between sixteen and seventeen knots. The design of every armoured ship is a compromise between armament, armour, speed, and coal capacity, and in this German design a predominance then unprecedented in any navy in the world was given to the two first-named characteristics. On paper these ships were vessels of great offensive power, as is revealed by the contrast given on p. 103 between them and the contemporary battleships of the Majestic class of the British Fleet, which displaced about 15,000 tons and attained a speed of eighteen knots, with 1,850 tons of coal on board. These few details reveal the fundamental differences between the character of the British and German Navies at this time and the policy which they represented. The British Government, in accordance with precedent, was providing a fleet of the high-seas type, while the German Government was content with a small force built specifically for the purpose of coast-defence. These four large German coast-defence ships were at this time supported by the four vessels of the Sachsen type of 7,283 tons, already obsolescent; by six old ships--one dating back to 1868; by eight little armoured vessels of the Beowulf class, of about 3,500 tons, which had been constructed during the early 'nineties; and the tail of the list was brought up by eleven armoured gunboats each of 1,000 tons displacement. This enumeration of the naval forces of Germany indicates conclusively the modest ambitions which hitherto had animated her naval administration. The German Fleet, except for the purposes of coast defence, and specifically for the protection of her Baltic shores, was a negligible quantity, having no