Forms of hostility.defence of the Empire rests on sea power by considering the forms of attack which we may have to meet in case of war with a first-class European power, or combination of European powers. We shall have to meet attacks on commerce, attacks on colonies and dependencies, and, possibly, invasion.
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Attacks on Commerce.The United States, it is true, were the first to lay down the type of fast and lightly armed cruiser, represented by the Columbia and Minneapolis, which have a trial speed of close on twenty-three knots. They are classed as commerce-destroyers in the American Navy List, and are commonly called in America 'Pirates.' France has followed suit by laying down this year two cruisers of the same class, the Guichen and Chateau Renault. We can only judge whether the policy indicated by the construction of such ships is likely to be successful in the future by the experience of the past. In the years 1756-60—that is during the Seven Years' War—2500 British merchant ships were captured; and in the year 1761, 800 out of the estimated total of 8000 British merchant ships, or 10 per cent., were captured by the cruisers or privateers of the enemy. Campbell, in his Lives of the Admirals, says, 'The trade of England increased gradually every year, and such a scene of national prosperity while waging a long, costly, and bloody war was never before shown by any people in the world.' In commenting on the results of the war of 1778, Captain Mahan says, 'Especially is commerce-destroying misleading when the nation against whom it is to be directed possesses, as Great Britain did, and does, the two requisites of a
