Mr. Balfour began his speech at Glasgow on Wednesday by
affirming that Imperial defence is the necessary basis of any Imperial policy, no matter what its character, and that by defence we meant much more than the mere protection of these shores against invasion,—namely, the defence of the whole Empire. He proceeded to compare the naval position at present with that of five years ago, and declared that we are in a different world. " It is not merely that there has been a small change in degree ; there has been a change in degree so great that it amounts to a change in type, and we ought no longer to think of ourselves as in a position of securing the maritime supremacy which we enjoyed only five years ago." In 1905 we had an overwhelming superiority in pre-' Dread- nought' ships, and the two-Power standard was fulfilled with a liberal margin and with no qualifications as to its interpreta- tion. In 1913, according to the Government's calculations, our superiority in Dreadnoughts' over the next greatest naval Power would be reduced to four. "I do not believe the margin in British strength has ever in our history through the last hundred years sunk so low as that."
Previous page
