Mr. Balfour went on to point out that--
Every man, woman, and child in this country when they enjoys their daily meal and carry out their ordinary avocations, when they feel that their shores are protected 'from the-brutal' attacks of an unscrupulous 'enemy,ashould remember that they owe these in-', -comparable 'blessings to. the British Navy. and - to the Grand Fleet. No more need bo said. No greater things, in my judgment, can be said than those which I have truthfully brought before you this af ternoon."
Taken as a whole, Mr. Balfour's panegyric of the Fleet was
worthy to stand by the famous passage in Lord Halifax's' .pamphlet---his .declaration that Englishmen _need- na Council: of Trent to. tell -them that for them salvation -comes alone . by
- way of the sea. V° will venture to add a metaphor of our. own.- The Navy performs -the office of ,the string in a . necklace of . pearls. While. that string holds we possess the mystic necklace of :Empire. Without the string we have but a fortuitous -concourse of pearls—a scattered and unconnected . jumble of continents and islands, of woods, waters, And wastes, ready to fall a prey to the first assailant.
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