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ironical to-day to read of deputations and committees of 
investigation sent to Switzerland to discover how they manage 
to conduct administration and dispense justice so cheaply 
as to escape oppressive taxation. One writer says its excellent 
system of education is superior to that of any country in 
Europe, with the exceptions of Scotland and Germany. The 
ingenuity of her people as a result of the excellent system 
of technical education, has enabled her to compete successfully 
with our own country in commodities in which we are well 
favoured. 
In 1864, Denmark, after a brief but heroic struggle with 
Germany, suffered a crushing blow. The story of her recovery 
and growing prosperity since then is a very instructive one. 
Some recent investigations under the direction of Prof. Sadler 
reveal the Danish peasantry as the most instructed in Europe, 
and Denmark the most prosperous of all the purely agricultural 
countries in Europe. From the brink of ruin the poor man’s 
university has restored the country and transformed depression 
to agricultural prosperity, while we have been almost stagnant 
in this respect. Educational zeal, earnestness and activity 
have taken possession of the Danes. We have read of their 
co-operative dairies, the superiority of their produce, and 
with what quick-witted readiness and with what intelligence 
and business-like success that community of Danish rustics 
has turned from unremunerative culture to the erection of 
a system which is a wonder to us English people, while we 
ourselves, suffering from just the same wave of agricultural 
depression, have been sitting still and bewailing our sad 
circumstances. This is an eloquent example of what a small 
community can achieve, quickened by the spirit of nationality. 
There is no history more fascinating than that of Holland. 
It is astonishing to read of this small state in the sixteenth 
century, when, imbued with a deep civic spirit and enthusiasm, 
with only a small population, it not only held its own against 
the mighty Spanish Empire, but in the midst of this unequal 
contest founded a great Colonial Empire. Meanwhile, 
impelled by the intellectual stimulus of the period, it took 
the lead in scholarship and welcomed Lipsius, Descartes, 
Erasmus, etc. But it is in art we give Holland the palm of 
victory, for her galaxy of painters, — Rubens, Jordaens, 
Vandyck, Rembrandt. Holland remains to-day, though in 
imminent danger from the sea, a country peopled by a clean, 
thrifty, independent, persevering, highly educated and highly 
successful commercial community. 
To come nearer home. No part of the United Kingdom 
has produced so large a proportion of men who have succeeded 
