The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-12

of their progress made during the Vic
torian era is likewise absorbing the at
tention of British subjects. They, too,
have reason to be proud. Their history
and development are mHrvels Greater
Britain today Is probably the most power
full and efficient combination of forces,
either in peace or war, the world has
seen. In the Napoleonic wars England
| was the ono power to whom more than
| any other the downfall of France was
due, yet now her strength Is tenfold
| greater. And not the least astonishing
part OF 1t Is that to many minds the fu-
ture of no other nation seems more sta
bic and secure.
Why is the British empire today the
| most formidable factor in the worlds
| equilibrium Here is the thing the Eng
| lish are going TO celebrate. 1t Is not the
| fact that their queen has worn the
| crown for sixty years but that their ma
| tion has made such prodigious progress
that excites them to these demonstrations.
| This progress, so far as 1t comedies with
the last sixty years, furthermore, has not
| been peculiar to Great Britain. Other ma
| ttons have been developed wonderfully
| even the most backward. 1t has been
| period of tremendous material growth for
| the whole world, with England, perhaps,
| leading the way. But why has England
| led the way? The answer Is that she oc-
| cupied at the opening of the new era
| more favorable position than any other
| nation. She was already the center OF
| mercantile exchanges and controlled the
| markets of the wcrld. She emerged from
| the Napoleonc wars with an undisputed
| supremacy on the sea, and her Isolated
! geographical position afforded her immu-
| nifty from attack by land. Thus protected
| and thus girded for the race 1t was natur-
al and inevitable that England should be
| foremost during the sixty years that
| followed the COrOnntiOn of the
Great BNtain's foremost place among
the nations was won long before Victoria
came to the throne. And how she won 1t
| forms the most fascinating chapters of
| her history. Was it owing to the over
| whelming superiority of the insular Brit
| isher as man over the Spaniard, the
| Frenchman and the Dutchman? Sir j. II.
| Seeley in his Expansion of England"
lays bare the truth when he writes: "In
one word, out of the five states which
| competed for the new world success has
fallen to that one, England-not which
showed at the outset the strongest voca-
tion for colonization, not which surpassed
the others In daring or invention or en-
ergy-but to that one which was least
hampered by the old world" Again he
writes: And further we have ventured
to doubt that the vastness of the empire
necessarily proves some invincible hero
ism or supernatural genius for govern
ment in our nation. Undoubtedly, some
facts may be adduced to show natural ap-
titude for colonization an1 a faculty of
leadership in our race. But though
there is much to admire in the history
of Greater Britain, yet the pre-eminence
of England in the new world was not
won by sheer natural superiority In the
heroic age of maritime discovery we did
| not greatly shine. We did not show the
| genius of the Portuguese, and we did not
produce a Columbus or a Magelhaen.
When / examined the causes that en-
abled us after two centuries to surpass
other nations in colonization I found that
we had broader basis and a securer po-
sition at home than Portugal or Holland,
and that we were less involved in great
European enterprises (wars, etc), than
| France and Spain. In like manner when
| inquired how we could cOnqu4, and
that with little trouble, the vast country
of India, found that after all we did it
by means mainly of Indian troops to
whom we impaired a skill which was
not so much English as European. that
the French showed us the way, and that
the condition of the country Qndia) was
such as to render it peculiarly open TO
conquest" These facts now read curious
ly. England was far behind Spain and
Portugal in maritime discovery. She did
not even show an equal aptness for the
| sea, and the new world was discovered
absolutely without impulse from the
British Isles. AS a colonizer England was
not in the early days abreast with the
, | Spanish, the Dutch or the French. The
French explorers in North America were
| penetrating almost the heart of the con-
tinent before the English began settling
| on the Atlantic coast. The Dutch first set
tied New York and the Frerch Canada.
| And SO in India it was a daring French
man who first learned how to conquer
the teeming millions of that vast country
, | by employing and training native troops,
and from him the English learned the Sc
| cret.
Captain Mahan has shown that England
finally won both America and India from
France by superiority in sea power, as
she had already cverthrown the Dutch
. by the same weapon. That is very true,
but why did England have superior sea
power? Why has she nearly always had
it since the Spanish armada? Professor
Seeley answers the question. England
insular position freed her more than her
great rivals from the wars ard complica-
tionS of the continent and that freedom
gave her additional strength on the sea-
When France and Holland have had theil
, energies absorbed by struggles on land
they have been weakened at sea, while
upon her navy England has been able tc
concentrate all her powers. Captain Ma.
4 han says that France should have looked
, across the sea for her empire rather
than in Europe, and should have built uI
, her navy at the expense of her army
, but situated as she was geographically Il
: was perfectly natural that France Should
have shared all the convulsions of the
, continent. The division of her strength
between land and sea so weakened her OF
the latter that in all the great crises ir
, | conflict with England French dominion:
= over the ocean fell easily before Englisf
supremacy in naval warfare So wha
| does the greatness of the British empire
finally rest upon? If we follow Professor
, Seeley and Captain Mahan it rests in the
: last analysis upon simple geography. A
, insular position brought sea power, SET
power brought empire, and empire anC
sea power combined gave England an iii
comparable start when the world entered
: upon the wonderful material development
: | OF the nineteenth century, with which tht
Victorian era largely comedies But il
| pointing out these truths we have no de
sire to dlsDarage the genius of the Eng
, lsh people or to underrate their grea
energy. While favored with vast dem
, onstration of greatness and highest it'll
/, to leadership-opportunit embraced t
: the full.