Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/281

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THE THEORY OF COLONIZATION 265

from sheer inability to develop further; others, weighted by incompatible racial elements, are checked at a still earlier point. Those that carry in their womb the new-births of time shoot on an original course, and first then fulfil their true mission. Their dominant characters, the nature of their institutions, and the spirit of their civilization are radically different from those of the mother-country. The ethos even of colonies living in adjacent latitudes may be mutually incongruous. Temperate New Zea- land has refused to federate with tropical and subtropical Aus- tralia because the genius of the two countries is dissimilar. Each must pursue its own path, as Scotland refused to unite with England till it had shaped an individuality of its own. A still higher mission will then be found to be inherent in the new organ- ism, and the community that was great in independence will become still greater as an organ of a composite commonwealth.