The day has passed when one Englishman was worth ten foreigners. Modern science in warfare has altered all that. All the rifle-clubs in England could not stop one German battalion, because the German battalion is trained and disciplined in the art of war, while our rifle-clubs are neither disciplined nor trained. Were every able-bodied man in the kingdom to join a rifle-club we should be no nearer the problem of beating the German invaders if once they landed, than if the spectators in all the football matches held in Britain mobilised against a foreign foe. The Territorial idea is a delusion. Seaside camps for a fortnight a year are picnics, not soldiering. The art of navigation, the science of engineering, or the trade of carpentering cannot be learned in fourteen days annually--neither can the art of war. In response, we have held up to us the strength of our Navy. But is it really what it is represented by our rulers to an already deluded public? Only as recently as March 29, 1909, Sir Edward Grey, replying to Mr. Balfour's vote of censure in the House of Commons, was compelled to admit that-- "A new situation is created by the German programme. When it is completed, Germany, a great country close to our own shores, will have a fleet of thirty-three Dreadnoughts, and that fleet will be the most powerful which the world has ever yet seen. It imposes upon us the necessity of rebuilding the whole of our fleet. That is the situation." Germany is our friend--for the moment. But Prince Buelow now admits that the Kaiser's telegram to President Kruger was no personal whim, but the outcome of national policy! What may happen to-morrow? WILLIAM LE QUEUX. THE PERIL OF ENGLAND WHO IS RIGHT? SIR EDWARD GREY _In the House of Commons, March 29, 1909._ We have been informed verbally, but quite definitely, that Germany will not accelerate her naval programme of construction, and will not have thirteen ships of the _Dreadnought_ type, including cruisers, till the end of 1912. PRINCE BUELOW _In the Reichstag, March 29, 1909._ Great Britain has never made any proposals which the German Government regarded as a suitable basis for negotiations. Germany regards the question of limitation of armaments as outside the range of practical politics. WHAT THE KAISER SAYS: His Imperial Majesty the German Emperor declared:-- _The prevailing sentiment among large sections of the middle and lower class of my own people is not friendly to England.--Daily Telegraph, October 28, 1908._ SPIES OF THE KAISER CHAPTER I HOW THE PLANS OF ROSYTH WERE STOLEN "But if the new plans for our naval base at Rosyth have already been secured by Germany, I don't see what we can do," I remarked. "What's the use of closing the stable-door after the horse has been stolen?"