But it was very useful to the Germans as one of the main
defences of the great naval base there.

In 1897 the Kaiser said, "I shall not rest till I have made my fleet as
strong as my army." A year later he said, "Our future is on the
water." And in 1900 the German Navy Bill passed by the German
Parliament began by saying, "The German Navy must be strong enough to
endanger the supremacy of even the mightiest foreign navy." What
"foreign navy" could that be if not the British? In 1908 the Kaiser
tried to steal a march on the too pacific British Government by writing
privately to Lord Tweedmouth, the feeble civilian First Lord of the
Admiralty. The First Lord represents the Navy in Parliament; and
Parliament represents the People, who elect its members. So when a
First Lord is a real statesman who knows what advice to take from the
First Sea Lord (who is always an admiral) everything goes well; for
then Parliament and the Navy work together as the trusted servants of
the whole People. But Tweedmouth, feeble and easily flattered, was
completely taken in by the sly Kaiser, who said Germany was only
building new ships in place of old ones, while she was really trying to
double her strength. It was therefore a very lucky thing that the
Kaiser also tried to fool that wonderful statesman, wise King Edward,
who at once saw through the whole German trick.

Meanwhile (1898) the Americans had driven the Spaniards out of their
last oversea possessions, much to the rage of the Germans, who had
hoped to get these themselves. The German admiral at Manilla in the
Philippines blustered against the American fleet under Admiral Dewey;
but was soon brought to book by Sir Edward Chichester, who told him he
would have to fight the British squadron as well if he gave any more
trouble about things that were none of his business.

The same year the Germans tried to set the French and British by the
ears over Fashoda. A French expedition came out of French Africa into
the Sudan, where Kitchener's army was in possession after having freed
Egypt from the power of the Madhi's wild Sudanese. French and British
both claimed the same place; and for some years Fashoda was like a red
rag to a bull when mentioned to Frenchmen; for Kitchener had got there
first. Luckily he had fought for France in 1870, spoke French like a
Frenchman, and soon made friends with the French on the spot. More
luckily still, King Edward the Wise went to Paris in 1