There is one more piece of information I have to give: Admiral Tirpitz, the German Minister of Marine, has just stated, in a secret official document, that the English Navy is now four times stronger than the German Navy. Yes, that is so, and we are going to keep the British Navy at that strength, _vide_ ten “Dreadnoughts” built and building, and not one German “Dreadnought” commenced last May. But we don’t want to parade all this to the world at large. Also we might have Parliamentary trouble. A hundred and fifty members of the House of Commons have just prepared one of the best papers I have ever read, shewing convincingly that we don’t want to lay down any new ships at all because we are so strong. My answer is: We can’t be too strong. Sir Charles Dilke, in the _United Service Magazine_ for this month, says: “Sir George Clarke points out that the Navy is now, in October, 1907, stronger than at any previous time in all History,” and he adds that Sir George Clarke, in making this printed statement, makes it with the full knowledge of all the secrets of the Government, because, as Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence, he, Sir George Clarke, has access to every bit of information that exists in regard to our own and foreign Naval strength. [Illustration: KING EDWARD VII. (WHO DIED MAY 6TH, 1910) SAYING GOOD-BYE TO LORD FISHER, FIRST SEA LORD, 1910. (Lord Fisher 69, so also the King.) N.B.--The King thought the 1841 vintage very good. Certainly good men were born that year!] In conclusion, a letter in _The Times_ of September 17th, 1907, should be read. The writer of the letter understates the case, as the British Home Fleet is twenty per cent. stronger than he puts it. As regards Mr. Reich’s Naval statements, they are a _réchauffé_ of the mendacious drivel of a certain English newspaper. I got a letter last night from a trustworthy person _à propos_ of these virulent and persistent newspaper attacks as to the weakness of the Navy, stating that the recent inspection of the Fleet by Your Majesty has knocked the bottom out of the case against the Admiralty. I don’t mean to say that we are not now menaced by Germany. Her diplomacy is, and always has been, and always will be, infinitely superior to ours. Observe our treatment of the Sultan as compared with Germany. The Sultan is the most important personage in the whole world for England. He lifts his finger, and Egypt and India are in a blaze of religious disaffection. That great American, Mr. Choate, swore to me before going to the Hague Conference that he would side with England over submarine mines and other Naval matters, but Germany has diplomatically collared the United States absolutely at The Hague. _The only thing in the world that England has to fear is Germany, and none else._