The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-07-15

~ tn4 An9ie-saxss 9ase.
~ A1artaaat~ cq(pei4sslc., the gsnsssl total Of
the AQnfi6ma ceasu. taken lat year has Just been
reeslSed, md ~ arc enabled, in conjunction with
The refhTus made on the 3lst Of March for this
country, to measure the absolute progress Of tho
Anglo Saxon rare ia its two grand divisions, and
t. compare thu laws II their respective growths
in rsfsti0n TO esch Other aud To rest Of the world
1t IL estimated including Ireland and the colo.
uiss. that thsre n grand total of men speaking
the same language, and maniicstine the same
general tendencies Of civilization of Sc 900 900,
ft0sp whieh IL to be deducted the three million
Of negro slaves in the United States, leaving a
Semainder Of fiity-three +" ilions, chiefly Of An
elo-Saxdn descent, ID deeply imprsgnated with
itA Sturdy qua tiles Of heart and brain. as the
representative of this advancing stock.
Two centuries ago these WAS not quite three
millions OF this rsce on the face OF the earth.
There are million more perscns # Magyar
descent spesking The Magyar language at the
present moment in Europe, than there were in
Europe and America of this conquering and
colonizing people In the time Of Cromwell. How
win then, for men To talk Of the political neces-
atty for absorbing ANAL races! Sixty years ago
the Anglo Saxon race did not exceed 100000
In Europe and America. At that time Il WAS
not Numerically stronger than the Poles. Thirty
years ago it counted only thirty four millions and
frsrticn mo,s than the pog&3stion Of France
at that time, and considerably less than the leu.
tonic population Of Central Europe. In 1881
II il ahead Of every civilized race in the world.
OF races lying within the zones Of civilization,
the Sclavea alone are more numerous, counted
BY heads; bat comparatively few Of this plastic
and sub issive stock have yet escaped from the
barbarism of the dark ages. In wealth, energy,
and cultivation, they are not to be compared
with the Frank, the Teuton, and the Anglo
Saxon Number is theironly element OF strength.
Z OF all the races which are now striving for
the mastery Of the world, TO impress on the fu-
ture of society and civilization the stamp Of its
own character and genius, to make it's law, idiom,
religion, manners, government. and opinion pre-
vail, the Anglo-Saxon is now unqnestionably
the most numerous, powerful, and active The
day when it might possibly have been crushed,
absorbed. or trampled out, like Hungary and
Poland, by stronger hordes, is gone by forever.
That it was possible at one time for this peorle
to be subdued by violence, or to fall n prey to
the slower agonies of decline, there can be lit
tie doubt In 1860. the United PROVINCES seemed
more likely to make grand figure hshe worlds
future history, than England. Their wealth, ac-
tivity, and maratime power, were the most i'm
posing in Europe. They had all the carrying
trade Of the West in their hands. Their lam
Qnage was spoken in every port. In the great
Orient their empire was fixed and their influence
paramount. England was then hardly known
abroad. Her difficult idiom grated on foreign
cars, and her stormy coasts repeled the curiosity
Of more cultivated travellers.
Had the thought Of day arriving when any
single European language would be spoken by
millions Of persons, scattered over the great con-
tinents of the earth, from New Zealand to the
Hebrides, and from the Cape of Storms to the
Arctic Ocean, occurred tn any speculative mind
Dutch, not English, would probably have been
the tnngue to which he would have assigned the
marvellous mission. Yet, Holland has fallen
nsarly as much as the Saxon has risen in the
scale Of nations. Her idinm is now acquired by
few. Her merchants conduct their correspond
ence, and transact their business, in French or in
English. Even her writer's have many Of them
clothed their genius in foreign garb. On the
other hand, our literature and language have
passed entirely out Of this danger Dutch, like
Welsh, Flemish, Erse, Basque, and other idioms,
is doomed to perish as an intellectual medium ;
but whatever may be the future changes of the
world, the tongue Of Shakespeare and of Ba-
con is now too firmly rooted ever to be. torn
awaj.
No longer content with mere preservation, it
aims at universal mastery. Gradually it is TAX
ing possession Of all the ports and coasts of the
world solating all rival idioms, shutting them
up from intercourse with each other, max ny it.
self the channel of every communication. Alta
hundred points st once it plays the aggresscr
1t c. Intends with Spanish on the frontiers Of
Mexico; drives French and Russian before it in
Al 4
persedes Dutch at the Cape and Natal elbows
Greek and Italian at Malta and in the Ionan
Islands usurps the right Of Arabic at Suez and
Alexandria; maintains itself supreme at Liberia,
Honckong, Jamaica, and ST Helena; fights its
way against multiiudinons and various dialects
in the Rocky mountains. in Central America on
the geld coast in the interior Of Australia, and
among the countless islands in the Eastern seas
No other language il spreading in this way.
French and German find students among cult
waited men but English permanently destroys
and supcrsedes the idioms with which It comes
in contact.
The relative growth Of The two great Anglo
Saxon States is noteworthy. In 1901 the popu-
lation of Great Britain was O9I8 GIG in 1910
that of the United States was 53l9 762, or not
quite half In 1850 the population of the United
States was two millions and third more than
than of Great Britain in 1851; at this moment
it probably exceeds it by three millions. The
rate of decenniai increase in this country is less
than Is per cent, while in America it is about
35 per cent. In the great continental States the
rate is considerably lover than in England. Ac-
cordng to the progress Of the last fifty years in
France and 10 America, the United States will
have the larger population in 1870; in 1900
they will exceed those Of England, France
Spnin, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, and Switz
erland combined. Prudent statesmen should
bear these facts in mind. Many persons now
alive may see the time when America will be of
more importance to liz, socially, commercially,
snd politically than all Europe put together.
Old diplomatic additions will 20 for little in the
face Of transatlantic power numbering 100,
100000 Of free and energetic men OF our own
race and blood.--Aiienssu I'm.