National Life and Character: A Forecast |
From inside the book
Page 6
... German Empire was on the eve of dissolution ; and that Holland was only awaiting the advent of a foreign conqueror.1 The first of these prophecies was fulfilled in ten years ; the second in 1806 ; and the third in 1794. The American ...
... German Empire was on the eve of dissolution ; and that Holland was only awaiting the advent of a foreign conqueror.1 The first of these prophecies was fulfilled in ten years ; the second in 1806 ; and the third in 1794. The American ...
Page 7
... Germans , predicted that if France came to war with an united German people , she would be over- borne.2 It will be observed that the most conspicuous in- stances of strikingly false prophecies are taken from the utterances of statesmen ...
... Germans , predicted that if France came to war with an united German people , she would be over- borne.2 It will be observed that the most conspicuous in- stances of strikingly false prophecies are taken from the utterances of statesmen ...
Page 14
... German , Anglo - Saxon , and Frenchman alike . For The first chapter of this book is practically an ex- pansion , on a very large scale , of an article which I published in the Contemporary Review of 1868.1 Travel in the United States ...
... German , Anglo - Saxon , and Frenchman alike . For The first chapter of this book is practically an ex- pansion , on a very large scale , of an article which I published in the Contemporary Review of 1868.1 Travel in the United States ...
Page 16
... German can ever colonise New Guinea . The fear of Chinese immigration which the Australian democracy cherishes , and which English- men at home find it hard to understand , is , in fact , the instinct of self - preservation , quickened ...
... German can ever colonise New Guinea . The fear of Chinese immigration which the Australian democracy cherishes , and which English- men at home find it hard to understand , is , in fact , the instinct of self - preservation , quickened ...
Page 40
... German , and Italian ports can hardly exceed 200,000 more . In the course of twenty years this would mean that a population of 9,000,000 had been trans- ported to a new home , and the most favourable estimate of the natural increase of ...
... German , and Italian ports can hardly exceed 200,000 more . In the course of twenty years this would mean that a population of 9,000,000 had been trans- ported to a new home , and the most favourable estimate of the natural increase of ...
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Common terms and phrases
admitted Africa America ancient army Aryan race assume Australia become believe Borneo bound Brazil British Central America centuries chap character China Chinamen Chinese Church civilised colonies conceivable difficult doubt emigration Empire England English Englishman estimate Europe European existence fact faith favourable feeling force France French future German habitually hand higher Hindoo human husband immigration incomparably increase India Indians industrial influence instance Jews labour land least less limits live Lord Chatham Malay Archipelago marriage ment military modern Molière moral native natural negro never Norsemen organisation parents perhaps Peru political population possible practically present probably race reason reforms regarded religion religious Roman Russia scarcely secular seems Socialism society soldiers Spain square miles statesmen suppose thought tion tolerate towns Victor Hugo wealth whole wife women Yunnan
Popular passages
Page 246 - The want of affection in the English is strongly manifested towards their children ; for after having kept them at home till they arrive at the age of seven or nine years...
Page 6 - ... by immediate direction) presume even to mention privileges and freedom, who, till of late, received directions from the throne with implicit humility ; when this is considered, I cannot help fancying that the genius of freedom has entered that kingdom in disguise. If they have but three weak monarchs more successively on the throne, the mask will be laid aside, and the country will certainly once more be free.
Page 96 - Fortescue could exult that more Englishmen were hanged for robbery in one year, than French in seven, and that " if an Englishman be poor, and see another having riches, which may be taken from him by might, he will not spare to do so/'* it may be perceived how thoroughly these sentiments had pervaded the public mind.
Page 342 - We reply, that to work in vain, in the sense of producing means of life which are not used, embryos which are never vivified, germs which are not developed ; is so far from being contrary to the usual proceedings of nature, that it is an operation which is constantly going on, in every part of nature.
Page 108 - We have observed that, as a general rule, the business of life is better performed when those who have an immediate interest in it are left to take their own course, uncontrolled either by the mandate of the law or by the meddling of any public functionary.
Page 304 - ... it is melancholy to say it, but the chief, perhaps the only, English writer who has any claim to be considered an ecclesiastical historian, is the infidel Gibbon.
Page 5 - ... all the symptoms which I have ever met with in history, previous to great changes and revolutions in Government, now exist, and daily increase in France.
Page 130 - Let us conceive the leading European nations to be stationary, while the Black and Yellow Belt, including China, Malaysia, India, Central Africa, and Tropical America, is all teeming with life, developed by industrial enterprise, fairly well administered by native governments, and owning the better part of the carrying trade of the world. Can any one suppose that, in such a condition of political society...
Page 2 - He had, in the highest degree, that noble faculty whereby man is able to live in the past and in the future, in the distant and in the unreal. India and its inhabitants were not to him, as to most Englishmen, mere names and abstractions, but a real country and a real people. The burning sun, the strange vegetation of the palm and the...
Page 291 - Every astronomer knows that there was only one secret of the universe to be discovered, and that when Newton told it to the world the supreme triumph of astronomy was achieved. Whether...