It looks, however, as if they were going to play
towards Russia the same naval game that they are playing towards us. They will hoard their trumps for some future event instead of playing, them boldly and at once. When the proportion of strength is as much against them as it is in the North Sea, there prob- ably is good ground for this caution. In the case of the Baltic, however, where they are in the position of the British and the Russians in that of the Germans, the policy is clearly unsound. No doubt the Germans would answer that their Fleet is one and indivisith, and that, though they could bring the Russian Fleet to action and smash it, they would be bound to lose a considerable number of ships in the process, and so further reduce their pro- portion of naval strength as compared with that of Britain.
Previous page
