British Empire to some sense of the value of that navy which had been
protecting them so efficiently and so long at the mother country's sole
expense. But the dawn of naval truth broke slowly and, following the
sun, went round from east to west. First it reached New Zealand, then
Australia, then South Africa, and then, a long way last, Canada; though
Canada was the oldest, the largest, the most highly favoured in
population and resources, the richest, and the most expensively protected
of them all.

There was a searching of hearts and a gradual comprehension of first
principles. Colonies which had been living the sheltered life for
generations began to see that their immunity from attack was not due to
any warlike virtue of their own, much less to any of their {184}
'victories of peace,' but simply to the fact that the British Navy
represented the survival of the fittest in a previous struggle for
existence. More than two centuries of repeated struggle, from the Armada
in 1588 to Trafalgar in 1805, had given the British Empire a century of
armed peace all round the Seven Seas, and its colonies a century's start
ahead of every rival. But in 1905 the possible rivals were beginning to
draw up once more, thanks to the age-long naval peace; and the launch of
her first modern Dreadnought showed that the mother country felt the need
of putting forth her strength again to meet a world of new competitors.

The critical question now was whether or not the oversea dominions would
do their proper share. They had grown, under free naval protection, into
strong commercial nations, with combined populations equal to nearly a
third of that in the mother country, and combined revenues exceeding a
third of hers. They had a free choice. Canada, for instance, might have
declared herself independent, though she could not have made herself more
free, and would certainly not have been able to maintain a position of
complete independence in any serious crisis. Or she could have destroyed
her individual Canadian {185} characteristics by joining the United
States; though in this case she would have been obliged to pay her share
towards keeping up a navy which was far smaller than the British and much
more costly in proportion. As another alternative she could have said
that her postal and customs preferences in favour of the mother country,
taken in conjunction with what she paid for her militia, were enough.
This would have put her fa