794 EEPORT — 1887. 



inowledge in the execution of great undertakings is great, the consequences of 

 ignorance are disastrous, and he refers, among other instances, to the shameful 

 retreat of the fleet of Agamemnon when ravaging Mysia, and to bring it more 

 home to our everyday life he says: ' Even if we descend to such trivial matters as 

 hunting, the case is still the same ; for he wUl be most successful in the chase 

 •who is acquainted with the size and nature of the wood, and one familiar with the 

 locality will be the most competent to superintend an encampment, an ambush, or 

 a march.' 



He further calls attention to ' the importance of geography in a political view. 

 For the sea and the earth on which we dwell furnish theatres for action ; limited, 

 for limited action, vast, for grander deeds ; but that which contains them aU, and 

 is the scene of the greatest undertakings, constitutes what we term the habitable 

 earth ; and they are the greatest generals who, subduing nations and kingdoms 

 under one sceptre and one political administration, have acquired dominion over 

 land and sea. It is clear, then, that geography is essential to all the transactions 

 of the statesman, informing us as it does of the positions of the continents, seas, 

 and oceans of the habitable earth.' 



Of all persons who require a knowledge of geography stand first those who 

 are most concerned in the government of our empire, and yet, as has been men- 

 tioned, they have for the most part been brought up at schools where the mental 

 training for geography is most defective. Our statesmen as a rule have neither 

 theoretical teaching nor practical experience in the science, and it is perhaps not too 

 much to say that, putting on one side those who are merchants and sailors, there are 

 no more ignorant persons with regard to geography than our law-givers. This 

 ignorance endangers the safety of the country, for the people are continually per- 

 ceiving, with regard to matters of everyday life and practical experience, that their 

 law-givers are more ignorant than themselves, and are consequently continually 

 interfering and giving advice in the details of the administration of the empire. 



The progress and development of a free country depend upon the characteristics 

 of the inhabitants, but these again depend in great measure upon the natural re- 

 sources of the country — the soil, climate, mineral wealth, navigation, mountain 

 ranges, risks and dangers from natural causes, and we must not omit the position 

 of the country both with reference to commerce and war. 



It is not usually the country too greatly favoured by nature which develops 

 most rapidly, neither is it necessarily a long term of peace which favours progress ; 

 on the contrary, all experience shows that man requires a certain amount of 

 opposition to bring out his energies and stimulate him to exertion, and though we 

 are constantly talking in our country of the blessings of peace and horrors of war, 

 we must generally acknosvledge that our present foremost place among nations is 

 due in a great degree to the keeping up of our innate energies by incessant turmoils 

 and differences of opinion within and little wars and commercial rivalry without. 

 It is not, then, to a reign of peace in which our energies would stagnate and become 

 efi'ete, but to a continuance of political excitement, which keeps the people on the 

 alert, that we should be indebted for progress, and our statesmen should be suffi- 

 ciently well educated and trained to take advantage of every time of excitement 

 in furthering the welfare of the empire. 



We owe the benefit (before railwaj's) in the improvement of our Great 

 Northern Roads for military purposes to the rebellion of 1745, leading to our being 

 able to run coaches between London and Manchester in 1754, and between 

 London and Edinburgh in 1763. Scotland and Ireland are both indebted to war 

 and disorder for the first roads, constructed for purely military purposes. 



But while the duty of taking advantage of each fitting opportunity for develop- 

 ing a country lies with the statesman, his prospect of success depends in great 

 measure upon his geographical knowledge. His work may serve but for the purposes 

 of the moment, and never benefit posterity, if he has no knowledge or foresight, no 

 originality of purpose and perception of the fitness of things. 



The measures that can be taken may be divided into two classes — domestic and 

 international. The former designed to benefit the country or empire directly ; 

 the latter to shield the land from hostilities from without, and in which the 



