ncapable of being
very exactly combined in time, a whole series of highly indeterminate
factors is thereby introduced into the problem to be solved by the
invader. There are elements of naval force, to wit, all manner of small
craft, which are not required for the main conflict of fleets--and it
is this conflict which alone can secure the command of the sea--but
which are eminently adapted for the impeachment and destruction of
unarmed transports. These will be employed in the blockade of the ports
in which the military forces are collecting. If the assailant employs
similar craft to drive the blockaders away, the defender will bring up
larger craft to stiffen his blockading flotillas. The invading force
will therefore still be impeded and impeached. The process thus goes on
until, if it is not otherwise decided by the conflict of the main fleets
at a distance, the contending naval forces of both sides are attracted
to the scene of the proposed embarkation, there to fight it out in the
conditions involved in the second alternative considered above,
conditions which I have already shown to be the least favourable to the
would-be invader. In a masterly analysis Mr Julian Corbett has shown
that the British defence against a threatened invasion has always been
conducted on these lines, that the primary objective of the defence has
been the troops and their transports, and that the vigorous pursuit of
this objective has always resulted in a decision being obtained as
between the main fleets of the two belligerents. That the decision has
always been in favour of the British arms is at once a lesson and a
warning--a lesson that immunity from invasion can only be ensured by
superiority at sea, a warning that such superiority can only be secured
by the adequate preparation, the judicious disposition, and the skilful
handling of the naval forces to be employed, as well as by an
unflinching _animus pugnandi_. But no nation which goes to war can hope
for more or be content with less than the opportunity of obtaining a
decision in these conditions. The issue lies on the knees of the gods.

A few illustrations may here be cited. We have seen how in the Beachy
Head campaign Tourville, having failed to force a decision on
Torrington's fleet in being, could not turn aside with Torrington at his
heels and Killigrew and Shovel on his flank to bring over an invading
force from France. He was paralysed by that abiding characteristic of
Fren