214 THE AKGLO-SAXO^r AXD THE WOllLD^S FUTURE. 



only jjreparing in our Anglo-Saxon civilization the die 

 with which to stamp the peoples of the earth, but as if 

 he were also massing behind that die the mighty power 

 with which to press it ? My confidence that this race is 

 eventually to give its civilization to mankind is not based 

 on mere numbers— China forbid! I look forward to 

 what the world has never yet seen united in the same 

 race; viz., the greatest . numbers, mid the highest 

 civilization. 



There can be no reasonable doubt that North America 

 is to be the great home of the Anglo-Saxon, the principal 

 seat of his power, the center of his life and influence. 

 Not only does it constitute seven-elevenths of his pos- 

 sessions, but here his empire is unsevered, while the 

 remaining four-elevenths are fragmentary and scattered 

 over the earth. Australia Avill have a great population ; 

 but its disadvantages, as compared with North America, 

 are too manifest to need mention. Our continent has 

 room and resources and climate, it lies in the pathway 

 of the nations, it belongs to the zone of power, and 

 alread}^ among Anglo-Saxons, do we lead in population 

 and wealth. Of England, Franklin once wrote: "That 

 pretty island which, compared to America, is but a step- 

 ping-stone in a brook, scarce enough of it above water 

 to keep one's shoes dry." England can hardly hope to 

 maintain her relative importance among Anglo-Saxon 

 peoples when her "pretty island" is the home of only 

 one-twentieth part of that race. With the wider distri- 

 bution of wealth, and increasing facilities of intercourse, 

 intelligence and influence are less centralized, and 

 peoples become more homogeneous ; and the more nearly 

 homogeneous peoples are, the more do numbers tell. 



America is to have the great preponderance of 

 numbers and of wealth, and by the logic of events will 

 follow the scepter of controlling influence. This will be 

 but the consummation of a movement as old as civiliza- 

 tion — a result to which men have looked forward for 

 centuries. John Adams records that nothing was 

 "more ancient in his memory than the observation 



