THE HsANol'J, Cllaltel DDRESSl Desinf, AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE SYRACUSE -UNIVERSITY, At Commencement, June 219 1875. BY DEXTER A. HAWKINS, A.M., OF THE NVE W YORKI BAR. PRINTED BY NELSON & PI —lILLIPS, 805 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 1875. DEXTER A. HAWKINS. "Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna. Jam nova progenies coelo dimittitur alto." ADDRESS. MR. CHANCELLOR, AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: When invited to appear before you this year by the eminent scholar and Christian gentleman who presides over this University, the striking growth of the Institution, and the energy, liberality and enthusiasm of the people in endowing and supporting it, suggested to me as a theme,THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE: ITS HISTORY, CHARACTER, AND DESTINY. An eminent English writer of the last century described a branch of this race (the American) as "A great people formed into free communities, under governments which have no religious tests and establishments." In every period of history some single race or nation acts the leading part. The others, like the minor characters in a tragedy, circle around it, content to contribute to its success and share in its glory. Political power and the arts of civilization are for the time being intrusted to this one; and while playing its destined role in the great epic poem of iluman life, its sister races struggle in vain to surpass it, or yield to the decrees of Providence and acknowledge its superiority. Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome, were each for centuries star actors of the highest excellence. They combined intellectiual skill and physical force. The magnificent ruins in Asia; the pyramids, temples and monumentsof Egypt; the literature, laws and works of art of Greece and Rome, attest this. But Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes, Rameses and the Ptolemies; the cultured worshipers at the shrine of Apollo and Minerva; Solon, Pericles, Socrates and Plato; the twelve Cesars, rulers 4 The Anglo-S&cxon'Rcace. of the world; and the political and social systems which each represented, have passed off the stage. Another and a different race is now before us, one that is and evel llas been distinguoished for its energy, activity, love of individual liberty and of national indcependence. From its composite ancestry and character, it is now called the AngloSaxon. Our own country is, perhaps, its most promising and vigorous representative. The poet Cowley said to our f'athers: - "... Your rising glory you shall view, Wit, learning, virtue, discipline of war Shall for protection to your world repair, And fix a long illustrious empire there! " In sketching the history of a people whose infancy runs back two or three thousand years, authentic records are wanting; but the affinity of' languages often -enables the student to discover and bring to light the irnportant, yet otherwise hidden, facts of a nation's earily life. The grleat antiquity of the Saxons compels us to resort to this source of information. The various languages of Europe naturally range themselves into three distinct families or classes, the Celtic, the Gotlic, and the Sclavonic; each having characteristics peculiar to itself; yet showing a latent bond of union which indicates that they and the races speaking them had somlewhere in the distant past a cotmmon origin. The cultivated nations of modern Europe and of America are all of Aryan stock, or, as some writers call theLm, Japhetians, from Japhet, son of Noah; but 4,000 years have made wide distinctions in language, character, and'name between the different brlanches of this great mother race. Sanskrit is, perhaps, the nearest to the Aryan, of any language now known; and philological investigation traces back to that source roots of all modern cultivated tongues, and indicates that theirolrigin is not only Asiatic, but Aryan. This view is confirmed by the few passages of ancient history extant upon this point. All the witnesses we can summon from languages, from history, and fromn monumental stones, tell us that Europe was peopled by three great streams of population from Asia, lwhich have come to be designated as the Celtic, the Gothic, and Sclavonic streams or races. T2e Angllo-Saxoin Lace. The first of these three races was the Celtic, or Keltic. The origin of this name is doubtful. Some look iupon tile stem Cel," or " Kel," as a simple prilnitive word foirmed by a guttural and a lingual; some derive it firom the Gaelic " ceilt," an inhabitant of the forest; others firom the Welslh " celt," a covert, or " celtiad," one who dwells in a covert, or from "cell," to hide' while others say that it is fromn the Latin celare," to conceal, and was given to them by the Rotnans because they concealed their habitations in the depths of the forests and in caves. Another writer illiustrates the namne by three Greek words Ineaning to conceal somlething firom some one, and infLers from this the antiquity of the happy, and often entertaining, faculty of' narratitl fictions, that somnne perverse -minds have thought characterized the true Celt. Another authority sa-ys, that this habit results simply fromn a desire to please; and hence, unlike a certain ancient Greek, the Celt is said to be given to saying things agreeable rather than things disagreeable though true. This race was afterward closely pressed upon by their nmore powerful, warlike, and ambitious Gothic successors, and they gradually retired and dwindled away upon the western shores of Europe and the British Islands, till few are left except the inhabitants of the coast of France, the extreme ri'lthern Scotch or IHighlanders, the Welsh, and the Irish. Their emigration fiom Asia is earlier thall the historic period. It occurred before the invention of letters, when nations had no mleans, save vague tradition, of treasuring up their story and handing it down to posterity. The arts and sciences among them were as yet hardly born; hence their exit from Asia or entrance into Europe was marked by no monuments that might, like tlhose of Egypt, through their astronomnical inscriptions, tell to the men of science, three thousand years afterward, the date of their erection. Races of men have great functions to perform in the dranma oft human life upon this globe; and when performed, they and their works, in the course of Providence, imperceptibly melt away. Their stronger and better elements are absorbed by their more vigorous and manly, I might say godly, successors; while the weaker ones, being of no further use to humanity, sink away, and disappear in the sea of oblivion. The Celts, as a dis 6 F/Rie Anglo-Saxon-Race. tinctive branch of the human family, long since reached their climax, and are now too small in nulnber to become again noted. As an element, a factor, in the composition of races, they are of great value; but as a separate and independent result they have ceased to exist. The Gothic or Scythian immigrations came next. These were a bold, roving, nomadic people, who spread themselves over the mountains, and into the vast forests, plains, and marshes of Europe, till they occupied nearly the whole continent. This second stream is peculiarly interesting to us, because fromn its branches have sprung the Anglo-Saxons, the Lowland Scotcll, the Danes, Norwegians, Germans, Lombards, Normans, and Franks; not only our immediate ancestors, but also those of the most celebrated nations of modern Europe. They made their appearance in Europe, according to Homer, Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemaius of Alexandria, about seven or eight. hundred years before the Christian era. The third and last great influx was the Selavonic. This has occupied Rllssia, Poland, Eastern Prussia, Moravia, and Bohemnia; a race once possessed of great power and glory, for their very name is derived from the word "Sclava," which in the original tongue meant " famne," "glory." or "renown." If the Pan-Slavic dreams of the Muscovite statesmen, to unite this whole race under one head and to develop and perfect it by a rigorous systerm of universal education, is ever realized, the Sclavs will hlave at some future period a great {rle to play. [But the next act in the world's drama is cast for another people, and it does not require a prophet's eye to discern that, for centuries to come, the Gothic nations are to lead the world in social, political, material and intellectual progress. Of these the Anglo-Saxons, from the circumstances of their history and their enterprising character, are admirably qualified for the noblest destiny. Their history naturally divides itself into four periods. The first exteindls from their origin in Asia, about the year 1000 B. C., or the date of the Temple of Solomon, to the establishment of their power in England, A. D. 500. The Second, from that tinle to the Norman conquest, A. D. 1066. Thte Anglo-Saxon Race. 7 The third, from this epoch to the English revolution and the settlement of America, A. D. 1650. The fourth, from those two events to the present time. About 1,000 years before Christ a martial people of Aryan stock ruled the part of Asia about the Caspian Sea, and were generally designated in history as Scythians. They carried on wars against the Assyrians and the Medes. Some national difficulty, threatening if not producing civil war, arose among thenl about 800 B.C., and the younger branch, called the Sakai, moved west into Asia Minor, and into the part of Europe east and north of the Black Sea. They attacked the Persians, who then ruled Asia Minor, defeated Cyrus the emperor, captured the most fertile province of Armenia, named it after themselves, Sakasina, or the land of the Sakai, and made themselves entirely at hlome. there. They became so celebrated that the Persians finally gave their name to all the Scythians, of whom, as we have stated, they were only a branch. Strabo and Pliny, at the beginning of the Christian era, speak of themn as Sakai-Suna, or sons of Sakai, and the most distinguished of the people of Scythia; and of this province as having from them taken the name of Sakasina. This important fact gives a locality to our early ancestors, and accounts for the Persian words, several hundred in number, that occur in the Anglo-Saxon language. One writer says that Sakai-Suna became for ease of utterance contracted into Saksuna, and then into Saxon; but this etymology of Saxon may be akin to the derivation given in the "Diversions of Purley" of " King Pepin," from the Greek pronoun " 6Urep." On entering- Europe they, in the seventh century before Christ, attacked the Celts or Cimmerians the then occupants of the country about the river Don, drove one part of them b)ack into Asia, and the others west into the center of Europe, and took possession of their lands. The particular rank that they held among the Scythian tribes in their conquering progress across Europe is now unknown; but we may justly infer that it was not unworthy their previous and their after history. We find them at the beginning of the Christian era inhabiting a small territory at the mouth of the river Elbe, composed chiefly of three provinces and three small islands; 8 The Anglo-Saxonb Race. and firom dire necessity just beginning to learn the art of navigation, and to take to the sea for a livelihood. Within these narrow limits was contailned a people whose descendants are now leading the world in conmmercial enterprise and political and religious liberty. S.unch is the course of Providence, that empires tihe most extended and fornlidable vanish like the morning mist; while tribes scarcely visible, like tlhe springs of a mighty river, glide on to greatness. The largest of these islands was only twenty miles in length; and the most important one, and which contained the greater part of tlheir wealth and a fine harbor, was still smlaller; They called it Helgoland, or the sacred island; f)tr, having but one approach by sea, it afforded a safe retreat from their enemies, and was the favorite home of their gods. These, like Mars and Mercury, were the personification of man's baser passions, and presided over war. and plunderin.. No music was more grateful to them. tllan the groans of slaughtered enelnies; no offerings more acceptable than the trophies of the battle-field. In accordance with the spirit of that age, the glory of arms alone was sougllt by those who aspired to the favor of the gods or the honor of' men. They, therefore, carried on a continual warfare with the neigilboring tribes, buto gaived little, either in territory or wealth, till the Roman elnperors conceived the idea of sllbjugating all the northern nations of Europe. This was a happy event for the Saxons and, witll a worldly wisdom peculiar to their race, they turned it to their advantage, and began at once to rise in the scale of poNer and influenlce. The Gelnrmanic tribes, whose'territory lay between them and Rome, being attacked by thle tnore powerful and sanguinary legions of Italy, ceased to oppose tlhem. Their isolated situation secured them from danger. and they were quiet spectators of the fearful struggle about them; or else, at a favorable opportunity, fell upon a weakened neighbor, struck a decisive blow, and annexed his lands and people to their own. This policy. however repugn ant to the feelings of a Christian age, lervaded Europe at tliat timie, and was especially practiced by the inmperial tyrants of the city of Romulus, whose cruelty, inhumlanity, and selfishness give a color of truth to their tradition that theii' LThe Anglo. Saxon Race. 9 founder had at she-wolf nurse. A surr-ame from a country subdued was a charim that made its generals deaf to the calls of hulnanity; and with an ignorant and degenerate populace, it was the sllrest passport to unlimited power. By the middle of the third century the successes of the Romrans were so rapid and great that they threatened the total subversion of the liberties of Germany. To prevent this these wild inhabitants of the woods formed, in the year 240, on tile banks of tle lRhine, that celebrated confederation,.offensive and defensive, in which the peculiar denominations of each tribe were Inerged in the general name of Franks; which word, as well as the people it designates, thas undergone changes until we now call it French. This confederation was a secotrd fortunate event for the Saxons. The power of Rome now began to crumble. At home, civil wars were consuming the strength of the empire; abroad, its German enemies not only liad nmany losses of property, life, and liberty, to avenge, but they had learned the dangerous secret so well illustrated in the late German war, that union is strength; while the Romans, like the French in thie same war, seemed bent upon demonstrating the opposite theorem, that discord is weakness. Atnbitious of power and wealth. iRome had annexed, bSy mnere brute force, without assimilating its elements, so large a part of Europe, Asia, anld Aftrica, that she was ready almost of her own weight to tumble to pieces. History teaches that no nation, spread over a wide territory and composed of heterogeneous and discordant elements, can long preserve its integrity. Homogeneity and harlnony are essential to permrnaient national existence. The advantages of the Frankish league generated otliers of like character, until the Roman Empire was overwhelmed by this accumulating torrent of enemnies. and lier western provinces were captured and parceled out among her rude spoilers, whose improved posterity now governs two continents. Tle Franks, froml'their locality, were placed in this long contest like a shield between the Saxons and Romans, and were compelled to employ all their resources against the imperial legions. This left the Saxons at liberty to take wliatever course promised to contribute most to their own aggrandizement. 10 The Anglo-Saxoon, Race. A providential event, not originating, from themselves, but from a Roman emperor who intended no such results, occurred at the close of the third century, which by directing the attention of the Saxons to maritime exploits on a larger scale, with grander prospects, and to more distant countries than before, exerted an important influence upon their own destiny and that of Europe, and finally of America. The emperor Probus, harassed by the annual incursions of the barbarous hordes around the Euxine, now the Black Sea, transplanted a large body of vaniotus tribes, including Saxons, from the vicinity of the Elbe to that region to serve as a protection against future inroads. But the attachment of imlankind to the scenes of their childhood, and their ardent longing when in foreign lands for the country their relatives inhabit, where their most pleasing associations have been formed, where their individual characters have been acquired, andc customs like their own exist, are feelings so natural to every bosom, and so common to every age, that it is not surprising that these exiles longed to return to their native wilds. Impelled I-by this desire, they seized the earliest opportunity of abandoning their foreign settlements and possessing themselves of the ships lying in the adjacent harbors; they formed the daring plan of sailing back to the Rhine, though they were more than two thousand miles distant by sea, with no chart, compass, or pilots, and ignorant of the many islands and shoals and currents of the Black and -Mediterranean Seas. Compelled to land wherever they could ifor supplies, safety, and information, they ravaged the coasts of Asia and Greece. Arriving at Sicily, they attacked and plun. dered its capital with great slaughter. Beaten about by the winds, often ignorant where they were, seeking subsistence, pillaging to obtain it, and excited to new plunder by the successful depredations they had already committed, they carried their hostility to several districts of Africa. They were driven off that continent by a force sent for the purpose from Carthage. Turning toward Europe, they passed the pillars, of HI-ercules, sailed out into the Atlantic Ocean; rounded the Iberian peninsula, crossed the stormy Bay of Biscay, passed through the British Channel, and finally terminated their remarkable voyage by reaching their fatherland at the mouth of the Elbe. The Anglo-Sxzon Race. 11 This wonderful expedition discovered to these adventurers and to their neighbors, to all, in short, who heard and hlad the courage to imitate, that florn the Roman colonies a rich harvest of spoil might be gathered if sought for by sea. It removed the vail of terror that hung over distant oceans and foreign expeditions; for these exiles had desolated every province almost with impunity. They had plunder to exhibit sufficient to fiie thle avarice of every spectator. They had acquired skill which those who joined them might soon inherit. On land the Roman tactics and discipline were generally invincible, but at sea they were comparatively unskilled and weak. The Saxons perceived this, and imrmediately turned their whole attention to naval warfare. Like their Amierican descendants, the.y were cunning and apt at whatever they undertook. Their navy becamre so effective in a few years that every country of Europe bordering on the sea had contributed to their wealth, and they annoyed the Roman commerce to such a degree that large fleets were fitted out against them, and an officer appointed by the Romans as early as the beginning of the fifth century styled "The Superintendent of the Saxon Shore." These exploits had filled their island \with wealth. At this early period, fourteen hundred years ago, we see begin-ning to manifest itself that commercial spirit wlhich llas always been a great element in Saxon prosperity both national and individual. Their situation on the coast of Europe, near to fertile Romaan provinces, yet retmnte enough to elude vengefiil pursuit, and the possession of an island with a harbor so ample and yet so guarded as Hlelgoland, were in that age strong inducements to piracy. Their occasional service with the Romans or Franks -for they cared but little for whom they fought provided they acquired glory and booty -was admirably calculated to prepare them for suchi a life. It may be a little mortifying to our national pride to trace our paternity to a nation of freebooters, but it is always safe to admit and stand by the truth; and besides, we can comfort our wounded self-esteem with the recollection that the Romlan Republic, olnce so respected that to be even a "Roman citizenl" was a notable honor, sprung from a den of thieves, whose character was so bad that their only way to get wives was to steal them. 12 The Anglo-Saxon Race. The poverty and hardihood of the neighboring tribes poorly repaid the Saxons for expeditions by land, while their sea-girt home and skill on the water was ever inviting them, to ravage the ocean.. Their appr3ach and retreat were so sudden and unexpected tllat they met with little opposition, and in their li(ght and swift-sailing barkis they easily escaped the clumsy Romanl vessels, or else bought immunity from the unprincipled commanders of' Rome by permitting them to share a part of their plulnder. The Roman governmlent at last discovered the maladministration of their admirals, and ordered the chief officer to be punished. But, trusting to his popularity and strength, he with liis legions and ships joined the Saxons, and talught them all that'the most celebrated nation then knew of the naval and military art. HIe was proclaimed Ellperor of Rome, and paid tlle Saxons for their assistance by giving them permission to plunder with impunity every province that did not acknowledge his power. Sixty years afterward they aided another- military aspirant for the "Roman Crown" to gain his object by a similar alliance. Circumstances like these educated the Saxons for the empire of the ocean, and molded them, as by the plastic hand of Providence, to become a race that should excel not only in war, but in comnmerce, arts, knowledge, and fame, every other people. Duringr the fourth' century most of the nations north of the Rhine assumed their name and fought under their flag. They seduced or conquered many allies of the Franks, and at the fall of Rnome were masters of the seas, and quite able to compete withs any nation of Europe on the land. This ends the first period of their history. In a space of about fourteen hlundred years, e-nding with the fifth century, we have seen them spring up fromn the valley of the Caspian Sea, conquer and give their name to a part of Asia Minor, move into Europe, pass fifteen hundred miles across it, become a great power on both land and sea, and give their name to the country on the Elbe, a part of whichl is still called the kingdom of Saxony. We now come to the second period, namely, the establishment of' their power in Englanld, and its continuance down to the Norman conquest. Their ambition was now about to appear in a new field. They had often visited Britain in [,redatory excursions, and were known as a fearless race of warriors, Y7e Angylo-Saxon; Race. 13 ready to lend their swords to any enterprise that promised a rich! reward. Therefore, when the Britons, abandoned by the Roman legions,'fund themlselves a prey to the fierce and tenacious Scots and Picts, they invited two Saxon princes, the reputed descendants of the god Woden, to come to their assistance. The invitation was readily accepted. Their fleets brought, an army across the North Sea, and they soon conquered the enemies of their new allies. But then, instead of going back to the Elbe, they thought the country a sort of new land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey, and, as usual, made themselves at home in it, sent word to Saxony of the riches and fertility of Britain, and forming an alliance with the warlike Scots and Picts, whoml they came to resist, they proceeded to reduce to subjection the Britons, whom they had engaged to protect. Reinforced by' two neighboring tribes, called the Angles and Jutes, people of similar Inanners, customs, and origin to their own, they subdued' Britain after a strugile of one hundred and fifty years, divided it into eight kingdoms, and took the name of Anglo-Saxons. Two of these kingdoms, Berenicia and Deira, were afterward united in one, making seven, or the Saxon I-eptarchy. England seems to have been populated at first by the Celts, then visited apparently by the Phoenicians and Cartlagenians, and afterward occupied for nearly four centuries by the Romans. It hlad derived from tlhese successive inhabitants all the benefits that each could inmpart. But now it was possessed by a new kind of people, who had been gradually formed, amid the wars and vicissitudes of the Germanic continent, to manners, laws, and customs peculiarly their own, and adapted, as the great result has shown, to produce national and social'insti. tutions superior to those of either Asia, Africa, Greece, or Rome. Our- Saxon ancestors brought with them for those times an elevated domestic and moral character, and the rudiments of new political, juridical, and intellectual blessings. Tlhey laid the foundations of that national constitution, of that internal polity, of those peculiar customs, and of that vigor and directness of thought, to which the English-speaking races are indebted for the high social and political rank which they now hold. 14 The Ay.glo-Sax.on Race. But as the Saxon power increased in Britain it declined on the continent. Charlemagne, at the close of the eighth century, became emperor of the Franks. I-Ie was to their armies what Alexander the Great was to the Macedonians. and Coesar to the Romans, and Bonaparte to the French. Ile organized and led their forces against the Saxons; and after one of the most obstinate and bloody wars that history records, they were conquered in seven pitched battles, and lost their predominance on the continent, and have ever since acted a secondary, but not obscure, part among the Gothic States of Europe. Saxony is still a kingdom, though stripped of its ancient honors, and presents a people hlighly intellectual and cultivated. Its nobles have been emperors of Germany, and from them have sprung somle of the most illustrious princes of middle Europe, princes wrho, by their activity, leagues, conquests, and love of independence, have done much for German civilization. Saxon5j has the honor of having given birth to Luther, the great reformer of Christianity; and its chieftains of l'aving supported and enabled hirn to carry through his emancipation of mind from the shackles of papacy. The rise of the Saxon nation on the continent has therefore been singularly propitious for 1luman improvement. The Saxons were, indeedi, in tlheir early clays, without the knoxwledge and culture of letters possessed by tlle effeminate and enslaved inhabitants of Greece and Italy; but tlhere is an education of rnird, distinct fiom the literary, whiclh is gradually imparted by the contingencies of active life. In *this, which is always the education of tlhe largest portion of mankind, our Saxon ancestors were never deficient. Tlley had been nurtured in the rugged scllool of adversity, and amid the, wilds of Asia and Europe, or comnpassed by thle stormy ocean, they had learned to meet unmoved the lmost appalling dangers, and hlad carved out for themnselves' a lofty name. On the transfer of their power to the Island of Britain they would, in the midst of ease and luxurIy, have lost fortitude of charac-,ter had not the ambitious rulers of the Heptarchy, each striving to extend the limits of his own kingdom at the expense of his neighbor's, kept it constantly exercised. Thus, their separation into several independent States, though not conducive to 7/, Aigflo-S'axon, Race. 15 refinement of manners and mental improvemrent, preserved.and developed to a surprising degree the practical and active talents of thle Saxons. But as the number of kings were dininished by the fortunes of war' or the accidents of life, the people underwent a corresponding cllange. Peace and plenty brought degeneracy and inefficiency. A nation that both believes and practices Christianity as -taught by our Savionr can endure prosperity; but without some ~such active, controlling, and elevating' sentiment in the mass of the people, nothing but the rude trials, schooling, and spurs of adversity can help men and nations steadily on in the course of improvement. The majority of the Saxons were at this period worshipers of Woden and Thor; cand the few that bore thle name of Christians were scarcely Nworthy' to be called disciples of Gregory, to whose benevolence they owed thieir conversion. lHe was passing through the slave-marklet of tRome one day, when the white skins, flowing locks, and beautiful countenances of somine British youths standing there for sale drew his attention. Being informed that the dwellers in Britain were all of' that fair complexion, and pagans, too, his heart was moved, and he exclaimed with a sigh, " What a pity that such a beauteous frontispiece should cover a mind so void of internal graces!" When he heard them called Anlgles, "It suits them," he said; " they have angel faces, and ought to be coheirs of angels in heaven." The name of their province,, Deira, was so like tlle Latin word-s De ira (" fiomn wrath ") that it seemed to his simple mind to imply that they ought to be snatchlled from the wrath of God. The harmony of their king's name, Ella, with the idea then floatinl in his mind, comlpleted the impression of the whole scene, and there blurst forth friom his pious lips the exclamation, "'Ialleluiah the praise of thle creative Deity miust be sung in these regionls." When Gregory became pope, one of his first acts was to send a body of imissionar'ies to the Saxon princes. But the religion they tauglht, besides being corrupted almost to idolatry by the forms and irnage worship of the Church of Rome, was received by many of the heathen sages on the express condition that it should afford them greater worldly riches'and honor than the worship of their gods of stone; hence its effect foir a long ti-me was 16 r The Anyplo-I,v,,So,: Race. little, if any, better than the paganismr it supplanted. But God had a work for themn to do, and he found them out in their degeneracy, and administered to them a tonic the benefit of' which is felt even to this day. The vikings, or sea-kings, sometimes in English history called the Danes, of the same race as the Saxons, and pre — serving the manly virtues of the days of l-Iengist and Horsa, swarmed the ocean from the countries'about the Baltic, and invaded Britain. These restless monarchs were a scourge to Europe for a century, and were universally detested for their cruelties. But their innate energy of character contributed an important'element to Saxon greatness. Nations, like individuals, unless they are compelled to struggle in the battle of life, or are ruled by a high sense of duty,. will fall into a moral and physical decline. The history of most tropical countries so clearly demonstrates this, that We justly assume it is a blessing rather than a curse, that man, by the sweat of his brow, is comlpelled to earn his daily bread; forwhere the fruits of the earth sufficient for his sustenance grow spontaneously, his mental and moral. condition approaches that of brutes. Tlie Saxons were on the verge of a moral and national decline, when the invasion of tile sea-kings, like a scourge sent fron. God to chlasten then for being uIntrue to themselves, awakened their energies, a-nd impl)essed upon them the undying love of liberty and the fr'eedom of the seas, characteristic of that lawless race. Perhaps we can form: a clearer idea of the influence of the sea-kings upon the Saxons by a glance at some of their customs. In the falnilies of their princes, one ot the imale children only relnained at home and inlherited the government; the rest were exiled to the ocean, to wield their scepters amid the turbulent waters, or lose tlhemn. All men of royal descent who assumled piracy as a profession enjoyed the title of kinlg, though without any kingdomr or visible nation,. with no wealth but their ships, no force but their crews, and no hope but in their swords. Never to sleep under a smoky roof, nor to indulge in the cheerful cup around the' social hearth, were the boasts of these watery sovereigns. While the eldest son ascended tihe paternal throne, the others, furnished with vessels fully lThe Anglo-Saxon Race. 1-7 equipped as their only patrimony, hastened, like petty Neptunes, to establish their kingdomns on the water. When death overtook them, the royal tomb of the viking was his ship. His lifeless forin was laid out in state'upon tile quarter-deck, and his vessel with his body and arrns was drawn ashore and, buried. Somle of these tombs on the coast of Norway have lately, after a thousand years of burial, been discovered. So honorable and lucrative was their profession at one period, that private individuals who possessed the means were eager to enter it. Parents were so anxious to have their children engage in tlhis dangerous and malevolent occupation, that, at their death, they would order ali their wealth to be destroyed, exceut enough to enable their offspring olnce to hoist their sails on the deep in a Well-equipped vessel. Inherited property was despised. That affluence alone was esteemed which danger had endeared. No one was held truly noble, no one respected, wlho did not ravage the ocean in summer, and in winter retulrn to his horne with ships laden with booty. Trained in such a school, the sea-kings exhibited the rtuder, sterner virtues in the highest perfection. To a stubborn courage and unyielding will, they added a nobleness of bearing and suavity of manners that gained them friends amlong their enemlies, and preserved their authority in England, though few in numbers, for a century and a half: The most powerful sovereign of this line, Canute the Great, was even a patron of learning and religion; and, unlike most men, the nm-ore lie enjoyed the favors of fortune, the greater was his morality and mneekness of heart. I-Ie thought it not beneath the dignity of the ruler of six kingdomls to descend firom his throzne and teach his subjects lessons of humility. Under the labors and influence of such sovereigns as Canute, and of Alfred the Great, the most distinguished king of thie Saxon line, and one of tlle most remarkable men the world.has produiced, ignorance and idolatry began to vanish from the island, and give place to intelligence and Christianity. Churches had been built, colleges founded, and teachers appointed for b)oth. The nation began to efel the mnovings of a spirit that required a wider field for action than the circle of this island, and the example and leadership of a king and nobility more imbued with the spirit of the rising Christian civilization than the Saxons. 18 Tlhe Anglo-Saxon Race. Britain was called by the Latin poets "a country wholly cut off from the rest of the world." But it was ordained by the great Ruler, without whose knowledge neither a sparrow falls to the ground, nor a change comes over a nation, that both for its own benefit and that of mankind it should for the future become intimately connected with the affairs of the world. Edward the Confessor having no issue, and influenced both by friendship for William, Duke of Normandy, and by admiration of his noble qualities, desired the British crown to fall to him. That powerful duke, while on a visit to Edward, had seen the wealth and fertility of the Saxon kingdom, and was nothing loth. When Edward died, William invaded England with a fleet of three thousand vessels, carrying sixty thousand men well equipped, and officered by the most illustrious nobles of Normandy, Flanders, Brittany, and France. At the battle of Hastings he conquered and killed Harold, the Saxon king, and mounted the throne of England. This was another fortunate event for the development of the Anglo-Saxons, otherwise the physical in their civilization would have overborne the intellectual and esthetic; and they would have been of a nature though strong, yet too coarse and nncultivated, for the highest eminence in an enlightened period. As in architecture, the Doric column, though remnarkable for simplicity and strength, is by no means so much admired in a polished age as the more beautiful Corinlthian, with its fluted shaft and capital adorned with acanthus leaves. The polite luxury of the Norman, though of the same Gothic race, presented a striking contrast to the less refined tastes of the Saxon. He loved to display his magnificence, not in huge piles of food and'hogsheads of strong drink, but in large and stately palaces, rich armor, gallant horses, well-ordered tournaments; banquets, delicate and toothsome. ratheir than abundant; and wines excellent rather for their exquisite flavor than for their intoxicating power. That chivalrous spirit which exercised so powerful an influence on the politics, morals, and manners of all the European nations, was found in the highest exaltation among the Norman nobles. Those nobles were distinguished for their graceful bearing and insinuating address, for their skill in- negotiation, and for a natural eloquence. It was the boast of one of their historians that the tAe Anglo-Saxon Race. 19 Norman gentlemen were orators from the cradle. Saxon civilization without the Norman element might be compared to a huge Gothic structure of unhewn granite: with it, those majestic but naked halls, though still Gothic, are filled with all the refinements of art, and the comforts of social life. By neans of the continental possessions which William brought to the British Crown, and through the system of diplomacy which afterward, in the fifteenth century, sprang up, a door was opened for Anglo-Saxon enterprise to Wield great influence in the national affairs of Europe. Their power came to be felt at every court on the continent. Their armies gathered laurels in every country, and their fleets on every sea; while they themselves, protected by their wooden walls, as their navy is called, have almost forgotten that Albion's soil has been thrice possessed by victorious invaders: Romans, Saxons, Normans. At this point let us take a hasty survey of the civil polity of the Saxons at the time of the Norman conquest. Society was divided into four distinct grades: — First. The king, who till a late period was elective, though birth and the wishes of the deceased sovereign were generally followed. Second. The nobles, or thanes. These were of two classes: the kings thanes, who held land of him and attended him at court, and the ordinary thanes, or manorial lords. Aily mnan could be admitted to this second class of thanes who had made three long sea voyages in his own ship, or who owned five hundred acres of land and had a chapel, a kitchen, a hall, and a bell; though these factitious thanes were by no means so much respected as those of generous blood. The term thane after the conquest was discarded for that of baron. Third. The freemen. These were of two classes, the socmen, or those who had a permanent lease of the land on which they lived, and the ceorles, or tenants-at-will. Fozurth. The slaves, which were by far the most numerous grade, and were also of two kinds: the household slaves and the farm slaves. The Saxons were always ruled by a king, though he had but little power beyond the will of the thanes.'There was this rad 20 The Anglo-Saxon Race. ical difference between the governments of Greece and Rome and those of the Gothic tribes. In the former the State was every thing, -the individual nothing: the State was thought to have a perfect right to the property, liberty, and even life, of its citizens. In the latter the in(lividual was every thing and the State comparatively nlothing all rights were tllought to exist, to inhere by nature in the individual; and the State could demand nothing from bliin for public use without giving him an equivalent. Here we find the fundamental principle of civil liberty; that principle whic(ll has been so carefully guarded in the English and in all the Anglo-American constitutions, and which was so happily and tersely expressed by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Our rude Saxon -ancestors, though under a kingly governmn-ent, lad more real liberty, and a more just appreciation of the true dignity of mran, than had the polished citizens of the republics of the Mediterraneau. The legislative authority was vested in the witenagemote, or assembly of wise men, which was composed of three classes: the prelates, the aldermen, and the wites, or Imen of wisdom. The aldermen hleld office during lifb, and were chosen not on account of rotundity of person, or natural tendency to steal, but, as the etymology of their iiame indicates,tolr their age and experience in affairs. To'obtain a seat in the witenagetnote, unless by reason of nobility, a man was required to possess torty hides of land, or about five thousand acres. The members were by law secure in their persons, ill going to and returning from Parliament, " except they were notorious thieves and robbers." At their elections suffrage was obligatory and compulsory, and failure to attend and vote was punislhed as a neglect of public duty. For the administration of justice, and the preservation of good order, the community was divided into counties, hundreds, and tithings. The latter consisted of tell householders, and the presiding officer was called a tithing-man. Each member of the tithing was, in a certain degree, responsible for the behavior of the other nine members. Crimes committed within the precincts of a tithing were charged against it, unless the members of the tithing discovered the offender, or could get twelve men, three from their-own number, and three from The A nqlo-&txom Race. 21 each of three adjacent tithings, to declare upon their oathls that they believed the tithing innocent. This seenms to be the oriein in English listory of trial by a jury of twelve men, one's peers or equals. From the tithing there was an appeal to the huldred, from thlat to tlle county, and, in important cases, froin'that to the king. In these courts tile weight of evidence was determined not so much by the character of the testilnony as by the number of witnesses, and when this would not decide tlle cause they had recourse to the ordeal. The ordeal was of two kinds: boiling water for tile common people, and red-hot iron for the nobility. If the accused took up a stone sunk to a certain depth in the boiling( wate!, or carried the red-hot iron a certain distance without burning his hand, he was pronouncecd innocent; if otherwise, guilty. Sometimres cold watter was used, and then if the a(ccused sunk, he was innocent; ift' lie swanm, guilty. Another peculiar feature of their critmlinal jurisprudence was that all punishmlenits were by fines, one third of which went to the judge, and the rest to the kiing. It was thonuglht hirghly conducive to the ends of justice to give a part of the fille to thlle judge, that lie lnighlt be the nmore vigilant in ferreting out critme. Every thing, from the kingfs head to tlme tooth of a. slave, Imad its price. By the Anglian law the value of-the king's head Nwas t1,300, that of a prim~ce t65(); a bishop's or an alderman's ~350, a sheriff's ~i75. a clergyman's,87, and a ceorle's ~21. A wound of an inch long under the hair one shilling, on thle face two shillings - and whenever the criminal refused or was unable to pay his fine: hie was given over to the injured parity or his relatives, to be punished as they thought best. Chlurch and State were united, both while the nation' was pagan and when it became Christian. And the same body, the witenagemote, raised revenue for both, and down to the year 960 settled all disputes among, the clergy. Thleft and crobbery were so common, until restrained by the laws of Alfred the Great, that all transfers of property above the value of twenty pence were invalid uliless executed in open market and before witnesses. Convinced that intelligence in the rulers was essential to liberty and happiness, every one who possessed two hundred acres of land or imore was required to send his children to 22 The Anglo-Saxon Race. school; and inability to read and write incapacitated a man for important office. Their language was noted for its simplicity, strength, and expressiveness. The primitive words were chiefly monosyllabic, and the others were formed by uniting two or more of these, giving to each syllable a meaning. This feature shows itself especially in their proper names, of whichl,: till the eighth century, each individual had but one, and that often indicative of his character or disposition. Some of them translated would read lion-man, tiger-man, laimb-man, noble-man, war-man, hlacksmith, woodman, acre-man, etc., etc. Surnames were very rare till after the Norman conquest, but William introduced them to build up and perpetuate an aristocracy. He also changed the law of inheritance so as to make the real estate descend to the oldest son, while, by the Saxon law, the land was divided equally among all the male heirs of the deceased. The present English language, composed as it is of words from at least twenty-six different languages, is yet five eighths Anglo-Saxon, and in these five eighths are found nearly all the terms of common life. We scold, swear, pray, and utter our proverbs in Saxon. Proverbs are to a tongue what the knots are to a pine-tree, they contain its marrow and essence; and when all else is rotted away, and gone back, as it were, to dust, the very fatness and essential oil of the language live in its proverbs. The great expressiveness and force of their language was cansed by its abounding in specific terms, most of which we still retain, while our generic terms are from the Latin and Greek. To inflict a castigation is Latin; while to beat, baste, bite, bruise, box, brain, cuff, fist, cane, cleave, clip, cut, carve, cudgel; to prick, pound, nail, nip, goad, hide, maul, lick, strap, drub,' knock; to foot, kick, gripe, grind, poke, nudge, elbow, ding, dint, rap, strike, whip; to wound, thrust, stick, thwack, thrashll, smite, smash, squeeze, swinge, swing(le, and switch, about fifty in all, each giving the kind of blow laid on, are Anglo-Saxon. It is the Saxon element which gives such beauty and power to the style of the English Bible, and of Shakspeare, Milton, Byron, and in our own country, Webster. That vigor and utility of thought which characterizes the Saxon race requires this style for its expression. It. 7The AnRglo-Saxon Race 23 is terse, concise, clear, and strong. Every American seholar should cultivate it. In this age of steam, electricity, and science, Nwe have not time for tile ponderous sentences and choice Latinity of the style of Dr. Johnson. The prevailing vice of the Saxons, one which ran through every rank of society from the king to the meanest slave, and one which their descendants in too great a degree inherit, was beastly drunkenness. The ale-honse was among them almnost a sacred place, and quarrels arisingo there were more severely punislhed than elsewhere. The lust for strong drink might justly be called the national curse of the Saxons. The dram-shop or corner glroggery is, I believe, still an institution in every Anglo-Saxon country. When they conquered the Medes, in the six'th centiury B. C., Astyages, the king, gave them a great feast, made the leaders all drunk, slew thern, and then fell upon their army and drove it out of his kingdom. Drunkenness was the greatest obstacle to their development, physical, intellectual, and moral, and may even be enumerated as one of the chief causes of their defeat by William of Normandy, for they spent the night before the battle of Hastings in riot and excess, while the more prudent Normans devoted it to sleep and prayer. From this sketch of the political and social condition of the A.nglo-Saxons at the time of the Normlan Conquest, let us pass to the changes introduced by the Normans. Surnames and the law of primogeniture have alreacdy beenr spoken of: But the most important innovation was the feudal system. This systern had already spread over the continent, but its influence was hardly felt across the British Channel till William the Conqueror divided the island amonrg the officers of his army, and made them feudal lords. Under this systenm all land was supposed to belong to the king as superior lord. The barons hleld of him, the knights of the barons, the esquires of the knights, and the farlners of tllem. These last paid thleir rent in the products of the soil; the others, in personal services, as military attendants. Thle greatest deference was paid to superiors; and woman, who before, by Saxon llusbands and parents, had been bought and sold, was now treated with the,highest respect, nay, I might say, almost worshiped; for 24 T7ie Anzglo-Scaxon Race tile Christian knight bowed the knee to his "faire ladye," and would siuffer as mucl-h to vindicate her alleged ineffable beauty against al dcobting knigllts, as he would to redeem the " Holy Sepnllchre" fiorm the hands of the infidel. RnIled by these sentiments, the social condition of Britain rapidly improv-ed. La, befiore a rude tradition, now becalie a science, to excel in whicll required nmncl learning; bhence, for several centuries, the clergy were the law yers. Another c(lanoue,was the introduction of the Nornan lanoLnua e, and the attempt to imake it supplant thle Saxon. It soon prevailed at court. and among the higher classes, and wotld have uprooted tlle Saxon l]ad not' the native strength and expressiveness of the latter been too powerfnl for the polished periods of the formelr. After a long struggle the two coalesced, fbrming our present incormyparable English; a language equal to the German for poetry and metaphysics, not excelled by the French for precision, and superior to both in copiolusness and variety. After the Norman Conquest, the next great event in AngloSaxon history is tlle English revolution. The iwars witli F-rance, and the bloody civil contest between the hlouses of York and Lancaster, had broken the strength of the nobility; and, at the close of the sixteenth century, they were no longer able, as in the days of King Jolhn, to compel the crownl to respect the rights of the people. Thle lords, unlike the stnrdy Barons of RPunnylecde, who in 1215 extorted fiorm the king the Magna Chlarta, saw in silence and sulb)nission royalty declare itself absolute. At this period there was a general tendency of power throughout Europe to centralization. Tlhe republics of Italy, Florence, and Genoa lhad fallen; the democratic spirit was crushed. The sentiment of' personal independence, and personal liberty, wlhich characterized the Gothic tribes, especially the Saxons, and which has contributed so niuch to the efficiency of mnoderate civilization, was not thlen strong euough to oppose the strides of despotism. From the effect of the Crusades and the conseqluent reorganization of society, the old feudal and municipal liberties were lost) and new governments had arisen, more regular, centralized, Thle Ang o-Saxbn Race. 25 and despotic. But no period exhibited a greater physical and mental activity than the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Cape of Good Hope was donbled, America discovered, gu1.lnpowder and printing invented. Painting, in oil had filled Europe witll masterpieces of art, and engravingo had nmultiplied and diffused them. The literary and scientific world was illumnined by suell lights as Cervantes, Shakspeare, and Milton, Kepler, Descartes,. and Bacon. The iReformation had achieved the fieedom of human reason, so that at the same time that political and civil liberty was crushed in Europe, the right of fiee inquiry and general emancipation of' mind prevailed also and brought on a healthful reaction. The Anglo-Saxon race naturally and logically, from tlie eleients that composed it, was the first to assert the rights of man. A struggle began in England between the people and mind on the one hland, and the king, nobility, and wTealth on the other. The result of the contest, as might be expected with a people possessing the courage, energy, and perseverance of our Saxon ancestors, wasin favor of liberty. But the Anglo-Saxon race would by no means have been able to act its rightful part in the grand drama of the world, if confined tio the narrow lilnits of England, or restrained by kingly rule and the law of primogeniture which concentrated wealth in the hands of the few. A wider field, a freer government, a more equal distribution of property, were essential to the development of their energies and the growth and ripening of the firuits of that sentimnent of personal independence, of individual liberty, which to theml was coeval with their existence as a nation, or even as a tribe. The settlemnent of America, and her separation from the mothler country at our Revolution, gave them these. The one opened a new world for their enterprise, and mlade every man the architect of his own fortune; the other relieved them from an hereditary aristocrac, a State Church, and the burdens which monarclly and manners and customs, the relics of a decayed system of' civilization, the feudal, entailed upon them. Their history for the pa'st century is our history and that of our mother country. It is familiar to us all. The Declaration of Independence, the War of the Revolution, Washington and the cluster of great names that 26 The Anglo-Saxon -Race. make the most brilliant constellation in our political firmament; the Articles of Confederation, the Federal Constitution, that most perfect political document that ever emanated from the mind of man, and under which we have prospered beyond reasonable desire; the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the wonderful expansion of the Brilish empire through her colonies and conquests till it compasses the globe, are all known to the boy of the free common school. I need not recount them. And last, but not least, the great war for the rights of man which our generation. by the blessing of God, has had the singular good fortune to wage, has removed from our country, from all countries where our speech is the mother tongue, the last great relic of barbarism, and the last great bar to Anglo-Saxon progress, human slavery, and permits the American AngloSaxon race to follow without hinderance its instincts of freedom and human rights, and to achieve its high destiny. " The Eastern nations sink, their glory ends, And empire rises where the sun descends." There is an old Anglo-Saxon proverb, "Blood will tell." It tells constantly in their history, and will continue to tell till the race has done its work. Tile strength of this strain of blood is manifest iu the fact that it crosses with all cognate races, and takes up and absorbs their good qualities without losing its own identity, or failing to manifest and obey its own characteristics. It survived the contact with the Medes and Persians without becoming enervated. It sustained itself in a thousand years' journey with other Gothls across the continent of Europe to the mouth of the Elbe, uncrushed. It mingled with the Romans and Franks, and the older Celts of Britain, without loss. It swallowed up and incorporated into itself the vikings and Danes, but threw off their freebootery. It came out all the purer and better from passing under the INorlrans. In America it unites with the Celt, the Gerlnan, the Swede, and the Norwegian, and still remains the same, only improved. These other races, and the languages they speak, in a few genlerations disappear in the Anglo-Saxon American, who is now, and bids fair to be for centuries to come, the best composite, harmonious development, the highest perfection of humanity. The A nglo-Satxon Race. 27 The two great branches of this race have put aside war in a memorable international difficulty, tand settled by arbitration, in a council chamber at Geneva, grave and annoying questions that among other races would have deluged a continent in blood. The judgment pronounced by a peaceful umpire has been performed with a promptness and precision that is an example to all other races and nations. That arbitration and its results are an epoch in the history of man. It calls to mind the prophetic lines of Virgil uttered just nineteen hundred years before: " Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna. Jam nova progenies coelo dimittitur alto." This race carries its language, its laws, its institutions with it around'the world, and by dint of their good qualities makes themr prevail. Australia is becoming a new Anglo-Saxon continent; New Zealand, a new Britain. Africa is being encircled as with a string of pearls by Anglo-Saxon colonies. A few thousand countrymen of the Christian and Saxon soldier, Havelock, rule one hundred and fifty millions of East Indians; and to them China and Japan have opened their doors. Two hundred and fifty years ago they numbered but three millions, a hundred and fifty years ago seventeen millions, fifty years ago thirty-four millions, to-day ninety millions: in America forty millions, in England thirty millions, and in the rest of the world twenty millions. This race does not possess the polish and vivacity of the French, but, with a rougher exterior, it has more real nobleness of heart, weight and fixedness of purpose. Inferior in ability to analyze, to split hairs between west and north-west sides, to determine with mathematical precision the difference between nothing and its next-door neighbor, it far excels in power of generalization, in ability to seize upon the strong points, the great landmarks of truth, and to look at things with a practical eye. Without the sprightliness of the Italian, or the cold taciturnity of the German, the Anglo-Saxon occupies the golden mean, his risible not sufficiently excitable to endanger his buttons, nor yet so inflexible as to delay his laugh, like the Hollander, till the day after the joke. Energetic, shrlewd, cal 28 /The A nglo-Saxon Race. culating, lhe Nwill hew out a home and mnake a fortune where another race would dwindle away or get a bare livelihood. In ingenuity and powers of invention lie would seein by' some crossing of the blood to have iinherited the skill of Archimedes, who burlned the enemylys ships about Syracuse with his sunglasses, and that of Dedalus, the personification of Grecian art and mneclanics, wvho escaped fronl tile Cretan tyrant on Nings of' his iown constructionl, I-le does not, like his Teutonic cousin, spend years meditating upo1in sonme abstruse principle of metaphysics —he is too nmuch of a utilitarian for such fruitless investigations — but lie gives his thoughts to the more immediate well-being of society. I-e sees a world full of things to do and but a short time to do them.n From the school-room he plunges directly into business or politics. Of too active a temperament to be burdenied with flesh, he is nervously thinlkinr how lie marv make his owil fortune excel that of his neigfhbor, or his nation surpass all others in wealth and power; or, perhaps, like his ancestors of the sixth century. he may be devising a sclleme to relieve an adjaceiit country of a rich slice of' territory andl annex it to his own, without absolutely violating the law of nations. An ardent lover of the rights of man, he is a turbulent subject, but a good citizen. In war lie has not the wild enthusiasm which inspired the soldiers of Napoleon, but he goes into the contest with a fixed will to win, He mnay not storm a redoubt, but hie can fight a three days' battle. Phyvsieally, the Anglo-Saxons are hardy, muscular. active, and energetic; meltally, clear, cool, shrewd, enterprising, and ambitious. From the necessities of their very natlure they are friends of political and religious liberty, and enem'lies of tyrants, whether spiritual or temporal. Their mlission delenands for its fulfillrient free government, free and universal education, a free Church, and one that recognizes man as a being gifted with reason and a friee will. If the race be true to itself, if it fulfills the high destiny which the Divine hand seems to have marked out for it, then, when its cycle shall have been completed and its record made up, future races will look back upon its period as the brightest in huiman history.