The sun., 1889-12-15

Gets OF whom. however. thore were two diyi-
slons-the cymric and the Gael. The south
eastern corner had at Period then compare
lively recent been colopiEed By the deniNens
Of tho BelRic part Of GAuL who weTee
not Celts at all but Teutons We shenld
further mention that subsequently, to the
/ Saxon inyasions Of Britain there was q refiux
OF the CTmric wave from the southwestern
corner OF the island back upon Brittany.
whereby the Celtic element In that region was
greatly strengthened and enabled to maintain
many national peculiaritles down TO our own
day. This othnoRraphieal account Of the atate
of things In Britain explains some inconsisten-
| cies In the fortunes OF the Roman conquerors.
i The Teptopio emiRrants from BelRio Gaul
1 WHOSE continental kinsmep had been previ-
ously subduedl we're reconciled with relative
ease to Roman rule, which flrst encountered
severe and prolonged resistance whom II came
In collision with the Cymric and Gael branches
| OF tho Celtic race.
In that part OF the volume devoted to Britain
rs distinguished from EnRland-the only part
to which we purpose at this time TO refer-the
most valuable sections are those which deal,
| first with the measures taken By the Romans
TO fortify their province against inroads from
| the Scottish Highlands. and, secondly, with the
| questions, How much civilization did the Ro-
| mans leave behind them when, In 408. Con-
stantinus definitely withdrew the leRions from
the island ? and How much Of this civilization
| survived the conquests Of the Angles and Sax
ons1 We have mover seen moro lucid. al
though concise. description OF perhaps the most
| stupendous military works ever constructed
by Rome than the account given In
the authors eighth chapter Of the great
wall built by Hadrian from the Sol
way to Wallsend at the mouth OF the
Tyne. and OF the more northern rampant built
by Antoninus and strengthened by 6everus
between the Clyde and the Firth Of Forth. 1t
Is q mistake. however. to convey the impress
sion, rs the author does by implication on page
81, that the interesting district lying between
these huge walls--a district roughly corre-
spending to the North -Anglian kingdom OF
Bernicia and to the Lowlands OF Scotland-was
unoccupied by the Romans after the time Of
HadriRn. All the evidence procurable points
the other way. although the inhabitants OF
this frontier district were naturally moro ox-
posed TO aggression from the so-oalled Picts
and Scots. AS Mr.. Church himself in an.
other place recalls this border district was as
late as the reign Of Valentinian l. IA. d 369l.
organized In q separate province under the
name Of Valentia.
One objection to the answer returned by Mr..
Church to the question. How much civilization
did the Roman legions leave behind them when
they abandoned Britain2 Is its inad0quacy The
answer might we'll have occupied chapter in
stead OF page or two. Indeed. chapter
might have been exclusively allotted to the
complete system Of almost indestructiblO roads.
which for many centuries afterward formed the
solo means OF land intercommunication be-
tween the tribes OF bloodthirsty Saxon sRvages
in whom we must recognize our ancestors.
Nor can too much emphasis be laid upon the
fact that whan the Jutaa landad In lao fha
Britons south OF the wall OF Antonine had
for o century and q half been Christians.
whereas It was not until the close Of the sev-
enth century that the intermittent and diff
cult conversion OF the heathen Saxon invaders
was accomplished.
Let US mark. however; the main points Of the
authors reply to a question. to answer which
fully We should need to invoke arguments
from analogy as well as direct evidence:
"One thing" he says. " is tolerably plain that
there has been no continuity Of Roman life In
England such as may be traced in Italy, in
Spain. in France" That IL true. but what we
want explained is 'chv this difference is OBJ
seryabie. Each OF these three countries" con-
tinues MIR. Church. has been swept and swept
many times by invasion. but there has always
remained an element OF population strong
enough to keep up the continuity OF life." He
proceeds to note the striking difference In re-
spect Of linguistic histories. Latin is the foun-
dation OF the Italian. French. and Spanish
languages. whereas in early English It may
be almost described as non-existent To
what extent, then. may We assume that the
conquered Britons had been Romanized9 To
this question the author at first replies by
posing dilemma :" IT," he says. we be-
lieve that the Britons wero annihilated by
the Teutonic invaders. then 1t is easy.
ALSO to believe that they had been thor
oughly Romanized." II. on the other hand.
considerable British element survived. we
should expect provided the Britons had been
thoroughly RomanizedI. to find q considerable
trace OF Roman influence In the life Of early
England. A British element did survive. as
Mr.. Church elsewhere shows. In the western
two-flfths of Britain. yet there Is no trace OF
Roman influence in the life OF the Angle or
OF the Saxon who ultimately settled there. The
inference Is that the Britons must have been
much less completely RomaniEed than the
Gauls.' or even than the Wallachians. although
the country Of the latter was Incorporated
with the Roman empire only for a short time
We cannot accept this conclusion. We believe
that the Britons. after nearly four centuries OF
continuous occupancy. must have been far
more thoroughly Romanized than the WAL
lachians, who at very early date. were left
to shift for themselves on the north Of the
Danube. after tnat river had been made the
frontier OF Roma. The roads OF Britain bear
impressive witness to the completeness OF the
clyilizing process No other part Of the empire,
outside of Italy, had such an elaborate network |
OF admirable causeways.
We would account for the anomalous extinc- !
tion of Roman civilization in England in the |
following way. The Goths. Vandals. Heruli. |
Franks. Burgundians. and Lombards had be- |
como to large extent Romanized and some |
OF them had become Christian before they |
took possession Of certain provinces OF the |
empire. Under such circumstances accommo- |
dation and assimilation were inevitable. and
OF the subject folk would not be |
thought Of. Had not. ON the other hand. the |
Huns been vanquished at Chalons. they would |
have wiped civilization out OF Gaul
as utterly as the Saxons were to wipe 1t out Of |
Britain. The Saxon invaders. 1t must be re-
membered. represented grade OF bar
barism not a jot higher than that
Of tho Huns; indeed. the latter In
Attila's time were probably more advanced,
having been for some time in contact with Ro- |
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