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ECONOMIC INQUIRIES fUOIES
fltself.1 A 'similar expedition miglit suffice \ punish
any weakness of which we might be guilty i1 'leaving
places like'Woolwich or Chatham or Portsmouth or
any other of our stations insufficiently protected by
land. The expeditionary force would know it was only
sent on a forlorn hope, with almost the certainty of its
being cut off; but that would not weigh, probably, with
the Government sending it, if great destruction and
loss were meanwhile effected. The calculation might
also be that our preponderance at sea would not, in
fact, be converted into overwhelming superiority-
everything is doubtful in war until actual experiment is
made-and then an expedition of this sort, properly
aimed, might assist the enemy largely in the main con-
test itself. The army at home, as wars may break out
suddenly, must therefore always b~ prepared to meet
raids of considerable magnitude, and not merely to de-
feat them in the end, but to make them so difficult that
they will not even begin to succeed.
The thz'rd object for which an army is required is the
garrisoning of the positions necessary to the Empire
abroad, the garrisoning of places like Malta, Gibraltar,
and Aden, necessary as fortified naval dep()ts and coal-
ing stations, and the garrisoning of dependencies like
India, Egypt, and South Africa both against internal
tumults and raids from the outside. We are responsible
for defending our Empire abroad as well as for home
defence; and although we are here assisted by various
local resources the organizing of Imperial defence
generally rests with the mother country, which must
also very largely supply white troops from home, if it
does not always pay for them. The remarks applicable
to the possibility of a raid upon our home defences
appear to be applicable here. Vital coaling stations
may be assailed by small expeaitionary forces landed
for the purpose, as well as attacked by sea, with the

1 Some of the transports in the South Mrican war carried 3,000
men each over ten times the distance which would have to be traversed
by a French expedition to Ireland.