Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-09-08
ARE WE SAXON OR ROMAN?
The British and American Type of Char
acter Is not Anglo->axon.

Thc British and American Type of Char
acter is not Anglo->axon.
HeGwccn modern Italy and the vast
Roman Empire Of fourteen centuries
there lies. in the average English and
American mind. a wide gulf, not
merely of distance. but of incongruty.
We associate Rome with arms and
law. Italy only with arts ana beauty.
IN spirit there has brcu Il transfer of
ancient Rome to modern Britain and
America, and of the Greek character
t" Italy and France. We are more
Wiling to regard the Roman Empire
as the common mother of all rhc ma
tionS of modern Europe than to think
OF the modern Italian nation as IL
continuation of the Roman race Hence
the appearance. from among men of
comparatively modern Roman blood
Of certain great leaders of civilization,
in Europe. in widely unlike spheres
of action, seems almost incongruous.
Michael Angelo in arr; Galileo in
scientific discovery; Columbus to say
Hothing of Nespucius and Verrczano.
explorations; and Napoleon. Cavour and
''hribaldi in war. craftsmanship and
adventure, including the four first
characters in modern Europe. They
We're all Romans, typically so by des-
cent and blood. Men OF legal educ;l-
ton admit the pevasive influence
which the Roman law has cXcrtcd
over modern ideas in matters of prop
rrty. marriage. social relations and
political methods and ideals. Men en-
gagged in religious and historical work
lind that even to-day all intellectual
and historical roads lead to Rome
4 II III
view of chronological influence closed
the British mind TO the abundant
proofs that Roman blood had deter
mined the quality of the British race
before any Angles Danes. SaXonS or
Normans ever landed on the shores
of Britain. The Roman had held
sway in Britain before the fall of
Rome for upward of four centuries
between B. c. 43 and A. j. 40. This
was longer than the period that has
elapsed since the discovery of Am
erica by Columbus. In single cam
paign of the earlier period of Roman
conqucstS. 10000 lives had been lost
in fighting the tattoed Britons. There
is no evidence that one-SiXth as many
Angles ever entered the country. and
had the whole Angle tribe come. men.
women and children. it could not have
mustered so many. The Romans filled
England with farms until. OH one oc-
caSion. the great city of Rome Uhen
of 2.3OO0OO inhabitants) was rescued
from famine by importations of wheat
from Britain. Roman roads bound to-
gether all the cities and towns of Eng
land. and extended far up into Scot
land. The SaXons, and. later, the
Angles. came as allies and not as in
vaderS. Their number cannot be
known. Britain has been drained of
many of its Roman troops in the cam
pagns in aid of MaXimus and in the
conquest of Bretagne in Gaul. But it
was never overrun like Spain. Ger
many and Italy by the barbarian tribe
of GothS. Huns. Vandals or ViSigoths.
In no part of Europe We're the chances
SO good of preserving the Roman
blood in so large measure. From the
SaXonS. Angles and Danes the Eng
liSh blood may have drawn saving.
trading and plodding qualities. From
the original tattooing Britons. Silures
nr Welsh. Picts and Gaels. they de-
rived endurance and toughnesS under
defeat But how could they escape
deriving from four centuries of Roman
admiXtures those dominating and leg
British race successors to the ancient
Rome?
How little Gladstone's features diff
fer from Cicero's or those Of Victor
Hugo from the bust of Homer. The
face of the most distinguished Gen.
Won Moltke is a close production of
that of Julius Caesar, yet is not one
whit more purely Roman than that Of
typical American lawyer md Sem
ator. Lyman Trumbull. of Illinois. Tie
English and Americans become. on L
little investigation. more clearly the
countrymen of Cato. Caesar. Angelo,
Galileo. Columbus and Napoleon. than
thousands of those who We're born
within the sound of the Tiber, but of
Immigrant blood from Sicily. Lydia.
Egypt or Thracc. The British and
American type of character is not
Anglo-SaXon. 1t did not originate on
the Eibr; it derives its strongest traits
from that race which has been the
most forceful and mastcrful for thirty
c"nturics.-Van Buren, Denslow. in the
ict