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23 2 ECONOMIC INQUIRlES AND STUDIES
picture of general progress in the British Empire which
the statistics present to us.
4. The addition of an African Empire. In most of
the figures to-night we have had to deal mainly with
the progress of population on the same area or with
small additions to the area. In the English-speaking
portions of the Empire this is conspicuously the case.
I t is also for the most part the same in I ndia and other
parts of the Empire, with the single exception of the
African Continent. Here, on the contrary, whether in
South Africa, or Central and North Africa or \Vest
Africa, or Egypt and the Soudan, we have to deal for
the most part with new areas added to our responsi-
bilities, the whole constituting already an area of about
3,000,000 square miles, with an estimated population
of 34,000,000 if we exclude Egypt and the Soudan,
and an area of over 4,000,000 square miles with a
population of 50,000,000 if we include the latter. The
African Empire thus begun is no small rival to the
Indian Empire itsel£ The India we possessed at the
beginning of the century was not much greater in
population, I think, than the population we already
govern in Africa, while the conditions are such that
the growth of population in our African dominions,
considering what the population has been in former
times in the Soudan, is likely to be extremely rapid.
The nucleus of this Empire in revenue and trade,
looking at Egypt on the one side, and South Africa
on the other, as well as at West Africa, is also con-
siderable. When the events of the present generation
pass into history the magnitude of the achievement
will become even more evident than it is now. \Ve
can hardly realize as yet the responsibilities and possi-
bilities involved, or how much the change affects our
general position in the world.

This general survey of progress in the last quarter
of a century leaves no doubt on one point at least-
the interest and picturesqueness of the progress of the