England, that knew how to vindicate triumphantly her maritime rights against coalesced Europe at epochs of extreme national difficulty and peril, has no longer the spirit to maintain them in this the heyday of her prosperity, and in the fulness of her strength. If such were the case, cadit guæstio, maritime rights are indeed gone, and with them all that is great and glorious in English story.
Examining the matter particularly, the assumption is gratuitous. The game of maritime coalition against England has been played out. Twice, nay three times, it has been tried, and once at any rate under singularly favourable auspices, and each time it came to lamentable grief. The coalesced Neutrals went to war, or threatened to go to war, to secure the carrying trade of the weaker belligerent. Instead of getting it they lost their own. European interests too have changed. Formerly it was considered that England's
