Under what different circumstances did England win her position!  Before she came to the front, Venice controlled, and almost monopolized, the trade of the Orient.  When she entered upon her career Spain was almost omnipotent in Europe, and was in possession of more than half the Western world; and besides Spain, England had, wherever she went, to contend for a foothold with Portugal, skilled in trade and adventure; and with Holland, rich, and powerful on the sea.  That is to say, she met everywhere civilizations old and technically her superior.  Of the ruling powers, she was the least in arts and arms.  If you will take time to fill out this picture, you will have some conception of the marvelous achievements of England, say since the abdication of the Emperor Charles V.

This little island is today the centre of the wealth, of the solid civilization, of the world.  I will not say of art, of music, of the lighter social graces that make life agreeable; but I will say of the moral forces that make progress possible and worth while.  Of this island the centre is London; of London the heart is “the City,” and in the City you can put your finger on one spot where the pulse of the world is distinctly felt to beat.  The Moslem regards the Kaaba at Mecca as the centre of the universe; but that is only a theological phrase.  The centre of the world is the Bank of England in Leadenhall Street.  There is not an occurrence, not a conquest or a defeat, a revolution, a panic, a famine, an abundance, not a change in value of money or material, no depression or stoppage in trade, no recovery, no political, and scarcely any great religious movement—­say the civil deposition of the Pope or the Wahhabee revival in Arabia and India—­that does not report itself instantly at this sensitive spot.  Other capitals feel a local influence; this feels all the local influences.  Put your ear at the door of the Bank or the Stock Exchange near by, and you hear the roar of the world.

But this is not all, nor the most striking thing, nor the greatest contrast to the empires of Rome and of Spain.  The civilization that has gone forth from England is a self-sustaining one, vital to grow where it is planted, in vast communities, in an order that does not depend, as that of the Roman world did, upon edicts and legions from the capital.  And it must be remembered that if the land empire of England is not so vast as that of Rome, England has for two centuries been mistress of the seas, with all the consequences of that opportunity—­consequences to trade beyond computation.  And we must add to all this that an intellectual and moral power has been put forth from England clear round the globe, and felt beyond the limits of the English tongue.

How is it that England has attained this supremacy—­a supremacy in vain disputed on land and on sea by France, but now threatened by an equipped and disciplined Germany, by an unformed Colossus—­a Slav and Tartar conglomerate; and perhaps by one of her own children, the United States?  I will mention some of the things that have determined England’s extraordinary career; and they will help us to consider her prospects.  I name: