4. We could not expect the Russian to agree to this, but nevertheless it is true; for the sundered portions of the British dominions are connected by the sea, and the sea offers a ready-made road to every ship that sails. No hills have to be levelled, no tunnels bored, no rails laid down, and hence it is much cheaper to travel on sea than on land, and often much easier and quicker. We may rightly regard the seas that come between our shores and the rest of the empire, not as separating but as connecting its several parts, and enabling the motherland to keep in constant touch with her daughter states in other lands. 5. Steam and electricity have worked wonders in bringing all the members of the English family of nations into close connection with each other in spite of the many thousands of miles that separate them. By means of our great ocean-liners we can cross a wide ocean in a few days, and by means of electric cables beneath the sea each part of the empire can converse with any other part in the course of a few hours, or even in a few minutes. 6. This ready means of communicating with each other, draws us all more closely together in thought and feeling. The same incidents and events, to a great extent, occupy the minds of all our race at the same time, and send a thrill of joy or sorrow throughout the empire. Whether living in London, Sydney, or Montreal, the Briton finds in his daily paper a great deal of the same news, showing how much of common interest there is between ourselves and our brothers beyond the seas. 7. Away then with the idea that seas act as barriers. They serve rather to unite. Has not steam bridged the ocean, and electricity brought its shores within speaking distance? For trading purposes, especially, the sea is much more a uniter than a divider, since goods may be carried so much more cheaply by water than by land. It costs less to bring wheat by sea from Montreal or New York to London, a distance of 3500 miles, than to bring the same by rail from Liverpool to London. 8. The British Empire, it is true, is scattered over the face of the globe, but in some respects this is an advantage. Being so widely sundered its different portions differ much in climate and productions, and thus can the better supply each others' wants. England, for instance, serves as the great manufacturing shop for her colonies, whilst they in return send her the raw material for her factories and food for her children. England, indeed, would soon suffer from famine if a constant supply of food did not come from other lands. To insure this supply without interruption to our traffic, we must be able to keep the seas open to our merchant-ships, whether in peace or war, and for this purpose our navy must be supreme.