Character of Country and People. 309 



England can readily supply her needs by importations. 

 Situated within the influence of the Gulf stream, the 

 climate is much milder than her northern location 

 would indicate, and is in no respect excessive. The 

 topography is mostly gentle, except in Scotland and 

 Wales, and the riverflow even all the year. Hence the 

 absence of forestcover has not been felt in its physical 

 influences, 



Britons, Picts, Scots, Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons 

 and Normans are the elements which have amalga- 

 mated to make the English people. Through endless 

 warfare and political struggle the three countries, 

 England, Scotland and Ireland had by 1600 come under 

 one ruler, although final legislative union with Scotland 

 did not take place until 1707, and with Ireland not 

 until 1800. 



Theoretically, forming a constitutional monarchy, 

 practically, an aristocracy with republican tendencies, 

 the history of the islands has been a struggle, first to 

 establish race supremacy, then to secure the ascendency 

 of the nobility and landholders over the king and the 

 commoners, in which the former have been more 

 successful than the barons in other parts of Europe. 



Politically, the Englishman is an individualist, 

 jealous of his private interests and unwilling to submit 

 to government interference for the public welfare. 

 Hence, State forestry, which is finally the only solution 

 of the forestry problem, appears objectionable. Com- 

 mercial and industrial enterprise rather than economic 

 development appeals to him; the practical issue of the 

 day rather than demands of a future^ and systematic 



