came to be moulded in the narrow channels of departmental pedantry, and not in the free atmosphere of statesmanlike investigation and common-sense.
But in the 'eighties' circumstances, which it is not necessary here to mention, aroused the nation to an appreciation of impending naval peril Common-sense asserted itself at last, and the old spirit of the Mother Country revived. Naval knowledge has since become more general, emphasized as it was by the object-lessons of the wars between China and Japan, the United States and Spain, and, still more recently and powerfully, by the war between Japan and Russia. The first-fruits of this change in the public attitude were the reform of the War Office and the creation of a Committee of Imperial Defence, presided over by the Prime Minister. In this latter important step a guarantee is offered to the Empire that its security is to be no longer treated as a departmental matter, but scientifically examined and have principles formulated by a Committee composed of Cabinet Ministers and their official naval and military advisers, presided over by the first Minister of the Crown himself and calling to its councils any experts required; while, as Mr. Balfour, its creator, has said, its door is open to welcome to its deliberations colonial representatives. The Mother Country now begins to see her past errors in principles of defensive policy, and has set up the framework of consultative machinery to endeavour to avoid a repetition of her own extravagantly costly blunders in preparations for war. The difficulties in her way of extricating from a network of military confusions, prejudices, and vested interests, a rational and businesslike military system adequate to fulfil the obligations of war are immeasurably great. The burden of cost to provide an adequate army for the general service of the Empire, added to the ever increasing weight of expenditure necessary to maintain predominant sea-power in the world, suggests the question. How long can the resources of these islands discharge the general naval and military obligations of a world-spread State? The warnings of succes-
