The Oskaloosa herald., 1903-03-05
THE WINNING GRAFTON
Anglo-Saxon Supremacy by Roy
Talley, of Simson.

Following is the full text OF "Anglo-
Saxon Supremacy by Roy Talley,
OF Simpson college, which won first
honors in the intercollegiate State
Oratorical contest Friday night:
Character in national life is heredi-
tary. A nation that stands for a prin-
ciple today will not suddenly abandon
that principle tomorrow. Spasmodic
upheayals Of society may change the
form of constitutions, but transforms
ton in the character of a people is
the result of a long period of mould
ing influence. The United States
freed its slaves with m stroke Of Lin
coins pen, but the sentiment against
slavery had been growing for genera
tions. The cruelty and blood-thirsti-
ness of the French, revealed by their
revolution, was not so much the work
of the Reign of Terror as the result
of centuries of tyranny and OPP
preston. True it is that the scars
of oppression remain for centuries;
equally true that the blessings of lib
erty endure for ages. A people born
in the atmosphere of freedom, Graded
in the arms of democracy, and reared
under the precepts of civil liberty
will never endure the hand Of a
tyrant. This is the heritage Of the
Anglo-Saxon.
The primitive Saxon is a native of
Schleswig. Here he lived in simple
freedom. No king was recognized, no
lord was honored. Government was
representative in form and the will of
the majority was law. When Schles-
wig became too small for the Saxon
he emigrated to England, driving
back the Celts. Soon the Angles
came. and settling near, instituted a
feudal government. The Saxon spirit
of democracy quietly dominated the
feudalistic tendency of the Angles and
the two peoples were united IN a
representative government. In this
amalgamation, Saxon principles n
customs prevailed. The two nations
had become one.
The Saxon had adhered to his early
customs with the greatest tenacity,
When his country vas devastated by
the Danes, he chung to his old govern
mental principles. Danish and Saxon
blood. once mingled on the battlefield,
in later years blended in race amalga-
nation and the Saxon ruled. When
the Norman victory wrested the scep-
ter from Harold all seemed to be lost;
but again the superiority of the
Saxon asserted itself, and the VIC
tory won in years of peaceful amalga-
nation greatly surpassed the victory
at Hastings, and still the Saxon ruled.
Civil liberty has ever been the
coveted goal of the Saxon. From his
earliest history he has never allowed
that ideal to pass from view. Eng
fish soil has been consecrated with
the blood of loyal Saxons that their
old liberty might not perish from the
earth. This spirit Of liberty mani
tested itself in the demand for the
Magma Charta and in the English
revolution. The same spirit, moulded
and changed by the varying condi-
tions of national life has given us
modern England.
Love of personal freedom is an
inherent principle of the Saxon and
his greatest sacrifices have been made
for it. He has defended it as his
sacred right. When Monarchy and
Feudalism contended for mastery,
and the English peasant was ground
down by the double burden of royal
tribute on the one hand and military
service on the other. the oppressed
Saxon grew rebellious and his love
for liberty increased. Love for per-
sonal freedom was even greater than
love for country, and many preferred
Americas wilderness to the Cypress
ion of England. Only after years Of
carnage and conflict was the safety
of Anglican liberty assured.
Another great factor in the po-
tency of the Anglo-Saxon is his power
of assimilation. He rapidly incor-
porates the foreigner into his body
polite. In this assimilation the
essential element Is the Saxon home
the unit of statehood. The Norman
and the Dane were conquered by the
beautiful simplicity of the Saxon
home-life. To them. home and native
land was a distinctive spot and a
particular part of the country, but
to the Saxon. home was any place
where he could enjoy the blessings
of liberty and the companionship of
loved ones. Through this agency the
Saxon is carrying his freedom and
civilization to all countries. 1t is not
so much to the glory of the Saxon
that his arms have been victorious
on land and sea; not so much that
his territory is the greatest; but that
wherever his arms have conquered he
has given his free institutions, and
above all his own ons and daughters
as colonists. The Saxon home has
followed every conquest and acquisi-
tion of territory. Australia, New
Zealand, and the islands of the sea
under Anglican rule are an England
or an America in miniature.
Christianity is another great factor
in Saxon domination. Born on Jud-
can hills it was carrieu to England
by the perfected machinery of Roman
government. But when the church
degenerated into Journalism, and sub
stituted civic for spiritual power to
dominate the consciences of men,
the Saxon threw off the Papal auth
ority and joined his Teutonic brothers
in the Reformation. But in the
sixteenth century Journalism hal
triumphed over the work of the Re-
formation. In its journalistic ten
dency Professionalism became the rival
of Romanism. At the critical period