The Irish standard., 1899-02-25
AMERICA NOT ANGLO-sAxON.
The English Myth 1. Exploded by j.
ID. O'DOnncll.

ID. O'DOnncll.
]. D. O'Connell, of Washington, D. c.,
is as alert as ever to meet and refute the
ever-recurring claims put forward by the
little tribe of Anglomaniacs in this re-
public, that the United States is, or
should be. an anglo Saxon" community
From his connection, for fully half a
century, with the statistical bureau OF
is one of those best qualified to gauge
the logical deductions of the case at is
sue; and as the figures lie arrays in his
arguments are always taken from the Of
indisputable facts on his side, while his
opponents have only wild and unsus-
tanned assertions on theirs
In letter to the New York Sun. pub
lished in the issue of that journal for
Feb. S. Mr.. O'Connell says:
One "E. E. c." addressed letter to
contemporary. which appeared in that
paper Of the 25th ult., under the caption,
undertakes to say that the recent Eng
lish-American rapprochement appears
to make some of the Irish in this coun-
try, who are not yet AmericaniZed,
they throw fits at the name Anglo
Saxon" whatever that may mean. He
also undertakes to deny the truth of the
statement published. to which he is ap-
tenth of that portion of our population
which is derived from the immigrants
who came hero after 1S49 will be Anglo
Saxon.
| beg to say to this unknown Contribu
tor, that one who talks about the Anglo
Saxon, and says this is an Anglo-SaXon
country, that it was settled and devel-
oned by Anglo-Saxons, and that two
thirds of it's white inhabitants are of
Anglo-SaXon descent. makes statements
regarding matter of which he is to-
tally ignorant
What does &c. E. c." know about the
Anglo Saxons, or their characteristics,
or their institutions, or even their Ian
guage? What was there peculiar to the
Angles and Saxons that was not common
to other German barbarians before they
came into contact, first, with Roman
civilization, and subsequently with Ro-
man Christianity? Can he say. of this
man in Brooklyn, or that man in New
York. that one is an Anglo-SaXon and
the other is not? All that the greatest
scientists could say would be that John
Smith," of Brooklyn, being bluc-cycd,
blonde and of fair complexion, was,
therefore, in some respects, apparently.
of Teutonic or Germanc type: and that
"Mr. JONES' of New York, being dark
haired, and having blue eyes, indicated
in some respects, Il Celtic type; and then
you would say that there was Il blending
in each individual of both types, and
that neither was, in fact, Teutonic or
Celtic. This is all that can be said or
maintained as evidence that the English
people, or the American people, are Of
the AngloSaXon race, and it shows the
absurdity of the claim
Every well-informcd ethnologist knows
that, while the Angles and Saxons re-
manned purely Teutonic or Germanic
tribes, they were, like all other Tcutonic
or German tribes, Il blonde, haxcn-haired
people, of good physique, and having
only such constitutions" as were COM
mon to all other German tribes and the
like European barbarians: and every
well-informed reader knows that the an
cent BritOns were a stawart, dark
haired race--far on the road to civiiza-
ton when the Angles and Saxons began
to cross the German ocean, to seek set
Elements on the southern and eastern
coasts of England; and that whatever
civilization and institutions the latter
acquired were acquired from the same
ancient Britons, who, in their turn had
acquired their civilization and institu
tions from the Romans during the four
centuries of Roman occupation of Brit
ain.
Some focl writer. some time or other
got the idea into his head that the An
giles and Saxons had ovcrrun the island
and practically cxterminatcd the Brit
ons; and, therefore, that the English
people Of his day were nglo-SaXons
Succeeding him we have such other fool
writer's as "II. t. c. rushing into print
with the claim that not only the English
people, but the great mass Of the Amcri-
can white people. are of anglo Saxon"
descent, or that at least two-thirds of
them are of that descent; and that these
"Anglo- Saxons" will control and deter
mine, in the future as in the past, "the
lines on which our national development
shall take place. ! wonder why "E. e.
c." excludes our colored brethren; for
certainly, the so-callcd Ang Saxon Ian
glage is their mother tongue; and if a
Celt is not to be regarded as an Anglo
Saxon, why include him in the two
thirds of the whole Americans; or why
include the descendants of immigrants
from any other European stock or race
in this two-thirds?
If we go on to make such deductions,
and credit only to that two-thirds the