The times., 1898-05-30
THE ANGLo-sAxoNs
A Picked Minority of the qualified
Fittest.

Major James Albert Clark addressed
the Theosophical Society last night, the
subject being: 'tAnglo-Saxons-a Picked
Minority of the Qualified Fittest." After
a review of the past struggles between the
Latins and the Anglo-Saxons it seems
strange that on American soil that So
called Celts seek to champion the Latin
cause. The lecturer held that an attempt
TO discover a genuine Celt or an Anglo
Saxon and prove the case In terms Of ex-
act science would end in failure Quoting
Prof Max Muller:
I'VE know what we mean by a Celtic
language. and in the grammar of each
language we are able to produce most
perfect scientific definition of its real char
acter. If therefore. we transfer the
term Celtic to people we can If we use
our words accordingly. mean nothing but
people who speak a Celtic language. the
true exponent. aye. the very life of Celtic
nationality. Whatever people. whether
Romans or SaXons or Normans. or as
some think even Phoenicians and Jews
settled In Cornwall, If they ceased to
speak their own language and exchanged
II for Cornish. they are, before the tribu-
nal of the science of language, Celts. and
HDLAAllS Dul 1eitSt Wnlle, Wherever Cor
nishmen. like Sir Humphrey Davy or
Bishop Colenso, have ceased to speak Cor
nish, and speak nothing but English, they
are no longer Celts. but true Teutons. or
SaXoas. in the only scientifically legiti-
mate sense of that word"
Measured by this rule there are few
Celts on American soil. and where they
do appear as Welsh or Irish branches,
the second generation refuse to remember
-.
of Celtic societies uses Anglo Saxon
terminology to explain his pet theories.
He lives in the spirit of Shakespeare,
Chaucer. Spencer and the Bible. about
90 per cent Saxon In structure. He is a
citizen of the Anglo-SaxOn common
wealth OF ideas. the republic of words.
each word a palace of human thought.
and the only vehicle by which the Celt
can express himself. and every word has
its relative strength and history in the
relative strength of the human mind.
converting by constantly recurring use
the most bigoted Celt into the best of
Anglo-SaXons. 1t is not any accidental
variety that survives and perpetuates it
se,f as Anglo-SaXon, and makes it to-
day the fttest the qualified fittest.
though minority yet a picked minority.
1t is due to evolution and natural selec-
ton. which carries with it the phil
osophy Of Theosophy and also natural
elimination. The worthless has been cast
off. the fittest survives. and rules the
world today. Gladstone carried the
thought further than Prof. Max Muller
by declaring that Japan was even now
Anglo-SaXon in spirit because her moving
minds were educated by Saxon thought
English literature IS absorbed in America
and becomes part of US, exercising a re-
t dictionary power over our intellect. Amer
! lean genius. too. exercises a reciprocal
| power over English consciousness. The
two combined are moving the world and
/ Will continue so to do because at the
base each individual is free for the first
time in the history of the world
The Anglo-Saxon conquers in the great
| struggle for life because the individual
is allowed to accomplish the ends for
which the type or species to which it be-
| longs was called into being. The Latin
had its chance and lost in the struggle
/ In the eighth century B. c. the Latin dia-
| lect was confined to a small territory, and
was but one dialect out of many that were
| spoken all over Italy. Like the Saxon. il
began to absorb, and took in the Umbrian
the Oscan, the Etruscan. some branches
| Of the Celtic, and became by conquest
| finally the language of law and govern
ment in the civilized portions of the
world. In its day it could have claimed
" ptSheu Hiilotlty oi lHe QudlHed III
! test by the law of evolution. The Latin
| fails TO survive as the fttest because the
world of thought in which it's thinkers
| live has failed to credit the reaction OF
things on the individual man, not alone
| for what the individual man can accom-
! plish, but for what can be accomplished
! in him. In short, with theosophy, that
man himself is essentially divine and de-
mands development. He expands under
| Anglo-Saxon influences. He suffers from
| theologic cramps under the Latin.