Obligations of the British Navy.

These obligations are becoming more arduous and extensive every year. They are, speaking generally, first to be prepared to blockade, or to meet and defeat on the high seas the fleets of the European Power or Powers opposed to us; and, secondly, to keep open our trade routes and lines of communication with our colonies and dependencies, and to guard our merchant vessels from the deprivations of hostile cruisers.—Lord Roberts's address to the Lincolnshire Artillery Volunteers.