PERILS. — IMMIGRATION. 



51 



to revise the map of Europe. The common people are 

 learning to read, and history and poetry kindle patriot- 

 ism. With the growth of popular intelligence, the iden- 

 tity of language and of blood is exerting an increasing 

 influence, and the fragments of nationalities, long since 

 dismembered and thought dead, are seeking each other 

 like the dry bones in Ezekiel's vision, to be followed by 

 a resurrection of the old national spirit and life. The 

 Eastern question of to-day springs from the fact that 

 many fragments of different races, held together only 

 by the arbitrary bond of force, are seeking a rearrange- 

 ment based on a common origin and language. It looks 

 as if this tendency would sooner or later disturb the ex- 

 isting balance of power, and so precipitate a great, and 

 perhaps general, conflict. 



In preparation for this crisis each nation is seeking to 

 outdo its rivals. The following table i indicates in some 

 measure what a European war might mean : 



1 Compiled from the Statfisman's Year-Book, 1890. 

 ' The World Almanac, 1890. 



