ENGLAND 



2035 



ENGLAND 



-STORY OF ENGLAND " 



"NGLAND , called by Oliver Goldsmith 

 the "land of scholars and the nurse of arms," 

 is an island kingdom comparatively small in 

 area, but in importance it is among the greatest 

 countries of the world. It occupies the south- 

 ern portion of the island of Great Britain, and 

 is the chief member of the United Kingdom of 

 Great Britain and Ireland. England's right to 

 this distinction was emphasized by the Amer- 

 ican, Daniel Webster, in 1834 in these words: 



* * * * a power which has dotted the 

 surface of the whole globe with her possessions 

 and military posts, whose morning drum-beat, 

 following the sun, and keeping company with 

 the hours, circles the earth with one continuous 

 and unbroken strain of the martial airs. 



Separated by the North Sea, the English 

 Channel and the Strait of Dover from the 

 continent of Europe to the east and south, it 

 has been isolated enough to escape many of 

 the disturbances which have torn the conti- 

 nental countries, but yet close enough to take 

 advantage of every step the latter have made 

 in progress and in government. Its people, 

 moreover, have shown the characteristic island- 

 dwellers' passion for freedom, and there exists 

 nowhere to-day a more liberty-loving people 

 than the English. The old name for England 

 was Albion, meaning white, given because of 

 the color of its chalk cliffs as seen from the 

 sea. 



The People. In every place to which civiliza- 

 tion has penetrated, Englishmen are known, 

 for they have never lost that adventurous 

 spirit which led them in the fifteenth, sixteenth 

 and seventeenth centuries to discover, explore 

 and settle upon lands far beyond the seas. 

 Wherever they may be found, Englishmen dis- 

 play many of the same qualities they are 

 independent, determined, progressive and pos r 

 sessed of decided executive ability and me- 

 chanical skill. While not so adaptable as some 

 other peoples the French, for instance they 

 have more of a genius for adapting to them- 

 selves those with whom they come in contact. 



The English are not a pure race, in the 



sense in which the ancient Greeks were, for 

 example. The history of their country, given 

 below, makes it clear how several peoples, 

 Britons, Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Normans, 

 had a part in the making of the race. Their 

 language, too one of the most wonderful lan- 

 guages in the world shows all of the same in- 

 fluences, and more. It is not possible to trace 

 characteristics in detail, to say "From the Sax- 

 ons came this trait, from the Normans this 

 other," but the mingled strains are there. In 

 another sense the population of England is 

 remarkably pure, for there are comparatively 

 few foreigners. 



According to the latest statistics, England is 

 the most densely-populated country in the 

 world, with the exception of little Belgium; it 

 had 34,045,290 inhabitants in 1912. Though the 

 population of the United States has increased 

 at about twice the rate of that of England, it 

 will be many centuries before the former coun- 

 try is as thickly populated as the little island 

 kingdom. In its large proportion of city to 

 country inhabitants England leads the world, 

 over seventy-eight per cent of the people living 

 under city conditions. Just what effect the 

 War of the Nations will have on the population 

 of England, as regards birth-rate and living 

 conditions, cannot for some years be predicted, 

 but it may be said with certainty that it will 

 be profound. 



London, the capital of England, is the largest 

 city in the world excepting, possibly, Greater 

 New York, and it is the greatest commercial 

 center. Besides this metropolis there are in 

 England fifteen other cities or boroughs each 

 with a population of more than 200,000. These 

 are Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Shef- 

 field, Leeds, Bristol, West Ham, Bradford, 

 Kingston-upon-Hull, Newcastle- upon -Tyne, 

 Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Salford, Ports- 

 mouth and Leicester. There are, in addition, 

 twenty-five cities which have between 100,000 

 and 200,000 inhabitants each. 



Religion. The history of religion in England 



