The decline and fall of the British Empire - University of Oregon

of the British Empire 3
present, to quicken the germs of
national decay, and transfer the
sovereignty of the Earth.
While, therefore, India has fallen
to Russia, South Africa to Germany,
Egypt to the Sultan ; while Canada
has taken shelter beneath the wings
of the American Eagle, and Australia
has become a protectorate of the
Mikado ; all these, like the scattered
fragments of Rome's mighty Empire,
will yet possess traces of a common
language and of a common past.
There is no written history of the
Decline and Fall of England. A
Chinese historian is reported to be
engaged upon one, but he might
spare himself the trouble, for, as I
hinted in my Preface, it is all to be
found in Gibbon.* Studying his
seven volumes, as I have recently
done, and comparing them with
* Gibbon : Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire,