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364 RISE OF THE CONTINENTALstate of civilization, it follows that without such there cannot be a naval power. The history of modern Europeaffords an indisputable proof of this; for it demonstratesclearly ancl decidedly that the advance of political civilization, and the decrease of ambitious dreams and plans ofuniversal monarchy, correspond with the gradual formationof naval powers, and the growth of their influence upon thepolitical balance.The policyof a naval power as such, must necessarilyhave some peculiarities; but much more so, when thispower occupies, like England, an insular position. Weshould undoubtedly be taking a very partial view, were weto found upon this peculiarity in its geographical situationa system of politics, the rules of which such a state shouldbe supposed invariablyto follow ;for as long as it stands invarious relations to other states as long as their fortunesare an object of interest to it, and more especially as longas it is a member of a political system,it will be compelled,according to the variation in these circumstances, to varyits own maxims of policy.But the relations in which aninsular state stands to those of the continent, may nevertheless be reduced to certain general classes, which have reference to as many distinct interests and this ;arrangementseems here to be the more important, since in an historicaldevelopment of the British continental interests, each ofthese classes comes, at certain periods, under consideration.We may distinguish four distinct interests by which, notwithstanding its geographical separation, an insular statemay become politically bound, as itwere, to the continent.1st, The interest of independence and security. 2nd, Theinterest of trade and commerce. 3rd, The interest ofaggrandizement, by conquest on the continent. 4th, Thepersonal and family interest of the rulers.With regard to the two last of these classes, I have nothing general to say for; they are in themselves sufficientlyintelligible and in the case of ; England, the former doesnot exist ;while as to the latter, no one doubts that theagreement or disagreement of the family with the nationalinterest, is the only rule by which its value can be determined. But the two first classes require a more minuteexamination, not only separately, but also in their mutualrelation to each other.