A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2012, 13 December 1888, Page 2

A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

A universal language must, writes Professor P. A. March, m the « Forum, 1 be a growth. Some national language must expand until it covers the wholo world. ■ Of late years the English languago alono hoi been much ipoken of as likely to grow bo great. Hardly any philoßophio linguist attempts to forecast the future without some discussion of the destiny of English; and De Candolle oaloulates that within a hundred yean Englishwill bo spoken by 860,000,000 of I? 6*^*!? 1811 and Frenoh by 96,000,000. At present the population either apeakjng the EngHah language or under tile denomination of English speaking peoples number more than 318,298,000,, or one-fourth of the popule*. tion of the globe. The English speaking raqeß oooupy one fourth of the dry laud of the earth, and own nearly two-thirds of tbe tonnage of the ■hips. They live In all regiona ; they handle all articles of trad* ; they preaoh to all nations; they command one-half of tha world's gold and silver, and dlitribute more than two thirds of the Bibles and Testaments, More than onehalf of the letters mailed and oarried by the postal eertloa of the world are written, mailed, and read by the Engliih speaking population. The expectation that English will come Into universal use Is not based upon anything In tha nature of the languago, but rather on tha oharaoter apd olroumatanoss of the people. The Engliih people hare been the great oolonUtots ot modern times. They have taken possession os America, of Australia, of South Afrloa, the regions whloh are to bathe seats of nt>w empires and they control and assimilate the populations whloh flow Into thsta and whloh grow op on them.