the blockade or destruction of the ships of the defeated country. He
points out that, even after the destruction of the French Navy at
Trafalgar, the damage done to British oversea commerce was very great.
Modern conditions of warfare have made blockade an infinitely more
difficult and precarious operation, and we must therefore face the
certainty that hostile cruisers will escape and interfere with our
oversea supplies of food. Since Ireland lies directly across our trade
routes, it is probable that the majority of our food supplies will be
derived from Ireland or carried through that country. But Irish
Ministers would not have forgotten the lesson of the famine, when food
was exported from Ireland though the people starved. Curious as it may
seem, Ireland, though a great exporting country, does not under present
conditions feed herself, and therefore an Irish Ministry would
certainly lay in a large stock of the imported food supplies before they
were brought to England, in order first of all absolutely to secure the
food of their own people. It would be open for them at any time, by
cutting off our supplies, our horses and our recruits, to extract any
terms they liked out of the English people or bring this country to its
knees. "England's difficulty" would once again become "Ireland's
opportunity." The experience of 1782 would be repeated. Resistance to
Ireland's demands for extended powers would bring about war between the
two countries. In the striking phrase of Mr. Balfour's arresting
article, "The battle of the two Parliaments would become the battle of
the two peoples." It is only necessary to refer briefly to the fact that
the active section of the Nationalist party has continually and
consistently opposed recruiting for the British Army. It is perfectly
certain that, under Home Rule, this policy would be accentuated rather
than reversed. We now draw recruits from Ireland out of all proportion
to its population. Under Home Rule, the difficulties of maintaining a
proper standard of men and efficiency must be immensely increased.