THE EVOLUTION OF NATIONS 167 



Russia. The converse of this argument, therefore, suggests the absence 

 of effective separation for any group as an important factor in the 

 failure of primitive tribes to develop nationally on the open plains of 

 eastern Europe or of South and North America. Sections of the last 

 named, at least, were fully as well favored as was the Nile valley, so 

 far as the prosecution of agriculture is concerned. 



The measure of separation not only has been a significant factor 

 in the inception of national development, but also appears as one of the 

 chief modifying influences in all the successive stages of evolution. 

 Its effects have been operative both in the case of older nations develop- 

 ing directly from primitive groups, and in the modification of trans- 

 planted national civilizations, of which class the Australian colonies 

 and New Zealand may be regarded as typical. Separation has meant 

 more than the security needed in the period of development from the 

 primitive group into a people solidly welded by national qualities and 

 attributes. Through this same lessened liability of molestation, the 

 more perfect the separation, the greater has been the continuity of 

 social and economic evolution, and the more rapid the advance, beyond 

 the preliminary stages of national existence. 



Separation, or the lack of it, also determines the absence or pres- 

 ence of the burden of militarism, and hence fixes the extent to which 

 the energies of the population may be profitably occupied or how much 

 of them must be wasted in unproductive military service. Thus the 

 old Prussian maxim that " Empires are made only by the sword " 

 clearly reflects the exposed position of that state, its dependence on 

 armed strength for its existence, and one o| the chief factors in its 

 slow development to important nationality. 



The sharply contrasted course of events in England, as compared 

 with either France or Germany, must be explained largely on the 

 degree of separation which has always been one of the chief British 

 assets. The early breaking down of feudalism and serfdom in England 

 and the consequent more rapid advance of personal and political liberty, 

 the freedom from invasion and wars on her own soil, the absence of any 

 powerful rival occupying contiguous territory and the resulting free- 

 dom from a great military burden, all represent tremendous advantages, 

 possessed by none of her rivals. All these advantages depended on the 

 separation of England from the continental mainland, by a narrow body 

 of water, the crossing of which was rendered difficult and hazardous by 

 its turbulent waves and currents. France, on the contrary, though in 

 many respects naturally better favored than England, was, by her more 

 exposed position, led into the pursuance of continental policies which 

 frequently involved her in wars on her own soil and greatly hampered 

 internal progress. France thereby was held back at times when Eng- 

 land, enjoying internal peace, was forging rapidly ahead. Germany, 



