The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1851-09-26
From the London Atheaaeum.
THE ANGLO.SAXON RACE,


here were not quite three millions OF this
ace on the fuco of the earth. There are
million more persons of Magyar descent,
'paaking the llngyar language at the pre-
sent mUnent in Europe, than there were IN
Europe aud America cf this conqnering and
people in the time OF Cromwell.
How vain, then, for men to talk OF the pol~
ical necessity for absorbing small races!-
Sixty years ago the Anglo-SaXon race did
,ot exceed l7,OO0O0O in Europe and Amer>
ca. At that time it was not numerically
than the Poles. Thirty years ago
t counted only thirty-tonr millions; being
lIlogether only three millions ard fraction
more than The population Of France at that
line, and considerably less then the Teuton.
c population Of Central Europe. 10 lSol
It is ahead Of every civilized race in The
world. or races lying within the zones OF
the Sciaves alone are more nu-
merous, counted by heads; but comparative
ly few of this plastic and submissive stock
have yet escaped from the barbnrisIn of The
dark ages. In wealth, energy, and cultiva.
,ion. !hey ore not to be pared with the
Frank, the Teuton, and the Anglo-Suzon,- -
Number IS almost their only element Of
strength. or all The races which are now
striving fer the mastery OF the world-t to
impress en- the future Of society and civil.
za,ion The stamp of its own character and
genius-.o make its law. idiom. religion,
manners, govcrnnent, and opinion prevail,
the Anglo'Snxon is now unqucstio ionably the
most numerous, powerful, and active. The
day when it might possibly have been crush
ed, absorbed. or trampled out, like Hunga-
~ aud Poland, by stronger hordes, is gone
by forever. That it was possible at one
time for this people to be subdued by VIC.
lence or to fall prey to the slower agonies
of decline, there can be little doubt. In
1850, the United Provinces seemed more
likely to make grand figure in The worlds
future history than England. Their wealth.
activity, nnd maritime power were the most
imposing in Europe. They had oil the car
of the west in their hands
Their language was spoken in every port.
In the great Orien, their empire was fixed
and their influence paramount. England
was then hardly known abroad. Her diff
cu!, idium grated on foreign ears, and her
stormy coasts repelled the curiosity OF more
cultivated travellers. Had tho thought OF
day arriving when any single European Ian
guage would oe spoken by millions OF per.
sons. scattered over the great continents OF
the earth from New Zealand 10 The Hebrldes,
and from the Cape Of Storms to the Arctic
ocean, occurred to any speculative mind.
Dutch not English would probably have
been the tongue to which he would here as
signed the marvellous mission. Yet Hol-
land has tallea BcsTly as much as the Sax.
on has risen in the scale of nations. Her
idiom is now acquired by few. Her mer.
chants conduct their business IN French or
ia English. Even he. writers have many OF
Them clothed their genius in garb. On the
other hand, our literature and language have
passed entirely out of this phase of danger.
Dutch, like Welsh, Flemish, Erse, Basque,
and other dioms, IS doomed to perish as an
intellectual medium; but, whatever may be
the future changes Of the world, the tongue
of Shakespeare and Of Bacon is now too
firmly rooted ever to be torn away. No lon'
ger content with mere preservation. it aims
at universal mastery, Gradually it is TAX
ing possession of all the ports and c1asts OF
the world; isolaiing all rival idIoms-shut.
ting them up from intercourse with each
other --making itself the channel Of every
At q hundred points at
once it plays the oggressor. IT contends
with Spanish on the frontiers of Mexico
drives French and Russian before it in Can.
ada and in the northern Archipelago-su-
persedes Dutch at the Cape and Natal-el-
bows Greek and Italian at Malta nnd in the
Ionian Islands--usurps the right of Arabic
ut Suez and Observation-Disclosures itself
supreme at Liberia, Hong-Kong, Jamaica.
and ST. Hecna-igh.s its way against mu''
tlludnous snd various dialects in the Rocky
mountains. in Central America, on the Gold
Coast, in the interior OF Australia, and A.
mpng the countless islands of the eastern
seas. No other language is spreading in
this way. French and German find students
among cultivated men; but English perma-
nently destroys and supersedes the idioms
with which it comes in contact.
The relative growth of lho two great Ne
glo.Saxon States is noteworthy. In lSOl
the population Of Great Britain was TO-
9i2, GAG, in 1900, that Of the United States
was 5,3l9, ,762 --or not quite half. In lS5O,
the population of the United States is two
Great Britain in lS5l-at this moment it
probably exceeds it by three millions. The
rate of decennial increase in this country is
less than fifteen per cent.-while in Ameri-
ca it 10 about ihirty.ive per cent. In the
great continental States the rate is consi>
derab bly lower than in England. According
TO the progress of the last fifty years in
France and in America, the United States
will have the larger population in ls7O-in
1900, they will exceed those of Englan
France, Spain, Portugal. Denmark. Sweden.
ard Switzerland combined. Prudent states.
men should bear these facts in mind. Many
persons now alive may see the time when
America will be Of more importance to US
commercially. and politically, than
all Europe put together. Old diplomatic
will 60 for little in the face Of n
power numbering lO0, ,OOO.OO0
,f free and energetic m:n Of our race and
blood,
The N. Y. Mirror says TWO young gem