Owing in great measure to the dispersion of the British territories all over the globe, to the heterogeneous elements of population within them, and to the diversity in the form of govern ment and the degree of autonomy enjoyed by the various classes of colonies, the name British Empire does not connote as definite an entity as does, for instance, the term Russian Empire. In fact, the conception of empire is new to the minds of most Englishmen, who have been used to look upon the colonies as held together more by the ties of race, language, and commerce than by a common subservience to a sovereign metrop olis. In those eoldnies especially where the Brit ish race is in the ascendency. as it is in the Commonwealths of Australia and Canada. there has been little disposition on the part of the mother country to obtrude her suzerainty in any obnoxious form; and so loose, indeed, are the ideas of empire still, that many Englishmen re gard with complacency the possibility of the establishment of independent States in Canada and Australia. believing that the bonds of com mon interests would be a sufficient substitute for the loose political ties now existent.
Within the last two decades, however, the name British Empire received a new meaning through the activity of the so-called Greater Britain Party, whose efforts to build up in England a consciousness of imperial greatness and of the destiny of the British race have been materially aided by the events connected with the war against the South African republics.
The ease of Egypt, which, nominally under Turkish suzerainty, is in matters of defense, finance, and to a great extent of foreign rela tion. controlled by British policy. may serve as an illustration of the vagueness connected with the appellation British Empire. Though offi cially the country is in no way subordinate to Great Britain, and should not for that reason be included under the term British Empire. it would by no means be entirely wrong to regard it as such, if it be considered that the Brit:sh Govern ment exercises much greater influence upon Egyptian affairs than upon the affairs of such members of the empire as Australia or Canada.
The territories under British rule or control embrace about 11.000,000 square miles, or one fifth of the land surface of the globe, an area exceeding that of —the Russian Empire by more than 2,000,000 square miles. The population of the liritish Empire is, in ronnd numbers, 400, 000,000. or about one-fourth of the total popula tion of the globe.