We must be quite clear on this point, that no nation has had to reckon with the same difficulties and hostility as ours.

This is due to the many restrictions of our political relations, to our unfavourable geographical position, and to the course of our history.

It was chiefly our own fault that we were condemned to political paralysis at the time when the great European States built themselves up, and sometimes expanded into World Powers.

We did not enter the circle of the Powers, whose decision carried weight in politics, until late, when the partition of the globe was long concluded.

All which other nations attained in centuries of natural development--political union, colonial possessions, naval power, international trade--was denied to our nation until quite recently.