The Irish standard., 1899-01-07

Roman or Latin roots. If later COM
| ing race eXterminated former one, then
| the SaXons must have been exterminated
by the Danes. to say nothing of the Nor
| mans.
History tells us that William, duke of
Normandy, landed at Sussex, and, en-
gaging Harold at the battle of Hastings
Ia Danish name), whipped his army past
| recovery. William, who also bore a title
| not SO complimentary as that of duke,
| was of one-half pure French parentage.
| He was heir to the crown of England by
| the will of Edward the Confessor, whose
| mother was likewise French. Before the
battle the Normans spent the night in
prayer, the Saxons in drinking and ca
rousing brewers History. The Nor
mans did not try to exterminate the peo-
pie, but they were cruel taskmasters.
The English tried every way to extermi-
| nate the Irish, but the Normans only
| robbed and enslaved and civilized the
people they conquered. Numerically
| they were powerful enough to keep the
Saxons in subsection, or the latter were a
stupid, craven people to allow handful
| OF adventurers to rule them. From the
time of William to during the reign of
| Edward the Third, who was the eleventh
Norman ruler, period of 300 years
| elapsed, during which French was the
official language of England. Then Eng
| lish was allowed to be used in the courts.
i English, not Saxon, remember, a new
language formed from British and
| French. The Saxons failed to preserve
| their language, but the French, who were
| conquered by the Norsemen or Danes,
not only preserved theirs, but the Nor
mans quickly adopted their language and
customs. This in the Norsmen's land,
or Normandy The statement sometimes
made that the Saxons absorbed the
Normans will not bear investigation.
The modern English are mixed people,
and the Norman element did more to
make them great than any other. Most
of the great men of England have been
of Norman and Celtic extraction.
Nearly all the landowners of England
are of French descent Most of the Of
fetal positions in church and state are
held by the descendants Of the conquer
ors. Many Of the Norman followers of
William had not a drop of Morse blood
in their veins.
How unfortunate some writer's are in
their quotations! Is Godfrey Chaucer a
Saxon name? Who ever heard of Sax
on Geoffrey? Shakespeare is as French
as the English could get it. 1t is proba-
bly, a corruption of Jacques Pierre, as
Pierpont is of Piers Poinz. Warcham is
probably as French rs de Brougham
Think Of Hugh de Spencer or of Crom-
we'll as Saxon! OF common, everyday
names, how many mentioned in history
are of Saxon origin? Jones and Thomp-
| son never were Saxon. Jones is as Welsh
as Morgan Che name of an acquaintance
who told me he could not speak Eng
lish 20 years ago.. Thompson is Scotch
and English Originally Danish), so far
| as the writer can ascertain, and all the
Smiths and Browns he knows are Irish.
Browne was marquis of Sligo; Smith was
Baron Carrington; Jones was Baron
Ranelagh.
Many of the descendants of those who
bore the above names have not one-
sixteenth portion of English blood left
in their composition. Nelson is a Dan
ish name, Ruskin and kemble are Celtic.
Cecil, Churchill, Bacon, Garrck and
hundreds of others are French. Cowley
or O'Cooley (Wellington's family nance,
Burney and many others are Irish.
Gladstone and Macaulay, Scotch. Where
are the Anglo-Saxons, anyhow? The
greatest SaXons Of modern times were
lrishmen, the Goldsmiths, Joneses Swifts
and others.
writer in your paper, while enlogiz-
ing the Anglo-Saxons, referred to them
as the white-skinned race. At school
we learned that the Caucasian race was
the white-skinned one, and the Anglo
Saxons never comprised more than an
infinitesimal portion of it. Perhaps the
writer did not know that it is almost
universally known that there Is no
whittier skinned race on earth than the
Irish. KNOWN" said. but seldom
mentioned, for to laud people for nat
ural physical characteristics savors of
vulgarity. AS we'll compliment Germans
on their digestive powers, Spaniards on
their small feet, Swedes on good teeth, or
Italians on good noses. At the time of
the Revolution the English admitted that
one-half of the Americans we're Irish by
birth. The only people to disturb that
proportion down to the present day are
the Germans. On that basis there are in
the United States today: 20,0O00 900 Irish
by birth or descent; 100000 Germans,
100000 English, 100000 Scotch
100000 Dutch, 100000 other white
peoples, 100000 blacks, $1,000, 900 total.
If of the seven millions of English
there are three millions of Saxon origin,
1t is a proportion larger than the evil
dences indicate. The Anglo-Saxons arc
heard Of too often. Their spokesmen talk
too much. They appear ridiculous be-
cause of false and foolish claims. Peo-
pie descended from other races who
| sneak tho English f0npIIo ara hocon,;p ,