THE great feature of the modern world is the growth and power of the Anglo-Saxon race. More particularly since the commencement of the present century have their numbers multiplied with a rapidity that astonishes the observer. In the 46 years which have elapsed since the 18th century reached its close, the Anglo-Saxon race, properly so called, have increased 120 per cent. Their wealth, prosperity and social condition have improved in a much greater ratio. The race is now divided into nearly equal parts, one of which, in the possession of great political power, occupies the British islands, and from them sways the commercial world. The other inhabits the continent of North America, and will soon absorb the whole in one vast union, from whose bosom the British islands must thereafter draw their supplies of food, and become measurably dependent for the elements of their power. The natural limits of British greatness appear to have been reached; that is, the greatest number of persons that her resources can feed, occupy her islands, and those persons exercise the greatest possible power that is permitted to one nation in modern times. If the Anglo-Saxon race on this continent is destined to reach wealth and power as much greater than those now enjoyed by England, as the breadth of land here occupied is larger than the British

islands, then indeed might the nations of Europe have cause for alarm, were it not for the peaceful nature of our institutions. The Anglo-Saxons on this continent are now equal in number to those in Great Britain, and in a few years the latter will bear but a small proportion to the whole number.

The great improvements which have been made in science have prodigiously increased the means of subsistence in the British islands; and the increase of the population, great as it has undoubtedly been, is yet subordinate to the enhanced production. The latter, by outrunning the population, has afforded to the laboring classes luxuries and even comforts that formerly were unknown to the richest lords. The proportion of food produced in the British islands to the whole number of the people is doubtless much larger than formerly, but at the same time there is a larger and increasing number who suffer more than formerly, because the tendency of laws and the structure of society has been, to accelerate the natural accumulation of property in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. The population of the British islands, exclusive of Ireland, has increased from 10,472,048 in 1800, according to the census then taken, to 18,664,761 in 1841, being an increase of about 80 per cent. in 40 years. In the same time the number of the

French people rose from 27,349,003 to 34,194,875, or 25 per cent. only. The United States, peopled by the same race as Great Britain, have in a similar period multiplied their numbers of white inhabitants from 4,304,489 to 14,575,998, or 320 per cent., having nearly doubled every 20 years. The population of the United States has indeed been mostly of the Anglo-Saxon race, but it has received constant accessions of French and Germans, who mix with and are finally lost in the swelling numbers of the whole mass. The British Islands have lost to some extent by emigration, and most of that which they have lost has been a direct gain to America. The decennial increase per cent. of the population of the United States, as compared with that of England, has been for the first 40 years of the present century as follows:

1800-10. 1810-20. 1820-30. 1830-40. United States....36.2....34.3......33 8.....34.7 British Islands.. 14.2....17.6......15.5.....14.0

From 1810 to 1820, which embrace the period of the last war, it appears that the ratio of increase in the United States diminished, while that of the British islands improved. Since that period the actual increase of the population of the United States has become more considerable, while that of the British islands has decreased 3 per cent., having been for the ten years ending with 1840, slightly less than in a similar period ending with 1810, during a general war. These facts seem to support the theory that the increase of population must always depend upon the increase of food and other necessaries, and can never, for any considerable period, exceed that increase. As far as high science and great capital go, England has the advantage of the United States in facilities for enhancing the means of subsistence; nevertheless her population feels annually the increasing restraint upon its growth consequent upon the deficiency of food, and the existing distress manifests itself in the swelling number of paupers, who now, according to a Parliamentary statement, reach 1,500,000 souls. While England has thus encountered in her onward progress an insurmountable barrier to her continued advancement, the United States have constantly added to the quantity of land

occupied, and each successive tract overrun is apparently more fertile than the other. The area of Great Britain is the same now that it ever has been; that is to say, 55,291,788 acres, or 86,439 square miles. On this extent of surface, as we have seen, the population has increased 8,192,713 souls or 80 per cent. in 40 years, or 94 persons to each square mile. Or, in other words, from a population of 118 to the square mile in 1800, the density has increased to 210 to the square mile in 1840. In the United States the greatest density is in that of Massachusetts, eighty-six to the mile. To maintain this increase, the highest skill and science in agriculture, added to the most unremitting industry and perseverance, has been requisite in England. It is self-evident, however, that there is a point beyond which this increase cannot take place; that how great soever the productive powers of the English soil may be made through the aid of science, ultimately the wants of the population, through increasing numbers, must exceed those powers. This appears now to be nearly the case. Every portion of the soil of Great Britain, capable of bearing food advantageously, has been pressed into that service. It is true that there are still maintained in England a large number of cattle, Of horses alone there are 1,330,000, on which duties are paid; to feed which, an extent of soil equal to that which will suffice for the sustenance of 10,000,000 human beings is required; but these horses are, to a very considerable extent. necessary in the conduct of internal business, and indispensable as yet to the trade which supports the manufacturing population. How far those services may be superseded by steam is a question. It is, however, probable that steam may so far supply the place as to make an increase in their numbers to facilitate a growing trade unnecessary; and, indeed, as the home supply of food has now become insufficient for the support of both animals and human beings, in consequence of the excess of their demands, it would seem that the maintenance of the former would become yearly more onerous. The surface of England may be pretty accurately divided into three sections, viz: 10 manufacturing and mining counties, 13 metropolitan and