As to the first, fear of invasion or raids, the coast and port guard ships, with little more than skeleton crews, had been abolished; in their place patrol flotillas of destroyers and submarines had been created to keep an efficient and active watch and ward along the sea frontier which the enemy at our door might threaten. This provision was supplemented by the mobilisation of all our national resources, under the direction of the Committee of Imperial Defence. When Mr. Balfour founded this body he builded better than he knew. When war came not only were the main fleets not tied to our shores, but every department of State had before it a complete plan of the duty which it had to perform in order to give that national support to the fleet, without which it could not hope to achieve victory. During the years which immediately preceded war the Committee of Imperial Defence was quietly at work co-ordinating the naval and military arms, and laying the foundation of a wide-spreading organisation. On July 25th, 1912, Mr. Asquith, in a speech in the House of Commons, gave the nation some conception of the character of one aspect of the work which was then being quietly performed by this small body, unrecognised by our Constitution, and regarded, as it had been since its birth, with no little suspicion and distrust. Mr. Asquith related that the Committee of Imperial Defence had appointed what was styled “a sub-committee for the co-ordination of departmental action at the outbreak of war.” Describing this particular work of the Committee of Imperial Defence, Mr. Asquith added: “This sub-committee, which is composed of the principal officials of the various Departments of State, has, after many months of continuous labour, compiled a War-Book. We call it a War-Book--and it is a book which definitely assigns to each Department--not merely the War Office and the Admiralty, but the Home Office, the Board of Trade, and every Department of the State--its responsibility for action under every head of war policy. The Departments themselves, in pursuance of the instructions given by the War-Book, have drafted all the proclamations, Orders in Council, letters, telegrams, notices, and so forth, which can be foreseen. Every possible provision has been made to avoid delay in setting in force the machinery in the unhappy event of war taking place. It has been thought necessary to make this Committee permanent, in order that these war arrangements may be constantly kept up to date.”