The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-10-01

He paints in vivid oolors and with feeling 81
lust admiration, the gallant resistance OF the brave
people who, destined to pass under the yoke OF the
cor;,ueror, fought long, nohty, for their ipef-
ties their families and their homes, that the re-
membrance of their good fight must ever awaSen
in the hearts of their descendants those feelings oil
age than that of this Norman conquest, such pat1-
otie vslor would have extorted from those whom
policy and interest had made their enemies"
Th>abore is an extract from review of Thierry' s
history of the Norman conquest Of England. pub
lished many years ago in British periodical, the
Foreign Monthly Magazine. 1t is predicated Of the
conquest of England by William Of Normandy.
The gallant resistance there spoken Of consisted
in fighting battle against force not so large as
that which Grant now has before Petersburg. They
"fou2ht 50 long that Is TO say, they fought about
twelve hours A single battle eftectually crushed
all resistance worthy of the name, for though spor
die cases of instruction occurred from time to time,
for three or four years afterwards serious or organ
lied opposition was made 20 the invader save in that
single instance The people here eulogized in
10 nguagc too ford for the deeds of Bruce and
Wallace succombed beneath the weight of the first
blow. The conquest was the most absolute, the sub
mission the most abject, the terms the most de-
grading the law imposed the hardest and most re-
morseless, of which We have any account IN modern
history The conquerors imposed their own laws
substituted their own language III all legal proceed
;nss took every foot of land from the conquered and
divided it among themselves, substituted their own
tenures and completely abolished those OF the Sax
ons A large proportion of the peasantry were re-
duced to actual slavery, under the name of Ufeins,
and the whole body were made subject to the will
each Of a separate lord. The word "curfew" is to
.his day badge of Anglo-Saxon servitude under
Norman masters. 1t arose from a law imposedby
the eonquerors, compelling the Saxon population to
put out their fires and extinguish their lights (coerre
teuj a signal to be given by ringing the bell Of
the nearest convent at carly hour in the evening"
under penalty Of extreme severity. In word
the boosted Anglo-Saxons became the most abject
slaves In all Europe, and that, too, under foreign
taslmasters, who regarded them as a race infinitely
inferior TO themselves and treated them far worse
than any Southern master ever thought Of treat
ing his slaves. 1t is Salust, We believe, who
tells us that the Athenians were the most for
tunate of antiquity, inasmuch as they were
for many ages the only historians, and took the
liberty of writing their chronicles pretty much
~ suit the tastes of their people The English
have been equally fortunate an possessing litera-
]
after their own fashion. The existing relics OF
monkish contemporary chronicles were, for ages,
accessible only to n few, at least but few had
the industry the inclination to study them. Inc
field then was left open to chroniclers and antiqua
RES who made out such story as they pleased; and
pleased them TO say that the accession OF England
to the conqueror was an acquisition, not a." con-
quest" "Acqaisitio o-conqnisifo, SO 1t Is called
by Blackstone, who wrefe very little more than a
century ago. To US it seems to have been the most
Of all possible conquests. The Normans
were masters. The English We're slaves that was
all. Yet ever since Edmund Burke first uttered his
nonsense in the House of Commons about the An
clo-Saxon race, every fool whose mother tongue is
English considers it high honor to be a descend
ant OF these serfs to the Nomans for they We're no
better. The English have certainly been great
peop,e: but alas for their Anglo-Saxon pro-
genitors
II such feeble struggle as that of the Saxons is
worthy of such commentator this, in what terms
does the defence of our liberties, in which We
now engaged, deserve to be recorded! What did the
saxons do, compared to what We have done. They
yielded at the first onset after single battle, to
army Of fifty sixty thousand invaders, not more
numerous than that with which they met him. As
a people, they greatly more numerous than tn.
Nomans. In resources, they must have been greatly
superior. They fought in their own country, for
their homes, their altars their wives and their chill
dren-for everything that man holds dear in this
life. Ii conquered they well aware that their
country would be enslayed and they themselves be-
come the serfs Of the conquerors