Evening star., 1898-11-22
FuIhIIment of Prophecy.

To the Editor of The Evening Star:
In these days, when We hear and read SO
much about the era of good feeling" upon
which this country and England are said
to have entered. II is pleasant to turn from
the artificial professions of friendship that
are made over the wine by the self-ap-
pointed leaders of an Anglo-American alli-
ance to the profoundly earnest words of
young Engiishman who. amidst poverty and
disease, wrote the first real history of the
English people, and In the effort surren-
dered his life. II we may dare hope that
national prejudices and sef-interest are
yielding at last to the superior claims Of
common ancestry, speech and political in
stitutions, the following lines from the pen
of John Richard Green read like a proph-
ecy and inspiration:
From the hour of American independ-
ence the life of the English people has
flowed not in one current, but in TWO: and
while the older has shown little signs of
iessening, the younger has fast risen TO
greatness which has changed the face of
the world In 1888 America was a nation
Of 100000 of inhabitants. scattered thinly
along the coast of the Atlantic ocean. 1t
is now a nation of 10000 900. stretching
over the whole continent from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. In wealth and material
energy. as in numbers, it far surpasses the
mother country from which II sprang. IL
is already the main branch of the English
peoplt, and in the days that are at hand
the main current of that peoples history
must run along the channel not Of the
Thames or the Mersey but of the Hudson
and the Mississippi. But distinct these
currents are. every year proves more clear
ly that in spirit the English people is one.
The distance that parted England from
America lessons every day The ties that
unite them grow every day stronger. The
social and political differences that threat
ened hundred years ago to form i'm
passable barrier between them grow every
1aV less Against this silent and iDRNita-
BILE drift of things the spirit of narrow iso-
lation either side of the Atlantic strug-
giles in vain II is impossible that the two
branches of the English people will remain
forever separate political existences. 1t is
likely enough that the older OF them may
again break in twain. and that the English
people in the Pacific may assert distinct
a national life as the two English peoples
either side of the Atlantic. But the
spirit, the influence of all these branches
will remain one. And in thus remaining
one, before half century is over it will
change the face of the world. As 200 0O0,
900 of Englishmen fill the valley of the Mis-
sissippi, 50,e0o,0O0 of Englishmen assert
their lordship over Australasia this vast
power will tell through Britain on the old
world OF Europe. whose nations will have
shrunk into insignificance before IL. What
the issues of such a worldwide change
may be not even he widest dreamer would
dare to dream. But one issue is inevitable.
In the centuries that lie before us the pri-
macy of the world will lie with the En-
glish people. English institutions. English
speech. English thought. will become the
main features of the political. the social
and the intellectual life of mankind"
Twenty-Five years of the half century
| at the end of which Green, in the above
quoted words. predicted a united English
people were to change the face OF the
world have not yet passed away. and
we are witnessing the first STRINGS of the
spirit that is to animate and dominate the
world of the coming time. Surely the
hi.
November q, 1898. F. L. SIDDONS.