by surprise may necessitate rapidity in the execution of a German plan of invasion, the plan itself will have been prepared long beforehand; and, having regard to the known thoroughness of German ways and works, it is only fair to assume that all the difficulties of such an unprecedented undertaking will have been ascertained and carefully f weighed before the details of that plan were worked out. No access to it is possible, but the geographical and nautical facts on which it must be based are open to the inquirer, and in studying them we shall be able to form an opinion as to what that plan ought, or, at least, what it ought not, to be.
It is evident that the first point on which a German Government desirous of invading England must make up its mind, is the place where its army shall land. London, of course, will be its objective, for only by seizing the centre of Great Britain's life can it hope to paralyse British resistance; therefore, the
