1865.] Pengelly on the Causes of Britain's Greatness. 37 



Kingdom. We have here the nucleus of many a future capital, and a 

 material guarantee for good order. 



Pecuniary prosperity is so firmly believed in by Englishmen, as 

 to cause them to take what are called " Practical Views." Discoveries 

 and inventions are prized in proportion as they can be shown to have 

 a money value. Every new thought presented to the British mind is 

 met with the question, " What good is it ? " It is thrown on the counter 

 of the money-changers, and received or rejected according as it has 

 or has not a utilitarian ring. Though this trait must be regarded 

 as a taint, it is inseparably connected with commercial activity and 

 success. 



The political institutions of a country are probably amongst the 

 most faithful transcripts of the mind of the nation occupying it ; and 

 ours, whether logical or not, undoubtedly work admirably. No one 

 abstains from sowing, because of any uncertainty as to his reaping 

 and enjoying the harvest. The exiled chiefs of once rival parties 

 may together enjoy our political hospitality without disturbing us, 

 or even exciting attention. In more than a solitary instance, however, 

 political refugees have brought us their arts and laid the foundation 

 of important branches of trade. 



Numerous questions and inferences, which suggest themselves 

 in connection with the subject of this paper, must be omitted. The 

 theme is a fertile one, and illustrations of its central idea abound in 

 every country. Our rocks are at once historical and prophetical. They 

 contain the wondrous history of their formation, of changes in the 

 distribution of land and water, of the birth of mountains and rivers, 

 of fluctuations in climate, and of the extinction of a vast and varied 

 multitude of animals and vegetables which have successively occupied 

 the earth. They also contain, in prophecy, the histories of unborn 

 nations. Occupations, mental developments, institutions, lines of policy, 

 are all pre-written within the rocks beneath us. The prediction may 

 long wait a fulfilment, but it is none the less certain. Incalculable 

 ages ago gold was deposited in Australian quartz. Incalculable ages 

 since, then, a prediction was inscribed on the rocks of Australia, that 

 sooner or later she would be favoured with an immense influx of 

 civilized human beings from every part of the world, bringing with 

 them their accomplishments, their industries, and their enterprise. 



