XXVI. S. H. BARRACLOUGH. 



some justice — " Nowhere else on the face of the globe is 

 there such a land. With a soil of exhaustless fertility if 

 properly cultivated ; with original forest resources sufficient 

 to supply the world for centuries ; with an almost infinite 

 energy stored in the ample coal beds, and in the oil and 

 gas deposits, which are almost co-extensive with their 

 territorial limits ; with the richest iron ores so plentiful 

 and abundant as to make their value scarcely more than 

 common rock or earth ; with copper, lead, zinc*, gold, and 

 silver deposits in marvellous quantities ; with a climate all 

 that could be desired and nowhere equalled for agricultural 

 purposes ; and finally, but most of all, peopled by the most 

 progressive races under the sun; with all these infinite 

 opportunities, surely something should have been accom- 

 plished." But even admitting all this, it is a sorry argu- 

 ment that because natural opportunities are less, a people 

 therefore is to be excused from making an equal effort. It 

 has yet to be shown that this country is not possessed of as 

 fine possibilities as America, and if, as is evident, the 

 resources of the country are not quite so readily to hand 

 as in the United States, it is surely all the stronger argu- 

 ment for a resolute and determined exploitation of those 

 resources. 



THE CASE OF GERMANY. 



No such argument, however, applies to the case of Ger- 

 many, which during the last century, has shown how in 

 the face of obstacles that a less courageous and wise people 

 might have regarded as insuperable, a nation may bring 

 itself from a position of apparent ruin to the very summit 

 of international success. The history of this development 

 has already several times been referred to in the recent 

 educational discussions, so I will merely content myself 

 with pointing out that within 12 years of the date of the 

 Franco-Prussian War, a Royal Commission from England, 



