Couple these conditions with Colonial ambitions dwarfed, or unsuccessful in comparison with British success; continental power as supreme, by virtue of military strength, as Napoleon’s was one hundred years before by the force of genius, but hampered, as was his, by the power of Britain on the seas; a productive force of industry increasing out of all proportion to home requirements, competing with British commerce in every corner of the world and threatened by a possible but finally postponed combination of British countries in a system of inter-Empire tariffs; a population of 64,000,000, increasing at the rate of one million a year and having no suitable opening for emigration or settlement within its own territories; and we have conditions which explained and emphasized German naval construction. Both German ambition and German naval construction were therefore easily comprehensible. Nor was the ambition for sea-power concealed. The first large naval program was passed by the Reichstag in 1898 and fixed the naval estimate up to 1903, when the total expenditure was to be $45,000,000—in 1906 the naval expenditure was over $60,000,000. The second Naval Bill was passed in 1900 during the Boer War, and the preamble to this Act stated that its object was to give Germany “a fleet of such strength that even for the mightiest Naval Power, a war with her would involve such risks as to endanger its own supremacy.” Other Acts were passed in 1906 and 1908, and for the years 1908 to 1917 arrangements were made for a total expenditure of $1,035,000,000—this including a portion of the “accelerated program” and the Special Dreadnought construction which caused the memorable debate in the British Commons in 1909. The Law of 1912—passing the Reichstag on May 21st of that year—provided for an addition to the program of three battleships, three large cruisers and three small ones. During the years 1898–1904 Great Britain launched 26 battleships to Germany’s 14, with 27 armored cruisers, 17 protected cruisers and 55 destroyers to Germany’s 5, 16 and 35 respectively, or a total of 125 to 70. In 1905–11 Great Britain launched 20 battleships to Germany’s 15, with 13 armored cruisers, 10 protected cruisers and 80 destroyers to Germany’s 6, 16 and 70 respectively, or a total of 123 to 107. Excluding destroyers Great Britain launched 70 sea-going warships in the first period to Germany’s 25 and in the second period 43 to 37. PREPARATION FOR WAR