252 MAN AND NATURE. 



States ; and has further distinguished himself by a 

 valuable work on the 'Origin and Early History of 

 the English Language/ We always hail with satisfac- 

 tion any addition to the science or literature of the 

 world coming from our Transatlantic brethren. What- 

 ever the issue or effects of the bloody struggle now in 

 progress in America a problem which time alone can 

 fully solve we shall still stand in closer relationship 

 to this remarkable people than to any other nation of 

 the earth. The terms of ' common origin,' ' common 

 language,' and c common literature ' have become the 

 hackneyed phraseology of public meetings and after- 

 dinner speeches, but they nevertheless denote facts 

 which are destined to be of deep interest in the future 

 history of the world. The vast territory and popula- 

 tion, united but four years ago under a single Govern- 

 ment, can never, we believe, recover the unity they 

 have lost. Had none of the causes of this war ex- 

 isted, we doubt whether the American Constitution, 

 or indeed any constitution, could have sustained the 

 enormous pressure upon its powers which twenty years 

 more of growing population and diverging local in- 

 terests would have engendered. But whether two 

 nations, or half-a-dozen nations, emerge out of the 

 present crisis, one future event will be the same the 

 great North American continent, prolific in all that 

 pertains to the growth of man, will nurture a popula- 

 tion large as that of total Europe, educated generally 

 into a higher grade of civil and religious liberty, speak- 

 ing one language, and perpetuating through this lan- 

 guage the many glories of our early and later literature. 



