ABSTRACT
The Governments attitude was confirmed by the investigations of the Committee of Imperial Defence. It must be remembered that the Committee of Imperial Defence exists for the work of defensive preparation. When war comes, its direction becomes the supreme task of the Government. As a naval Empire we were, within the limits of our essentially defensive policy, almost as ready as was Germany as a military Empire for the ordeal with which we were to be faced. The Invasion Inquiries had shown that so long as we maintained sea supremacy and a moderate-sized army we had nothing to fear from invasion. The creation of an army on the continental scale was completely out of the picture until the outbreak of war. The nucleus of the German espionage system, which was actually broken up on the declaration of war, would have blossomed into full activity and have enlisted to its aid many of the horde of enemy aliens in the midst.
