The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-21


,,-.oen, n historical retrospect, and con-
stder those that deal with living, not TO say
uroent. issues. The breadth of knowledge,
the perspicacty, the balanced Judgment
and the freedom from prejudice which were
sxemplified in the former volume are ex-
hibited with equal distinctnoss in this exanh-
nation OF the problems Of to-day and OF
tomorrow.
Toward the close OF his seventh chapter
Mr.. Peel points out that therenewed pressure
~ Furone upon Britain's colonial empire
had its obscure beginnings in the middle
4. of the nineteenth century. 1t was stimu-
.Sated partly by the extended application OF
sEscience to naval warfare. Speaking so
early as 1915, Lord Palmerston had directed
attention 10 the fact that steam navigation
lad rendered that which was before i'm
nassable by a military force nothing more
than a river passable by steam bridge
He was referring to the British Channel,
but it could be fureseen that in due course
the colonies would begin to apply that truth
to themselves, and would feel that, remote
as they might still think themselves, that
remoteness would not save them thence
directed with unprecedented swiftness
AGAINST their commercial interests As
might have been expected, 1T was from
France that the renewed pressure first
arose. The report OF the French Naval
Commission of 1888 showed plainly that the
: augmentation OF the French Navy was
directed against England.
Even in 1851. however, French naval
expenditure was very low, only amount
ing to e., 300 900. But in the next year
Louis Napoleon became Emperor, and in
1885 the expenditure on naval account
leaped to fS,7OO.O 900. There seems to be
no doubt that among the schemes and fan
cies of Napoleon H. restoration Of French
: influence oversea bad an important place.
spealing in the yeay OF his accession, he
: said: "Wehave waste territory TO cultivate,
harbms to dig, ruins to RESTORE. Per-
haps among those ruins might be reokoned
the lost colonial empire Of France In the
East and in the West. Nor was 1t long
before facts appeared TO indicate that his
occult and fepeuiIh energies were at work
from AMMAN and Chmbodia, where he
began to carve out the present French
Indo-Chinese empire over against Aus
tralia to the shores Of Mexico. in which
region he had long dreamed Of making
Roadway. His imagination had figured
forth some new Constantinople, as he
phrased it, rising midway between North
and South America. like Byzantiun on the
ccnCnes Of Asia and Europe, and redeem
ing tho latin races from their subordina-
ton to the .ecming Anglo-Sa1on stock.
ITO another isthnn,s also, that which
divides Asia from A:rtoa. his hopes of az
erandizement pointed. Sir Charles Dixie,
writing in 1869. remarked that - u evil
dent enough that the Suez Canal scheme
has been from the beginning blind for the
occupation of Egypt by France which
seeks by SUCCESSES on the side OF India to
bury the memory Of Mexico Every
step, indeed. taken by the French Emperor,
in whatever dire ction oversee, began to
echo around the British Empire, bidding
colonies and mother country beware.
The next impulse toward the renewed
consolidation OF the British Empire came
from the startling increase In the armed
strength OF Continental Europe which
began during the seventh decade of the
nineteenth century. This phenomenon was
brought horne to Engllshmen in a vivid
way by the amazing success Of the Pr,lssan
arms against France in 1870. In a PAM
phlet issued little later the statement was
made on good authority that Russia was
taking steps to command at short notice
the services Of upward Of two millions of
soldiers; France, Of nearly million and a
, half; Germany, of about thirteen hundred
thousand and Austria, of above half mill
lion. This tremendous expansion of mill
tary power on tho Continent had a marked
effect upon opinion in Great Britain.
I Scarcely less omno,s for the British
SeopAe was the development OF Germany
upon thes sea-. The idea OF such develop
ment dated fru.n the Danish War in the
S6O's, when Prusst, swallowed up u part
Of Denmark and became possessed of the
harbor of Kel 1t was not however. till
after the War Of 1870, whe, Ges4aany had
acquired her full territorial organ1A.ti ion,
that the idea began to bear much frws.
Tho primary object in view,' il was an
nounced at Berlin in 1877. as the defense
OF the German shores from attack and
blockade; the secondary aim recommended
te the protection Of German commerce and
German colonists abroad" The joint inns
implied the construction OF a considerable
Hset. Thus, Of the two leading Powers OF
Europe, Russia nigh soon be thre4teninq
Rrftatn's communications with India, or
India itself, vito Ter vast army, while
Germany, unassailable on land, might
noon be reaching out against Britain on
tho waters.
In the presence OF such threatening
possibilities turn an the tide Of public
sentiment began to take place In the United
Kingdom, not also in the colonies. about