THE ROOTS OF EMPIRE 47 



Saxon race. Its ancient home was in the British 

 Isles, where, under stringent selection, it evolved 

 for centuries against purely parasitic diseases. Un- 

 checked by malaria, the Anglo-Saxons spread ; 

 smitten by parasitic diseases the Aborigines 

 dwindled. To-day the Anglo-Saxons occupy so 

 large and fertile a portion of the earth's surface that 

 their world-predominance in the future is assured. 

 They may be beaten in war ; they may break into 

 separate governments ; but disease cannot now 

 exterminate them, and their increasing numbers 

 must secure to them the ultimate victory. The 

 roots of the Empire have struck very deep and 

 wide. Disease has given it space to spread ; and 

 when the vast void, which is in the making in the 

 New World is filled by Anglo-Saxons, the Yellow 

 Peril itself will be but a little thing. The millions 

 of the Anglo-Saxons will then be more by many 

 times than all the millions of China. The French 

 were beaten in the eighteenth century. The 

 Germans are hopelessly belated in the start. 

 The only possible rival is the great Russian 

 Empire, but it is hardly possible that the Siberian 

 wastes will ever bear a very dense population. 



The Latins, especially the Spaniards and the 

 Portuguese, were less fortunate. They had the 

 first start in the race, and they chose the seemingly 

 richer tropics. But checked, as they were, by 



