In the consideration of the historical development of the various European nations which we have set forth so far we have seen that, whenever a nation possessed or acquired colonies, it was brought immediately into contact, sometimes friendly and more frequently unfriendly, with other nations, and this, of course, is not only equally true of England, but even more so, because its colonial interests were so much more extensive than any others. In one other important direction England exerted an immense influence on the rest of the world. From this vast colonial empire there had been flowing for generations a steady stream of unequaled riches into the coffers of England. And much of the surplus wealth accumulated in this way was invested by Englishmen in other countries, and, even though there were quite a number of countries on the government of which England possessed no direct influence, still there were very few nations who were not financially entirely, or at least partly, dependent on England. The vastness of English interests may readily be understood if we remember that out of the total inhabited surface of the earth of about 50,000,000 square miles with 1,750,000,000 inhabitants, 13,500,000 square miles with 500,000,000 inhabitants are under the rule of England. Comparatively little of this empire was acquired by England during the last half century, but the acquisitions which were made in that period were at once greater and more desirable than similar acquisitions by other nations. With very few exceptions England's new territorial conquests during the last fifty years were made at the expense of uncivilized and unorganized nations, and there was, therefore, comparatively little direct cause for animosity. But, on the other hand, a great many of the choice morsels which England gathered in were desired by some other nation or nations, and England's successes, therefore, gave plenty of indirect causes for animosity, especially if it is borne in mind that English statesmen were not only at all times striving very hard to secure for their country the best of everything, but were also working equally hard to prevent, if at all possible, other nations from getting anything.