The Anglo-Americans, Germans and Scandinavians do not yet mingle their blood completely. They do not, however, inhabit separate portions of either of these territorial divisions, and the Anglo-American element is still so greatly in numerical ascendency that no ethnical conflict need be feared between them. There is little doubt but that the Anglo-American element will absorb the other Teutonic elements. It has already, however, suffered some modification thereby, and will undoubtedly suffer more. In the second place, many other ethnical varieties are strongly represented in all three of these divisions. The first in the order of strength is undoubtedly the negro race, which must now number between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 of souls, seven-eighths of whom reside in the territory of our second and fifth divisions below the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude, and make up about one-third of its entire population. They do not intermarry with the other elements of the population to any degree worth mention. There is, therefore, little prospect of physical amalgamation between them. Next in order of numerical strength is the Celtic race, not inhabiting any distinctly separate portion of territory but scattered for the most part through the cities and larger towns of the division. east of the Appalachian range. There are at least 2,000,000 of foreign-born Celts within this territory, to say nothing of those born therein of pure Celtic parentage. The Celt and the Teuton, again, do not amalgamate very readily, though of course far more readily than the negro and the white races. There are, moreover, about 110,000 Mongols throughout these three divisions, nineteen-twentieths of them in the territory of the third division. The white races show about as little tendency to amalgamate with them as with the negro race. There are also about 70,000 Indians scattered through the three divisions as regular elements of the population, and about 250,000 as exceptional elements, having distinct tribal organizations. These latter are to be found in the third division and the western part of the fifth division of this territory. Finally, there is a considerable Romanic element in the southern part of all three of these divisions. It is not, however, foreign-born. It is the indigenous progeny of the original Spanish and French settlers in these parts. It amalgamates easily with the Teutonic element. Its influence, however, in the development of opinion and institutions is unmistakable. In these three divisions there must be nearly 63,000,000 inhabitants. If now we should say that all white persons resident within this territory before 1820 and their pure descendants are Americans, we could hardly figure more than 29,000,000 of these at present (1890) from any known percentages of excess of births over deaths. We know, on the other hand, that about 15,000,000 of white persons have immigrated into this territory since 1820. The other 25,000,ooo, then, of the present white population must be the living remainder of these 15,000,000, together with their pure descendants, and the issue of marriages contracted between these new-comers and those whom I have termed Americans. We know also that the present foreign-born population resident within this territory numbers between 8,000,000 and 9,000,000 of souls, mostly Teutons and Celts. About onehalf are Teutons, and about one-third are Celts. This has been about the proportion throughout this whole period of immigration. It will thus be seen that the ethnic character of the population of this territory is very cosmopolitan. It is, as to the greater part of it, a compound of many elements, mostly congenial and not difficult of amalgamation, having for its base the English branch of the Teutonic race; but it is conglomerated, so to speak, with other elements, numerically quite strong, with which it shows no tendency, or little tendency, to amalgamate. The influence of this ethnical 1 Richmond M. Smith, Emigration and Immigration, p. 60. character upon the political and legal civilization of this population has been and is still very great, as we shall see again and again in our further considerations. III. Let us now examine the political divisions of Europe and North America, and see how nearly they correspond to these divisions of physical geography, on the one side, and of ethnography, on the other. Where the three exactly correspond, there we have a completely national state, the strongest and most perfect form of modern political organization. In the degree that they diverge from this relation, they depart from this condition of strength and perfection. Almost every question concerning the governmental system and organization of a state springs out of these relations. A clear and minute understanding in regard to them is therefore absolutely necessary to the student of political science and constitutional law. On The first geographic division which we have made of the European territory is occupied by two states, Spain and Portugal. The latter occupies a strip about one hundred miles in breadth stretching along the Atlantic coast from the southern extremity to the mouth of the river Minho and measuring about 33,000 square miles. The part occupied by Spain measures about 198,000 square miles. There is no natural geographic boundary between the two states. the other hand, the ethnographic lines are tolerably distinct, and correspond with the lines of political geography. The Spanish and Portuguese nations are, however, so nearly akin that ethnic considerations do not seem to demand the complete political separation of the two countries. The ethnic difference justifies nothing more than a federal organization of government; and when the absence of any geographic 1 Statesman's Yearbook, 1889, pp. 395, 477. boundary is taken into account, it seems that a single state with a federal system of government would best satisfy all the conditions. It must not be overlooked in this connection that the ethnographic unity of Spain suffers a slight break in the northern part of its territory by the existence of the nation of Basques. These, however, number only about 450,000 souls, while the population of Portugal is about 5,000,000, and that of Spain about 17,000,000.1 In our second geographic division the lines of physical and political geography may be said to coincide, although the geographic coherence between England, Scotland and Ireland is not perfect. This imperfection is not sufficient to amount to division, and yet it is sufficient to amount to distinction. The superficial area of the kingdom is 120,832 square miles. On the other hand, there are two nationalities in the kingdom of Great Britain, viz; the English and the Celtic, occupying tolerably distinct parts of the territory of the state and standing in the numerical relation of about 34,000,000 to 3,500,000.2 Some of the knottiest questions of British politics have arisen from this relation. The third geographic division of Europe is occupied by two states, viz; France and Belgium, and by a portion of Holland, in the proportion of 204,092 square miles by France, 11,373 by Belgium, and the remainder, about 4,600, by Holland.3 Between these states, therefore, the lines of physical geography fail. Neither do the ethnographic lines coincide exactly with those of political geography. The French nationality is predominant south and southwest of Brussels, while to the north, northwest and northeast of Brussels the German nationality predominates in an ever-increasing degree of purity as we advance in these directions. On the other hand, the French state includes in its population a Walloonish element along the eastern border, some 1,250,000 1 Statesman's Yearbook, 1889, pp. 395, 477. Celts in the northwestern peninsula, about 115,000 Basques on the spurs and in the northern valleys of the Pyrenees and about 125,000 Italians in the southeast corner.1 We may call its population about 39,000,000. The population of the Belgian state may be reckoned at about 6,000,000 of souls,2 one half French, and the other half German, unless, indeed, we call the whole population Walloonish, and say simply that the Germanic element predominates on the one side, and the French upon the other. It is in our fourth geographic division that the lines of political geography are most nearly coincident with those of natural physical division on the one hand and of ethnography on the other. It is only on the north that the Italian state is not quite coincident with geographic and ethnographic Italy. The latter reaches to the crest of the Alps, while the former stops in some points at the foothills; as, for instance, in the district about Lugano. I would roughly estimate that Italy occupies 114,500 square miles of the 115,000 in this fourth division, and that there are about 500,000 members of the Italian nation subject to France, Switzerland and Austria.3 Regarded wholly from the standpoint of physical geography and ethnography, it appears somewhat strange that an Italian national state has been so long in coming to its development. Reasons of ecclesiastical and external politics must be looked to for the explanation. The fifth division of the European territory is occupied by two states, viz; Greece and Turkey in Europe. Greece covers 25,000 square miles and Turkey about 75,000. It must also be remembered that about 50,000 square miles of the territory in the eighth physical division belong nominally to Turkey. The line of physical geography between Greece and Turkey is therefore wanting. 1 Statesman's Yearbook, 1889, pp. 86, 87. 2 Ibid. p. 43. Neither do the lines of 3 Ibid. p. 356. ▲ Ibid. pp. 325, 538. |