18 



the most conspicuous part in the magnificent drama of the world. 

 With a territory containing only about 50,000 square miles, or 

 little more than 37,000,000 imperial acres, with a home popula- 

 tion of less than seventeen millions, it holds the first rank in wealth, 

 in maritime strength, in moral force, and that intellectuality 

 which rules the nations of the earth. Iler present superiority is 

 the result of a well-directed industry in agriculture, in commerce 

 and manufactures. 



It has been the policy of England to become the workshop of 

 the world. She imports cotton from the United States, raw silk 

 from China, gold and wool from Australia, and then multiplies 

 them in value many fold by the aid of machinery, and then dis- 

 penses them to every country on the globe. 



In 1854, she employed in her foreign and colonial trade 35,000 

 ships, and the number of the registered seamen of Great Britain 

 was 253,896. 



She manufactures annually about 50,000,000 of pounds ster- 

 ling worth of cotton ; about £10,000,000 sterling of wool ; about 

 £12,000,000 sterling of raw silk. 



She has X 2,601,000,000 fixed capital in the real estate of the 

 country. 



From agriculture, £539,000,000 income. 

 From manufacturing industry, an income of £259,500,000. 

 All this magnificent product of her industry has proceeded 

 from a small beginning. 



It is said that all the silkworms of Europe proceed from eggs, 

 which, in the reign of Constantine, certain Greek monks carried 

 in hollow canes to Constantinople from China. 



England has one thousand millions of pounds sterling as the 

 floating capital of commerce. By her policy she has acquired 

 pohtical power ; by power, productive force ; by productive force, 

 wealth. She holds in her hands the keys of every sea ; she holds 

 a check upon every nation — " upon Germany by Heliogoland ; upon 

 France by Guernsey and Jersey ; upon North America by Nova 

 Scotia and Bermudas ; upon Central America by Jamaica ; upon 

 all the coasts of the Mediterranean by Gibraltar, Malta and the 

 Ionian Islands." She possesses all the stopping places on the two 

 routes to India, except the Isthmus of Suez, and now she is build- 

 ini: a fort at Perinj- 



