Character of Country and People. 309 
England can readily supply her needs by importations. 
Situated within the influence of the Gulf stream, the 
climate is much milder than her northern location 
would indicate, and is in no respect excessive. The 
topography is mostly gentle, except in Scotland and 
Wales, and the riverflow even all the year. Hence the 
absence of forestcover has not been felt in its physical 
influences. 
Britons, Picts, Scots, Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons 
and Normans are the elements which have amalga- 
mated to make the English people. Through endless 
warfare and political struggle the three countries, 
England, Scotland and Ireland had by 1600 come under 
one ruler, although final legislative union with Scotland 
did not take place until 1707, and with Ireland not 
until 1800. 
Theoretically, forming a constitutional monarchy, 
practically, an aristocracy with republican tendencies, 
the history of the islands has been a struggle, first to 
establish race supremacy, then to secure the ascendency 
of the nobility and landholders over the king and the 
commoners, in which the former have been more 
successful than the barons in other parts of Europe. 
Politically, the Englishman is an _ individualist, 
jealous of his private interests and unwilling to submit 
to government interference for the public welfare. 
Hence, State forestry, which is finally the only solution 
of the forestry problem, appears objectionable. Com- 
mercial and industrial enterprise rather than economic 
development appeals to him; the practical issue of the 
day rather than demands of a future'and systematic 
