Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1874-04-10
The British Empire Of To-day,


The recently published census of the
British Empire recalls the splendid rhetor-
ical figure of Daniel Webster about the
drum beat OF its armies, awakened by the
sunrise, re-ochoing from land TO land, till
1t enriched the whole globe with one con-
tinuous aud unbroken strain of the mar
tlal airs of England" The Queen of Eng
land now rules over 23I,762, 500 souls.
There is only one other more populors en-
pre on the globe, that OF China, which Is
calculated to have Az 100000 Of people.
Russia, which stands third in the list, has
short Of so, 600 O00-only about a third of the
numerical size of Great Britain. The
United States is the seventh nationality in
point of numbers, bat in the course of
dozen years will probably stand next TO
Russia. The area of the British Empire is
rnt down at 1900, 440 square miles, which
makes it trifle lin the midst of such fig
ures) smaller than the Russian Empire,
now possessing 1885,, SOS square miles. The
United States Is the third in landed posses
sions-3 ,57S, 1902 square milcs-and Brazil is
the fourth, having within about 100000
ry. The subjects of Queen Victoria are
said to live in 44,lI2,65l houses, which, ii
the figures are accurate, can give but little
| practical idea either Of value or comfort
for they would comprise dwellings Of all
grades from Holland House to the but of
the Hiuduo or the New Zealandcr. Such,
| however, are the statistical outlines of the
British Empire Of Today, the richest and
most imposing, if not the most powerful
materially and intellectually, of this age,
and immensely superior to the great en-
| pires of antiquity.
The centre or hub of this vast nationality
is the United Kingdom, which has but l2l,
COS square miles-w hich is almost exactly
the size Of our Territory of New Mexico,
or about the same as the combined area oil
New England, New York and New Jer-
sey: There are go persons to the square
mile in the United Kingdom, but only IS
to the square mile throughout the empire.
In some parts of the colonies, however, as
in portions of India, the density of popu-
lation is greater than it is in England OF
Scotland. The European portion Of the
British Empire, aside from the home region
consists of but three little dots, as il were
| Heligolanu, with i've square miles of ter.
ritory, Gibraltar with less than two, and
Malta with ll5-thc last two being military
stations, with garrisons amounting TO some
$4,000 men. The total pop ilaton OF thu
three is about l7S,000.
In crossing the Atlantic a very diiferen
state of things is seen. In the Canadas, o
The Dominion, as it is now called. popu-
lation but slightly exceeding that OF Scot
land, inhabits a country ten times the ex
tent of Scotland and is increasing steadily
but not rapidly, at something like an aver
rye rate of IA per cent in the decade. TIL,
total population is 3,7S9,670, inhubiting al
area of 3,376,925 square miles nearly thu
extent Of the United States. The only 9th
er British possessions on the main land o
the Americas are British Honduras, having
only 377 whites, and Guiana having abou
100000 inhabitants, including $4,000 "im
migrants from Asia" or Coolies. Tn
West India Islands with IL, 100 square mile
and about million Of people, and the lit
tie Fal kland Islands, with SOB inhabitants
close the list OF British American posses
sions.
On tho African continent and adjacen
islands the English claim to be masters u
23G, $50 square miles of territory, peopled b.
1873, 450 inhabitants. In Australia we fint
six divisions, ranging all the way from "a,
900 inhabitants up 10 7Sl, 52S in VictoriG
The greatest of all the British colonial ros
sessions, however, is India, whose popula
lion is reckoned at l9l 1907 go, Distribute
over an area of 93s 1866 square miles and in
habiting 4S7, O6I villages. In addition ar
the Island. of Ceylon, with over two mill
ions Of people, Singapore, Malacca, Hon
Kong, etc. Truly Mr.. Webslei's iuIager.
was as correct as il was striking. - BoStO
Journal.