Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 29 



Rome and Carthage completely overshadowed the 

 interests for which the various contemporary Greek 

 kingdoms were at the same time striving. 



Australia, which was much less important than 

 America, was also won and settled with far less 

 difficulty. The natives were so few in number and 

 of such a low type, that they practically offered no 

 resistance at all, being but little more hindrance 

 than an equal number of ferocious beasts. There 

 was no rivalry whatever by any European power, 

 because the actual settlement not the mere ex- 

 patriation of convicts only began when England, 

 as a result of her struggle with Republican and 

 Imperial France, had won the absolute control of 

 the seas. Unknown to themselves, Nelson and his 

 fellow admirals settled the fate of Australia, upon 

 which they probably never wasted a thought. Tra- 

 falgar decided much more than the mere question 

 whether Great Britain should temporarily share the 

 fate that so soon befell Prussia ; for in all probabil- 

 ity it decided the destiny of the island-continent that 

 lay in the South Seas. 



The history of the English-speaking race in 

 America has been widely different. In Australia 

 there was no fighting whatever, whether with na- 

 tives or with other foreigners. In America for the 

 past two centuries and a half there has been a con- 

 stant succession of contests with powerful and war- 

 like native tribes, with rival European nations, and 

 with American nations of European origin. But 

 even in America there have been wide differences 



