470 



NATURE 



[Sep. IS, 1887 



under a good system in early years would take the highest 

 places in examination. We are thus losing year by year from 

 our front rank the men who would be of the greatest service 

 to the Stdte. 



The pleas given for the study of geography by Strabo are 

 worth bringing before the mind of youth, for he points out that 

 while the success resulting from knowledge in the execution of 

 great undertakings is great, the consequences of ignorance are 

 disastrous, and he refers, among other instances, to the shame- 

 ful retreat of the fleet of Agamemnon when ravaging Mysia, 

 and to bring it more home to our every-day life he srvys : — 

 "Even if we descend to such trivial matters as hunting, the 

 case is still the same ; for he will be most successful in the 

 •chase who is acquainted with the size and nature of the wood ; 

 and one familiar with the locality will be the most competent to 

 superintend an encampment, an ambush, or a march." 



He further calls attention to "the importance of geography 

 in a political view. For the sea and the earth on which we 

 dwell furnish theatres for action ; limited, for limited action ; 

 vast, for grander deeds ; but that which contains them all, and 

 is the scene of the greatest undertakings, constitutes what we 

 term the habitable earth ; and they are the greatest generals who, 

 subduing nations and kingdoms under one sceptre and one 

 political administration, have acquired dominion over land and 

 sea. , It is clear, then, that geography is essential to all the 

 transactions of the statesman, informing us as it does of the 

 positions of the continents, seas, and oceans of the habitable 

 ■earth." 



Of all persons who require a knowledge of geography stand 

 first those who a-e most concerned in the government of our 

 Empire, and yet, as has been mentioned, they have for the most 

 part been brought up at schools where the mental training for 

 geography is most defective. Our statesmen as a rule have 

 neither theoretical teaching nor practical experience in the science, 

 and it is perhaps not too much to say that, putting on one side 

 those who are merchants and sailors, there are no more ignorant 

 persons with regard to geography than our law-givers. This 

 ignorance endangers the safety of the country, for the people are 

 continually perceiving, with regard to matters of every-day life 

 and practical experience, that their law-givers are more ignorant 

 than themselves, and aie consequently continually interfering 

 and giving advice in the details of the administration of the 

 Empire. 



The progress and development of a free country depend upon 

 the characteristics of the inhabitants, but these again depend in 

 great measure upon the natural resources of the country — the 

 soil, climate, mineral wealth, navigation, mountain ranges, 

 risks and dangers from natural causes, and we must not omit the 

 position of the country both with reference to commerce and war. 



It is not usually the country too greatly favoured by Nature 

 which develops most rapidly, neither is it necessarily a long term 

 of peace which favours progress ; on the contrary, all experience 

 shows that man requires a certain amount of opposition to bring 

 out his energies and stimulate him to exertion, and though we 

 are constantly talking in our country of the blessings of peace 

 and horrors of war, we must generally acknowledge that our 

 present foi-emost place among nations is due in a great degree to 

 the keeping up of our innate energies by incessant turmoils and 

 •differences of opinion within and little wars and commercial 

 rivalry without. It is not, then, to a reign of peace in which 

 our energies would stagnate and become effete, but to a continu- 

 ance of political excitement, which keeps the people on the alert, 

 that we should be indebted for progress, and our statesmen 

 should be sufficiently well educated and trained to take 

 advantage of every time of excitement in furthering the welfare 

 of the Empire. 



We owe the benefit (before railways) in the improvement of 

 our great northern roads for military purposes to the rebellion 

 of 1745, leading to our being able to run coaches between 

 London and Manchester in 1754, and between London and 

 Edinburgh in 1763. Scotland and Ireland are both indebted 

 to war and disorder for the first roads, constructed for purely 

 military purposes. 



But while the duty of taking advantage of each fitting oppor- 

 tunity for developing a country lies with the statesman, his pros- 

 pect of success depends in great measure upon his geographical 

 knowledge. His work may serve but for the purposes of the 

 moment, and never benefit posterity, if he has no knowledge or 

 foresight, no originality of purpose and perception of the fitness 

 of things. 



The measures that can be taken may be divided into tw3 

 classes — domestic ani international : the former designed t) 

 benefit the country or Empire directly ; the latter to shield the 

 land from hostilities from without, and in which the considera- 

 tion of geographical position has a most all-important bearing. 

 In this latter class a complete knowledge of geography is ah 

 absolute necessity, as the question arises so often as to whether 

 the acquisition of geographical positions will weaken or 

 strengthe.i a kingdom. For example, were Ireland 2° fur- 

 ther to the west, it is probable that all our views as to the 

 method of connecting it for administrative purposes with Great 

 Britain would be greatly modified. Again, the particular points 

 at which our coaling stations may be situated about the world 

 may depend upon a variety of circumstances, changing from year 

 to year. Thus Gibraltar, from its geographical position, was an 

 absolute necessity to us thirty years ago, but, owing to various 

 changes, it is not now of equal value, either as a coaling stati m, 

 for protecting our commerce, or a; a depot for our wares, and 

 the question is arising with some geographers whether it might 

 not with advantage be exchanged for Ceuta on the opposite 

 coast. 



It is possible that a more full geographical knowledge of 

 Egypt and the Suez Canal might have materially modified our 

 present occupation of Egypt. The Canal could not be held 

 without a fresh-water supply, and the possession of Cairo and 

 the Nile is the key to the fresh-water canal supplying Ismailia 

 and Suez. Had it been known that a plentiful supply of water 

 could be obtained close to the maritime canal, independent of the 

 Nile water, it is questionable how far any occupation of Egypt 

 would have been necessary. 



In such cases it is not sufficient that the Government subor« 

 dinates should have a knowledge of geography, for, even if they 

 are fully converfant with what they ought to know, it would be 

 almost impracticable for them to convey to statesmen knowledge 

 which their untrained minds render them incapable of retaining 

 or making use of 



In settling political boundaries it may appear at first sight 

 that they should coincide with certain geographical features, 

 forming natural boundaries, not only in international matters, but 

 also in cases of provincial, county, town, and parish boundaries, 

 and also in accordance with historical associations ; but we must 

 do our statesmen the justice to admit that the deviations they 

 adopt may not always be the result of ignorance, but arise from 

 an astute perception that it may be necessary in the future to have 

 a cause for further modification, or even f jr raising the whole 

 question anew. It is difficult, however, to see how this can, 

 with any propriety, arise in domestic matters, and, apart from 

 the doubtful palilical .TiDralily involved, it would only occur in 

 international matters on the assumption that our Empire is para- 

 mount, and can quarral when it chooses ; and, moreover, in such 

 a case could only be justified by being carried out with so perfect 

 a knowledge of geography that in any reopening of the question 

 our country should be in the right ; whereas bitter experience 

 has shown us that our statesmen have almost invariably placed 

 us in the wrong. 



It is fatal in domestic matters to ignore the physical features 

 within a country, and attempt to obliterate its historical and 

 topographical associations, as the French Revolutionists at- 

 tempted, by su.bstituting their departments for the o!d provinces. 

 This has only led to an artificial division, which has not taken 

 root among the people, and French geographers are still calling 

 attention to the absurdity of present divisions. In such cases 

 we must keep alive to what are the ostensible and what the actual 

 reasons for such changes, and if the so called simplicity intro- 

 duced by lawyer statesmen leads to increased law expenses, we 

 may reasonably look with su picion on such an interference with 

 the economical administration of the affairs of the nation. In 

 our own country geography is intimately connected with all kinds 

 of divisions of land, which are dealt with by the administration. 

 A simplification of the arbitrary political divisions, and a modi- 

 fication and synchronization of boundaries may lead directly to 

 simplification of administrative machinery, and saving of ex- 

 penses in salaries, &c. London itself is a glaring instance of 

 the waste of money and friction of departments, from the extra- 

 ordinary overlapping of boundaries — political, magisterial, petty- 

 sessional, police, statistical, postal, public works, &c. Probably 

 a great portion of the time and energies of the superior officers 

 in the various departments is occupied in waging war on one 

 another, keeping the peace, or temporizing with or watching 

 each other ; and this not from their own desire to quarrel, btf^ 



