The Portland daily press., 1881-10-20
The English People.
Opening Lecture OF Edward A. Freeman's
Course at the Lowell Institute.

The subject have chosen is not a new
| theme. Can fad anything new TO say about
| the English people, their origin and later his
tory2 shall not probably say anything in
| these lectures which l have not already said to
some other gathering, or in some OF the writ
iugs with which have numbered the earth.
But with the change OF place there may be a
change in the interest OF the subject. Events
OF the first importance on the other side may
assume a different rank here. l stand before
you this day as member of one great commu-
nifty addressing the members OF another, both
Of whom have a common interest in the histo-
ry, the laws, the legends of the English folk.
have chosen for my title THE English Peo-
pie in their Three Homes" and OF these three
homes / am now standing in the newest and
vastest. l trust 1t will be permitted me to ex-
tend the meaning of the term New England to
the whole United States of America. A new
England Implies an older England, and IL is of
that older England that am 10 speak to you,
Of that older community which shares the his
tory of the new. But this is not the whole of
my subject l must ask this older England to
look back in turn. III ask you to look to your
mother-lana, must ask both to look back to
the mother-laDd of them both. | have not
veDtured to speak of my own country as Old
England. For beyond it is an older England
still, aud speak of my England as child and
COLONY OF that older England The old Eng
land sent forth her sons to colonize on the
shores of Britain, and they founded not old
old England, the ocean must be crossed which
separates the Teutouic isle from the Teutonic
mainland. AS you of New Eugaiud boast of
the migration of your ancestors from our Eng
land 10 these shores, so we cherish the recoilec-
tion of our ancestors and your still more remote
ancestors, Who came to Britain's shores and
made England and New England pos IDLE. In
d figure, they founded the United States Of
America and all that the name implies.
may say some things which will invite ar
gument. The old arguments, think, can
answer; the new ones l am willing to hear.
But let us avoid argument on this, our first
meeting. Let me work out my general sketch
more in detail. Let me advance my own
views, though they are open to difficulties and
objections. have laid the objections aside
tonight for time. Before we go into any
details. let us take wide and general view OF
the English folk. In their three homes thay
are but part of family. They are not race,
but part OF a race. We are div ision OF the
great Teutonic race, or division of division.
cannot speak of the Eugllsh as a nation, for
the word has become localized and limited in
signiicat,on. When we speak of one race as a
nation, we imply that It ought to be under one
Government. But no sane man would adyo-
cate putting all English people under one Gov
ernment. So must speak OF you as members
of one English nation, while aln member
OF another. But while we 90 not belong to
the same nation, we are one folk in all things
save that local and political separation which
nature and events have wrought Surely
am more TO you than man OF Mexico; surely
YOU are more TO me than a man of France or
Spain. The words foreign and foreigner should
not be used between our countries. am not
foreigner, and will not bear to be foreigner
when / come to this country. You are not
foreigners and strangers when you come 10 my
country. Our ancestors may have come to-
gether under the same banner, suffered defeat
or gained the victory together. The great dit-
ference between us is that you have taken two
great voyages, and we have taken only one,
but we took that first voyage together. Each
of these great voyages, however, was made up
of great many small voyages. A compare
lively shorx time has pissed since the second
of these great voyages, and many man here
can tell from what part OF England his fore
fathers came. But so remote Is the first great
voyage that none can tell where is his ances-
tral home on the Teutonic mainland. The
orefathers of those who abode in the second
England and of those who came on TO the third
Eugland, all came together from the oldest
England. Wecame from oar old home on the
continent, leaving many kinsfok behind US.
and some of us came farther to this new coun-
try, also leaving many friends behind. Ii we
are clear about the second voyage, we
are not generally so clear upon the hrst
voyage My studies have maie the ear
lier fact clear and familiar as the sec
ond fact, and though | cannot expect
to make all see as d0,yet the fact nevertheless
remains. There is land which once stood in
the same relation to England as that in which
she now stands to America OF course there
are many points Of difference, but | am con-
cerDed tonight with the resemblaces. My po-
stion is that as American history dees not be-
gin on American soil, so our common histary
laws, and 1a}io BEtlsh S5 s91. Tne songSa
another land. IT you were colony, we were |
a colony also of the stlll older England on the |
continent OF Europe. / use the word colony
because there is no better word to use, and II |
understood, there is no Objectionable !
sense 1t is often USED in the sense OF word |
to imply dependence and lack OF self govern |
ment But though that sense might answer |
for Government office, it will never be sutfl- |
cient for a historian. In ancient times the |
colonies were independent OF the mother coun- |
try. A Roman colony was usually an armed
garrison sent to hold a province in subsection. !
Colony is used in different sense from what |
il was in olden times. Its Greek sense Is the |
beSt-that OF men who go from one home to |
another. After the Declaration OF Indepen- |
dence, the Americans became mole truly colo |
nists than ever betore-men who had come to
another home When they were independent
they were more truly in a new home than
when they were dependent. So the settlers of
old England were colonists OF an older Eng
land still AS the settlers OF Massachusetts,
and Virginia we're colonists. SO also were the
settlers of Wessex and Northumberland.
As the term New England is limited to a
part of this country SO there is a part of this
continent which is more strictly England. 1t
is that part known as Angland. In England,
Wessex, Sussex and Essex are the names
of the people and the names of the land, and 1t
is probable that the name Of the people
there and also on the continent is older
than the name of the land Much
the same thing has happened in Scotland.
The home of the Scots wasin Ireland but we call
the colonial home by the race name, just as
we call the country of the English colonlsts by
their race name. do not take an unwarrant-
ed liberty in calling my country New Angland
or the Oldest country as Old AnglAnd. But l
cannot limit the latter name to corner OF the
duchy of Sleswick. must carry it beyond
the Elbe, beyond the mouth of the Scheldt,
perhaps even to the mouth of the Saone. As il is
accurate to give the name OF New
England wider sense than the general one. so
it is legitimate to extend the meaning of En-
gland.
Jutes-were prominent among the Teutous of
central Europe, and such large migrations as |
theirs are always likely to be sweled by peo- |
pie not closely kin TO them We must look at |
our home as including the countries where the |
low Dutch tongue is spoken, the Netherlands
and down to northern Franco From those
lands we came as a people. That was our first
hist rical m grafton. Our forefathers had NIL
grated before that as part of the great Aryan
race. They once dwelt in Eastern Europe, |
even central Asia. The forefathers OF Angles, |
OuttS anu Ef'oiAbo CdbhOu oC AOOoS-
nized as such away from the low Dntch main
and of Europe. They migrated TO Britain, |
and the history Of that part OF the race which |
remained on the continent is as truly part OF |
our history as the history of those who remain |
cd in England s part OF the history OF this |
country. We have common interest IN the IL |
lusirious names of the English folk. We have |
a common share in the hero-kings who found |
ed England, and when they were building up |
England they we're also building up the Conn |
Of America. Jf we have share |
in the history of the kings, SO we have equally |
In that of the men who curbed the power OF |
kings, of the man who wrung the Great Char |
tor from the tryant. We share alike |
every blow struck for freedom from |
The day of Lewes to the day Of Mars
ton Moor. Though our history divides in |
part with our separation, yet we have a closer |
interest in each other aud look with sympa- |
thetic feelings upon what is done upon English |
,oil Wilcox upon the wonde rfuli xtenson and |
r. joice in it, Every deed of skill or righteous
ness done by an Englishman possesses pecui- |
ar intere st for us. While the bonds between |
he middle England and the new are easily re- |
,ognized because hey are of so recent growth, |
t is difficult to as clearly the bond which |
middle England with old England
But look at the first history of our era. II IS
sasy to find o national hero. You may see nlm
Ia the Celtic'CaractacuSrather than III the leu
ionic Arminius. 5But Arminins was one OF |
pur blood: Caroctacus was OF another blood |
Had the Roman overcome northern Germany |
As ne overcalne southern Britain, the English |
,eople would never have been a people. III |