The condition of things that most readily produces jealousy between rivals is a near approximation to equality, provided that the equals are very few in number, and that each of them has substantial claims to eminence. [Sidenote: Present in the Case of France and England.] [Sidenote: Rivals in Europe.] [Sidenote: Rivals in Naval Strength.] [Sidenote: Both nominally Powers of the First Class.] [Sidenote: Their near Equality in Wealth.] [Sidenote: Political Liberty.] [Sidenote: Aristocracy and the People.] [Sidenote: Religious Policy.] All the necessary conditions unite to produce jealousy between France and England. They have been the two greatest of European nations, they are still the most ancient of the Great Powers, and the most advanced in the arts of civilisation. Their weight and influence in Europe are very nearly the same. Their populations approximate very closely, France, in round numbers, having about thirty-eight inhabitants to thirty-seven in the United Kingdom. As to European territory they are unequal, but the larger home territory of France is compensated by the larger colonial territory of England. Both are great naval Powers. As if to sharpen their feelings of rivalry, the two greatest naval Powers in the world hold the shores of a narrow channel, where each may see the warships of the other. England has a great naval superiority, but she needs it to protect her commerce and her colonies. In like manner the superior military strength of France is occupied in the defence of her land frontier. Both England and France are nominally Powers of the first class, yet neither is exactly so in reality, the proof being that neither the one nor the other dare venture, without an ally, to measure herself against either Germany or Russia. In wealth they are more nearly equal than any other two countries in the world. The system of government, though under different names, is practically the same in both countries, being representative in both, with power in the lower chamber and responsible cabinets. In each of the two countries political liberty is as nearly complete in practice as recent experiments in democracy will permit. In both there is a contest between the aristocracy and the people. An increasingly liberal religious policy in both France and England has led to the equal toleration of Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, though in neither country, as yet, is there anything like a social equality of creeds. [Sidenote: Rivalry abroad.] [Sidenote: France and England in Africa.] [Sidenote: Rivalry in the East.] [Sidenote: English Jealousy of French Colonial Enterprises.]