much, and, other things being equal, they are decisive. There has never been a greater example of moral force than that given by Japan in the late war. But our allies needed also the whole of their local superiority in material force upon both elements. They realized as well as Napoleon the value of the 'big battalions,' and as well as Nelson that 'only numbers can annihilate.'
Those who find sufficient encouragement in the reflection that numbers are not everything are usually influenced by mistaken impressions of the successful struggle of this country against the power of Napoleon. Then we had only half the population of France. But we at that time owed to machine industry (multiplying our numbers for economic purposes) an unparalleled productive force. We paid to raise against France the allied armies of the rest of Europe, and Napoleon was in the long run beaten by numbers, nor could have been beaten otherwise. Again, while Europe was passing through the political revolution, we were passing through the industrial revolution. With a monopoly of machine-power and a monopoly of the sea, wealth and trade were increased faster in this country than in all the rest of the world put together. As an island we can have no similar compensation in the future. In the United States and Germany money-power now increases as man-power increases.
III.
Leaving aside every issue of economic controversy for the moment, and pursuing our investigation into the state of the facts, let us endeavour to acquire at the outset a clear view of the commercial progress of Great Britain and its principal competitors. For this purpose I have constructed from the official statistical publications of the countries concerned[1] a table exhibiting the com-
- ↑ 'Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom'; 'Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsch Reich'; 'Statistique Générale de la France' 'Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom,' 1904; Inquiry Blue-books, Cd. 1761 and 2337.
