“After the formal annexation of China, the Russian became the official language, and the Chinese language has gradually fallen into disuse and is now almost extinct. The Chinese say of their ancient tongue and the bug marks and turkey tracks that constituted its written expression, “we were little children when we used that language.” “The Russian has also to a great extent superseded the Tartar, Turkish, Persian and other tongues current in Central Asia. In doing this, however, it has become considerably corrupted itself. “The third great empire comprises all the territory not included in the other two, and embraces all of Continental Europe except Russia and the Scandinavian States, and all of Africa except that part south of the 10th parallel of S. Lat. and Arabia. It is called the Euro-Afric Confederacy. Tremendous activity has been displayed by the Europeans in the settlement and improvement of Africa during the past two centuries. The whole continent has been gridironed with railroads, all of it has been civilized and the most unpromising part—the Sahara desert has been made a vast garden. “The French have been most active in the northern part, the Italians in the eastern part, the Portuguese and Germans in the central portions, the English in the southern. The Congo and German States being open to free trade, they came to be frequented by merchants from all Europe and these were soon followed by permanent settlers. After a time these people became tired of being governed from Europe, and set up for themselves, declaring themselves independent, much as the United States did in 1776. But in this case there was no opposition for the principle of free intercourse and unrestricted trade having been firmly established, the mother countries did not care to superintend the internal affairs of the young states, and readily consented to their independence. But this independence proved to be the forerunner of a more extensive union namely the Euro-Afric Confederacy. It was the last to be formed of the three great empires that now cover the world. The states comprising it are mostly republics. But a few in middle Africa, Guinea and the Sondan, are limited monarchies. The native races of Africa are rapidly being displaced by the Europeans and will totally disappear in a few generations as the North American Indians did in your day. A large migration of Negroes took place from the United States to Africa during the 20th century, but they did not thrive, and the race is vastly reduced both in Africa and America.” “That is strange,” said I, “for in my day the negroes were very numerous in the southern states—a majority in some places—and the question how they were to be disposed of constituted one of the questions of state of that period.”