It is true that the British navy was maintained in strength, vigor and
efficiency, but the navy was not an instrument of aggression nor even
the guardian of exclusive paths for British commerce across the seas.
It was the bulwark of freedom; the police force of all nations. The
trade of the Empire had no other protection. The Empire itself had no
other wall of defence. There was no British army to challenge other
communities nor any thought of aggression or conquest. Indeed it is
certain that the people of Great Britain and the Dominions could not be
united in support of a war for territorial extension or a wanton attack
upon the independence of any other country. There may be doubtful
chapters in British history. There may have been ages when Great
Britain was willing to live by the sword; when her statesmen strove
for dominion over other lands and peoples. But with the Victorian
era a new spirit entered into British councils. Her statesmen thought
of the sword only as a necessary guarantee of British security. They
gave earnest support to all movements designed to settle international
differences by conciliation and arbitration. They were so “slow to
anger” that envious and restless neighbors persuaded themselves that
the old might and puissance of Imperial Britain had gone forever.