Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) THE GREAT WAR IN ENGLAND IN 1897 _First Edition_ _July 1894._ _Second Edition_ _July 1894._ _Edition de Luxe_ _July 1894._ _Third Edition_ _August 1894._ _Fourth Edition_ _August 1894._ _Fifth Edition_ _September 1894._ _Sixth Edition_ _October 1894._ _Seventh Edition_ _November 1894._ _Eighth Edition_ _December 1894._ [Illustration: BOMBARDMENT OF LONDON: "IN LUDGATE HILL THE SCENE WAS AWFUL."] THE GREAT WAR IN ENGLAND IN 1897 BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX, F.R.G.S. AUTHOR OF "GUILTY BONDS" "STRANGE TALES OF A NIHILIST" "CONDEMNED TO SILENCE" "THE STOLEN SOUL" ETC. _ILLUSTRATED BY CAPTAIN CYRIL FIELD, R.M.L.I. AND T. S. C. CROWTHER_ ELEVENTH EDITION LONDON TOWER PUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 95, MINORIES, E.C. 1895 [_All Rights Reserved_] TO MY FRIEND ALFRED CHARLES HARMSWORTH A GENEROUS EDITOR AND PATRIOTIC ENGLISHMAN I INSCRIBE THIS FORECAST OF THE COMING WAR PREFACE TO NINTH EDITION In writing this book it was my endeavour to bring vividly before the public the national dangers by which we are surrounded, and the absolute necessity which lies upon England to maintain her defences in an adequate state of efficiency. That my effort has been successful, is proved alike by the fact that eight editions of the work have already been exhausted, and by the commendatory and highly gratifying terms in which it has been criticised by prominent statesmen and leading naval and military experts, including the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Some professional critics have, it is true, questioned certain prophetic details concerning naval warfare, but I think the best possible answer to them is furnished by the results of recent battles in Chinese waters, which, it is admitted, present to us very serious object-lessons. A few passages I have revised in order to bring the events more thoroughly up to date, and in sending my forecast forth again it is accompanied by a devout hope that ere it be too late our present insecurity will be remedied, that a national disaster may thus be prevented, and that England may ever retain her supremacy upon the sea. WILLIAM LE QUEUX. LONDON, _March_ 1895. CRITICISM BY LORD ROBERTS UNITED SERVICE CLUB, PALL MALL, W.