but for the defense of all the imperial interests,
commercial and political, and even the imperial prestige. And this
defense of prestige, it may here be remarked, is not a vainglorious
defense, not an exhibition of a swaggering, swashbuckling spirit, but
a recognition of the fact that the minds of men are so constituted
that the prestige of an individual, an organization, or a nation
has a practical value and is an actual force. No government that
appreciates its responsibilities will willingly risk the prestige of
the nation which it governs, because it knows that any weakening
of it will be followed by a weakening of influence and a consequent
increase of difficulty in attaining some "end in view."

The greatness of the British navy, compared with that of the British
army and the other elements of Great Britain's government, has taken
on magnified dimensions during the last half century. So long as
war-ships used sails as their principal motive power, so long were
they forced to employ methods of construction and equipment that
forbade the efficient employment of high-power guns, the attainment
of great speed, and the use of instruments of precision; so long,
in other words, was their military effectiveness prevented from
increasing greatly. But when the British navy decided to abandon
sail power altogether and propel their ships by steam, a new phase
was entered upon, in which every resource of the engineering arts
and the physical sciences was called into requisition; and now,
on board a dreadnaught, battle cruiser, destroyer, or submarine,
can be found the highest examples of mechanical and electrical art
and science. Every material resource which the brain and wealth
of man can compass is enlisted in her naval defense; and in order
to take advantage of the rapidity and certainty of movement they
afford for operating fleets and ships, there has been a great advance
in methods of operation, or, in military parlance, "staff work."
To assist this work, the radio, the cable, and even the humble
typewriter have contributed their essential share, with the result
that to Great Britain's naval defense there has been devoted an
extraordinary degree of efficiency, continuous effort, a more varied
activity, and a larger expenditure of money than to any other object
of man's activity.

The United States navy, to which is committed the naval defense
of the United States, has followed the same lines as the British;
and its t