But if we had a War Navy proportioned to our Merchant Service, which might seem only reasonable, it would have to be nearly equal in tonnage to _all_ the other fighting Navies in _all_ the world. Is our present aim high enough, in view of the tremendous interests, the enormous risks, involved? CHAPTER XXVI. AN EMPIRE: OCEAN-WIDE “This Royal throne of kings; this sceptred Isle; This earth of majesty; this seat of Mars; * * * * * This happy breed of men; this little world; This precious stone, set in a silver sea.” _King Richard II._ “Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone, But over the scud and the palm trees an English flag was flown.” RUDYARD KIPLING. “See what a glorious throng they come, Turned to their ancient Home, The Children of our England.”--LEWIS MORRIS. Deep down under the sea, on the sloping ocean-floor, amid dead vegetable and animal remains, lie strange snake-like forms. Not natural creations, but made by man and placed there for his own benefit. Up to the year 1840 anything in the shape of a submarine telegraph was not only non-existent, but, so far as is known, it had not even been thought of. Some wild dreams may have been indulged in here or there; but if so, the dreamers kept their dreams to themselves. On land the electric telegraph was getting into wider and wider use. The bare idea, however, of so uniting lands separated by the ocean had not been brought forward. Between 1840 and 1850 the notion did come up, and was discussed. A small attempt was made in America, with what may be called a baby-cable, across a slight extent of water, near land. The Professor who made this experiment[13] ventured on a prediction that, in days to come, an electric cable might unite Great Britain and America. His friends probably pitied him as a visionary. [13] Professor S. F. B. MORSE. Through that decade there was no further advance. But in 1850 another step was taken. The first “open-sea” submarine cable was laid down between Dover and Calais; one of copper wire, covered with gutta-percha, outside which was a thick leaden tube. For the moment a slender line joined England to the Continent. Then an enterprising French fisherman, in quest of conger-eels, caught the cable in his powerful hook, and hauled it up. He took it for a stout sea-weed stem, and tried the effect of a nibble. It was not appetising, and he flung it back into the water. Somewhat later, however, he hooked it up again; and this time he secured his spoil, cutting off a length, which he carried to his native town, as a rare ocean-curiosity. Naturally, no further telegraphic messages could be exchanged between the two countries. Nothing daunted, the projectors started afresh; made another cable; and put that down. This time they met with good success; and since 1851 England and France have talked in confidential whispers below the Channel.