether or 

 not the oversea dominions would do their 

 proper share. They had grown, under free 

 naval protection, into strong commercial 

 nations, with combined populations equal to 

 nearly a third of that in the mother country, 

 and combined revenues exceeding a third of 

 hers. They had a free choice. Canada, for 

 instance, might have declared herself inde- 

 pendent, though she could not have made 

 herself more free, and would certainly not have 

 been able to maintain a position of complete 

 independence in any serious crisis. Or she 

 could have destroyed her individual Canadian 



