that of white inhabitants.
The revenues produced by the Colonies were thenceforward all to be
devoted to the advancement of their own local prosperity. Free trade
followed that _regime_ of liberty and equity, and, as intended, such
Colonial dominions began to partake of the character and were
constituted off-shoots of the mother country, with a like status of
liberty and enjoying the benefit of British protection at the same time.
Many were the auguries that the experiment would result in political and
economic failure, but the good results to all concerned proved to be so
far-reaching as to startle even its most sanguine advocates. The
extension of privileges and rights operated upon the natives as a
magical incentive to labour and emulation for the improvement of their
economic condition; people who had before preferred an indolent,
semi-nomadic existence betook themselves more to agricultural and
sedentary habits, living in much greater comfort and steadily increasing
in wealth.

Civilization went on apace, and with it the moral improvement of the
aborigines, paving the way as well for the spread of Christianity. All
this was accompanied with an immense and ever-advancing expansion of
trade with England and the recognition of British prestige as a
successful colonizing power.

Numerous other principalities courted the privilege of coming under the
aegis of the English flag, their potentates and people readily submitting
to the abolition of practices which were not in accord with humane and
civilized usages and eager to share the benefits and advancement of
civilization which were enjoyed under British rule. In not a few
instances it was, however, not feasible to extend the protectorate so
coveted.

While other nations were engaged in wars during the past half-century,
England had opportunities to largely expand and consolidate her Colonial
dominions. At the same time British trade, industries and shipping
advanced with gigantic strides, and that nation has since gained the
foremost rank as a commercial and Colonial empire, governing over the
choicest portions of the globe some four hundred millions of loyal and
contented subjects, who enjoy liberty and a degree of prosperity
unequalled elsewhere as yet, the whole being protected by a navy which
constitutes England as champion on sea as well.

All this national success and example of liberal government have had a
salutary influence upon the rest of the world in e