racy. Such a class, whatever its defects
otherwise, readily takes up and carries on a sound political
tradition, is naturally proud of its country's glory, and
comparatively insensible to the sufferings of the community by which
that glory is maintained. It readily lays on the pecuniary burden
necessary for preparation and for endurance of war. Being as a body
rich, it feels those burdens less. Not being commercial, the sources
of its own wealth are not so immediately endangered, and it does not
share that political timidity which characterizes those whose property
is exposed and business threatened,--the proverbial timidity of
capital. Yet in England this class was not insensible to anything that
touched her trade for good or ill. Both houses of Parliament vied in
careful watchfulness over its extension and protection, and to the
frequency of their inquiries a naval historian attributes the
increased efficiency of the executive power in its management of the
navy. Such a class also naturally imbibes and keeps up a spirit of
military honor, which is of the first importance in ages when military
institutions have not yet provided the sufficient substitute in what
is called _esprit-de-corps_. But although full of class feeling and
class prejudice, which made themselves felt in the navy as well as
elsewhere, their practical sense left open the way of promotion to its
highest honors to the more humbly born; and every age saw admirals who
had sprung from the lowest of the people. In this the temper of the
English upper class differed markedly from that of the French. As late
as 1789, at the outbreak of the Revolution, the French Navy List still
bore the name of an official whose duty was to verify the proofs of
noble birth on the part of those intending to enter the naval school.

Since 1815, and especially in our own day, the government of England
has passed very much more into the hands of the people at large.
Whether her sea power will suffer therefrom remains to be seen. Its
broad basis still remains in a great trade, large mechanical
industries, and an extensive colonial system. Whether a democratic
government will have the foresight, the keen sensitiveness to national
position and credit, the willingness to insure its prosperity by
adequate outpouring of money in times of peace, all which are
necessary for military preparation, is yet an open question. Popular
governments are not generally favorable to military expendi