National Life and Character 291 



so full of interest and of possibilities of excitement 

 and enjoyment as for us who live in the latter half 

 of the nineteenth century. This is not only true as 

 far as the working classes are concerned, but it is 

 especially true as regards the men of means, and 

 above all of those men of means who also possess 

 brains and ambition. Never before in the world's 

 history have there been such opportunities thrown 

 open to men, in the way of building new common- 

 wealths, exploring new countries, conquering king- 

 doms, and trying to adapt the governmental policy 

 of old nations to new and strange conditions. The 

 half-century which is now closing has held out 

 to the people who have dwelled therein some of the 

 great prizes of history. Abraham Lincoln and 

 Prince Bismarck have taken their places among the 

 world's worthies. Mighty masters of war have 

 arisen in America, in Germany, in Russia; Lee and 

 Grant, Jackson and Farragut, Moltke, Skobeleff, and 

 the Red Prince. The work of the chiefs of mechan- 

 ical and electrical invention has never been equaled 

 before, save perhaps by what was done in the first 

 half of this same century. Never before have there 

 been so many opportunities for commonwealth build- 

 ers; new States have been pitched on the banks of 

 the Saskatchewan; the Columbia, the Missouri, and 

 the Colorado, on the seacoast of Australia, and in 

 the interior of Central Africa. Vast regions have 

 been -won by the sword. Burmah and Turkestan, 

 Egypt and Matabeleland, have rewarded the prowess 

 of English and Russian conquerors, exactly as, when 



