The glorious dream of the nationalist party in Prussia was a United Fatherland, strong by sea as by land, taking its place at the council board of Europe as a Power of the first magnitude. Until she should have a navy fitted to cope with that of any other nation, this was a position which Germany could not hope to hold. This planet of ours is so built that in many cases the sea determines the possession of the land and the power of states. By land Prussia was already strong indeed, as she was soon to prove in 1866 and 1870. At sea she did not exist. She had practically no seaboard, for what is a seaboard lacking harbours? So long as this want remained there must be many international questions in which the voice of Germany would be of no account. Kiel would solve the difficulty—it was foredoomed, and indeed the project of a new Suez Canal, since realized, was already in the air. There is a curious letter of the old Kaiser William when he was Prince of Prussia, written to his cousin, Prince Adalbert of Prussia, on the 16th of August, 1853—curious when we compare what was with what is: “How sorry I was to miss you yesterday in order to give you a few pieces of information which Steinäcker (his aide-de-camp) told me you wished for, and to tell you something of the grand naval review. You will have heard all details by now. What a pity that you could not hit it off! _I cannot tell you how great was my emotion, especially when for the first time I passed by our ship, saw our battle-flag, our uniform and Pickelhaube (helmet) and heard our drums on board a man of war_” (the italics are mine), “and that too in the middle of an English Fleet! The visit of the Queen on board the _Gefion_ was too friendly and gracious. I was delighted with the ships, and found our soldiers making a goodly show.”[40] The occasion was the great naval review held by Queen Victoria on the 11th of August, 1853, off Spithead, at which the Prince of Prussia was present. The words which I have underlined are significant. The sight of _a_ German man-of-war would now hardly be a novelty creating so great emotion!