The defence of the colonies of the British Empire must rest mainly upon our naval supremacy, which is also necessary, however, both for the protection of India and of the Mother-country against invasion and for the maintenance of our trade.
Our naval supremacy at the' present moment is more complete than it has been in the recent past; but it is, owing to the efforts of our rivals, unhappily more' com—plete now than it is likely to be in the immediate future. 1898 is a year in which we stand in a strong position, especially so far as battleships are concerned, by the completion of the Magnificent class of the Spencer Programme, and by the non-completion of the corresponding ships of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.