Page:The empire and the century.djvu/928



has been said that comparatively few people think, really think, about subjects beyond the concerns of their daily life. That is possibly the principal reason why a nation which possesses the greatest Empire the world has ever known, an Empire with lands on every continent and islands in every sea, inhabited by four hundred millions of people of almost every race, colour, language, and religion, should never have provided any means for teaching the art of administration. We are said to be amateurs in everything except sport; but there we are counted professionals, and it is only people of the same origin who seriously dispute our claims to excel in what we regard as our national pastimes. True, we were once regarded as passably capable shopkeepers, but now we have serious rivals in all forms of trade, and we are assured, by those who ought to know, that England is losing, or has already lost, her business preeminence. Still, there are two callings into which destiny has forced Britons where we may congratulate ourselves that we are experts: we are sailors and we are administrators. The geographical conditions which drew the people of these islands to find a home on the sea; the spirit of adventure which is as the breath of life to the navigator; the experience and profit of successful voyages; the attractions of distant travel, of foreign lands, and the desire to go further, to know the unknown, 883