THE OLDEST NATION OF EUROPE 



395 



to those who pursue their inquiry no fur- 

 ther. England's preeminence and pre- 

 dominance are, however, the result of 

 geographical and economic factors of the 

 utmost potency, but of the utmost pe- 

 culiarity. They are, in fact, so unique 

 that if we had not the evidence of their 

 formative power in the events of English 

 history we should be inclined to doubt 

 their significance. 



Great geographical and economic forces 

 have built up a political and economic 

 fabric of unquestioned significance which 

 as surely exists as the sun in the heavens, 

 and whose existence is not to be dis- 

 proved by demonstrating that the forces 

 which created it have done their work. 



THE ESSENTIALS OE NATIONAEITY 



Let us enumerate the essential features 

 of national existence as we now under- 

 stand them and compare the periods at 

 which they were achieved by England 

 and by the other countries in Europe. 



First and foremost, territorial unity in 

 the sense of the possession by the State 

 of a geographical entity, with, if possi- 

 ble, such natural frontiers as the Pyrenees 

 form for Spain and the Alps for Italy. 



In the second place, racial unity, which 

 assumes that the people inhabiting this 

 geographical unit have lost consciousness 

 of any differences of racial origin and 

 regard themselves as one people. 



Thirdly, religious unity, at least to such 

 an extent that toleration of individual 

 beliefs is recognized as an accepted prin- 

 ciple by the State. We no longer demand 

 as religious unity identity of opinion, but 

 we at least premise as an important fac- 

 tor in national consciousness a substan- 

 tial tolerance by the state of dififerences 

 of opinion. 



Fourthly, patriotism, the consciousness 

 in the vast body of the people of this 

 unity of territory, of race, and religion, 

 and of a consequent unity of aim and 

 purpose. It presumes the active existence 

 of common consciousness, of common 

 ideals, both present and future. 



Fifthly, unity of administration, not 

 only such externals as allegiance to the 

 same sovereign or to the same constitu- 

 tion, but a very real unity of govern- 

 mental ideals, by which we mean that the 



overwhelming majority of the people are 

 so well satisfied with the general form of 

 government and the general results of its 

 operation that they have no wish to 

 change it. This does not, of course, pre- 

 clude strong difi'erences of opinion in 

 great sections of the people on questions 

 of policy, but it does assume a very real 

 agreement on everything at all funda- 

 mental. 



GREAT BRITAIN'S TERRITORIAL UNITY AT- 

 TAINED CENTURIES EARLIER THAN 

 . THAT OE ANY OTHER COUNTRY 

 IN EUROPE 



France and Germany have not yet at- 

 tained, the majority of their people still 

 dream of, the territorial unity and "nat- 

 ural frontiers" which England attained 

 centuries ago. To all intents and pur- 

 poses, England was in 1087, at the death 

 of William the Conqueror, what she is 

 now. The fact that both William and 

 his immediate successors owned great es- 

 tates upon the continent must not con- 

 ceal from us, as students, the essential 

 fact that territorial unity in England has 

 been practically a reality since his time. 

 Since the close of the Hundred Years' 

 War, at the very latest, England has not 

 owned, nor have the English people de- 

 sired, land on the continent of Europe. 

 The single port of Calais remained for 

 another century as the reminder of what 

 had been ; but already, in the reign of 

 Henry VII, Englishmen were reconciled 

 to the limitation of their boundaries to 

 the "tight little isle." 



Spain did not obtain a territorial unity 

 similar to England's on the death of Wil- 

 liam the Conqueror until the close of the 

 fifteenth century, and the more closely 

 Spanish history is studied the clearer 

 does it become that this territorial unity 

 was more nominal than real. 



France waited until the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, Germany and Italy until the nine- 

 teenth century, to attain even formal 

 territorial unity by bringing under one 

 government all the territory which those 

 nations now possess. 



There are, of course, many qualifica- 

 tions and reservations to be made in con- 

 nection with any such series of broad 

 statements as these, but after all possi- 



