We have dealt elsewhere with Mr. McKenna's enunciation of the
general principle that though the essential for thiS country is security, "absolute and complete security," it is mere waste to go one inch beyond it. We may note, however, his denial of the assumption that the intro- duction of the 'Dreadnoughts' had altered the whole of the relations between Germany and Britain. "Valuable as most people now agreed the 'Dreadnought' was, as a new type of ship, no one would assert. that the existence of the Dreadnought' nullified the existence of the previous kinds of ships. These previous kinds of ships must be taken into account in striking a balance between the two Powers." He was, he declared, fully entitled to say that, with a pre- ponderance of twelve 'Dreadnoughts' as against Germany's nine, the great superiority of the older types of ships would give to this country complete security in 1911.
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