An Empire : Ocean-wide 



This great Empire of modern days is reckoned 

 to contain " between eleven and twelve millions 

 of square miles" of land; and "in round numbers 

 four hundred millions " of subjects. 



The four hundred millions are not, like the 

 hundreds of millions of Chinese, all together 

 in one part, all surrounded by a single containing 

 border. 



They are everywhere ; in every clime ; on 

 every ocean ; under tropical skies ; around 

 temperate seas ; amid frozen plains. Each 

 fraction of the Empire is divided from other 

 fractions by the Ocean ; and this makes needful, 

 as an absolute essential to the integrity of the 

 Empire, the command of leading Ocean-high- 

 ways, by which the different portions are united. 

 From England to India; from England to 

 Canada ; from England to Australia ; from 

 England to South Africa ; from England to 

 Gibraltar and Malta and Egypt ; from England 

 to lesser Dependencies innumerable — always the 

 ''roadway" is over-sea; always the route is 

 across the ocean-waters. Those ocean highways 

 are thronged by the Empire's ships ; and under 

 those seas thousands of miles of stout cable in 

 all directions serve as do the "speaking tubes" 

 in some large business establishment. 



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