into fragments. But the further we get away from England 
the more do our internal differences fade away out of our 
thought and heart, and the more do we feel the essential 
but indescribable unity of her national character. To the 
foreigner who looks upon us from a distance, the English 
people stand out as a distinct personality upon the world. 
The English nation has certain characteristics hard to 
define in words but unmistakeable in their practical outcome, 
which distinguish it from other peoples and give it a signi- 
ficant unity of its own. Yet, racially, we are a jumble, a 
conglomerate, a patch-work counterpane. A dozen factors 
have gone in the making of us — a dark background of Hiber- 
nian, two separate invasions of Gauls, a measure of Roman 
civilisation, Norse, Angles, Teutons, Flemings, Huguenots, 
Scotchmen, Irishmen and Welshmen. All these elements 
have added to the abundant variety of temperament and 
genius amongst us and have enriched to an extraordinary 
extent the adaptive qualities and the imaginative resources 
of our national life. Defoe put it harshly when he said 
that “ the Englishman was the mud of all races.” 
Our physical environment has favoured the unity and 
diversity of our national life. From across the narrow seas, 
which from prehistoric time have divided us from the Continent 
of Europe, there have poured in political and religious ideas. 
England has always been accessible to stimulus from outside, 
which prevents stagnation ; but her insularity has made her 
a world by herself, and her long-stretched coast line, with 
remote corners jutting into the sea, has favoured the different 
flavours of temperament which preserve variety without 
being destructive to unity. Our geographical position has 
given us the power to be susceptible to external things whilst 
securing a continuity in social structure. The sea channels 
around have encouraged adventure and enterprise ; they 
have freed us from the necessity of making ourselves into 
a close-set military organisation which would entail close 
interference with individual liberty. These channels have 
set free a large measure of our resources and a large proportion 
of our best abilities for the work of building up communities 
beyond the ocean, and the other activities of our national 
life. England has grown from responsibility to responsibility, 
and our varied empire, the complex outcome of so many 
forces, reacts in turn upon our national life at home. Democracy 
and paternalism are interwoven in the structure of the empire. 
We find ourselves in a state in which one set of qualities 
requires another set of qualities to balance and complete its 
