The Irish standard., 1899-01-07
A CONTRIBUTOR TO 1T WRITES UPON
THE ANGLO-SAXONS.
NOT The FOUNDERS OF CIVILIZATION.
FACTS AND FIGURES WHICH REFCTE
THEIR FALSE CLAIMS.
INSIGNIFICANT MIND RI1Y OF THE RACE.
SOME HISTORICAL INFORMATION FOR
THE ANGLOMANIACS.

The following interesting contribution
on AngloSaxon pretensions recently ap-
peared in Brann's Iconoclast from the
pen of ]. P. Dunn:
The bad result of accrediting the great
achievements of Americans. and the
progress of English-speaking peoples, to
the Anglo-Saxon race seems to be in
creasing among certain writer's and
speakers of the present day. That this
practice is a habit is proved by the care
lessness in making the assertion. That
it is bad habit is patent because Of the
ill taste displayed, and the disregard for
the truths of history evinced by such per-
sons aforesaid. That Americans speak
the English language is due to accidental
causes. The Americans are not Saxons;
| neither do they talk Saxon or Anglo
Saxon. The Anglo-Saxons otherwise
English Saxons, If such a people can be
found), speak English, not Saxon. This
| fact should be remembered. To explain
| an error common to many people when
casually estimating the makeup Of a
nation, another fact should be consid-
but one-tenth to the population of a
| country, still every inhabitant might
| justly claim to be a scion of that race
For instance:
An Englishman Cor woman) came to
! this country 100 years ago. He found
here Swedes, Frenchmen, Dutchmen,
Scotchmen, Spaniards and Irishmen. He
married one of these people, and the de-
scendants of all of them intermarry. At
the present day we find one of his de-
! scendants named Raggio.
care you Of the Anglo-Saxon race, Mr..
Raggio?" someone inquiries.
Certainly, sir" our friend could truth
fully say. II am a descendant of an
Englishman who came to this country
100 years ago, and 1 can boast of having
one-sixteenth English blood in my COM
position, the same amount Of French,
-thirty-second of Swedish and Scotch,
one-eighth Irish, three-sixteenths Span
ish and one-half Italian"
Individuals and peoples of the present
day are the descendants, in almost all
instances, of mixed races. There are few
Teutons or Gaels, still fewer Latins or
| Celts, and probably no unmixed Saxons,
Anglo or otherwise. But number of
narrow-minded individuals who imagine
or pretend to believe that their ancestors
originated in England, have become ha-
bitually afflicted with mania to claim
on every occasion, that all the progress,
! enlightenment and civilization which the
world has enjoyed, or does now or shall
in the future enjoy, is due to the intelli-
gence, virility and nobility of the Anglo
Saxon race! Do scribblers and takers
of this stamp think most people are
fools? Do they imagine no persons other
than themselves read history? Probably
they don't, but probably they believe it
pays to write such trash. The English
are notoriously Observation-Disclosures
and chicanery are their stock in trade.
On the other hand. the Irish (Celt or
GaeD, have ever been noted for their
love of truth and justice. Giraldis Cam
brensis, bitter enemy that he was, tes-
titled to this fact. So did Alfred the
Great, of England, who received his edu-
cation in Ireland. Allow the writer to
give brief synopsis of the various set
Elements Of England:
First came the Celts. King Arthur
was of that race. The Romans con-
| quered them after severe fighting. When
the Roman legions withdrew, the Celts
again resumed authority. The Britons
were converted to Christianity and were
advancing to high state of civilization
when the barbarian Saxons descended
upon their coasts. The Saxons gradually
gained the ascendancy, when they in turn
had to meet new enemy, the Danes.
The Danes and Saxons fought many bat
ties, the Saxons slowly giving way be-
f! fore their enemies. Under Alfred thew
! after the Danes were treacherously mas
! sacred ny the SaXons. SWeyn, king of
Norway, came over the sea, and, utterly
! defeating the saxons, made himself king
OF England After a while the Danes and
saXons compromised matters. Then
| came William the Norman and his
| Frenchmen, who conquered so we'll that
their descendants rule England to this
| day.
So there were four races, not to men
ton the Angles, in England before the
Normans arrived. The Britons, or Celts,
| the Romans, the Saxons and the Danes.
There were Picts and Scots, too. All
these people intcrmarried more or less.
No race was cXterminated. Thousands
of words in the English language are de-
rived from the Celtic tongue. Most
people whose name terminates with
"son" are Of Danish origin, and several