The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-16

tney n6eueu, duu now neou, ieoo
cry OF government than other people
They wanted independence or their
own estates and they wanted not to be
meddied with. This was a hereditary
trait. Mr.. Collier recalls what Tacitus
has TO say about the Saxons Of his time.
For example: @They are the finest Of all
the German tribes, and strive more than
the rest to found their greatness upon
equity Again: "A passionless, firm and
quiet people. they live a solitary life. and
do not stir up wars or harass the country
10y piunder and theft" Once more:
@And. yet they are always ready to a man
10 take up arms, and even to form an army
II the case demand"
MIR. Collier dwells upon a curious proof
OF the abiding. unrelenting purpoes OF
these Saxons to govern themselves and
to be let alone. They we're conquered
In turn by Angles. Danes and Normans,
but they swallowed up all three in the end
and imposed their customs, their language,
their habits of mind and their institutions
upon each of the invaders in turn.
Paradoxical as it may seem at the first
glance. there is much to be said for Mr..
Golfers assertion that the present House
Of Lords itself Is the direct outcome OF
the Saxon's Willingness to leave such
matters to the men OF most leisure and
most wealth. and therefore in all prob
ability to those of most capacity and most
experience in such matters. The House
OF Lords representa- the common sense view
Of government al against the theoretical
view. There Is also some groundwork
Of fact for another paradox of Mr.. Col
lier's. namely, that the House Of Lords
still remains the most democratic insti-
tuition in England. 1T may still claim
for itself to be a Witenagemot, or Gather
ing of Wise Men. and one wonders why it
does not defend itself along that line.
1t is not a house of birth or ancestry, for
it is composed to an overwhelming ex-
tent of successful men from almost every
walk in life There has been no time in
England whom it has been wholly i'm
possible for a man capable Of serving the
State to rise. As a consequence of this
fact there is probably no body OF men in
the world whose members combine such a
variety Of experience and knowledge
among them as the House Of Lords. There
are within 1t one or more representatives
Of every branch of human industry and
professional skill. 1t is obvious enough,
to be sure, that a son may not turn out to
have the same ability as his father. but
it is suggested that il the son Of a Roth
schild has brains enough to keep the money
his father made he must in these days
OF liquid securities be a man OF no small
ability. Mr.. Collier adds that those who
are weddings do not last long in the
hurry burly of the modern world. we
have seen how very few peers are the
male descendants OF houses dating back
any considerable distance. God and
nature turn out the incompetents almost
as quickly as would the electorate. The
chances Of any living man having a male
descendant able to keep what was left
him and also to get more and to beget
equally capable descendants q hundred
years after his time is very small indeed.
1t is the belief OF the author Of this book
that the House Of Lords exists in q coun-
try 30 intensely democratic as is England
because 1t is the most democratic insti-
tuition in England and because in the long
run 1t has been recognized az ar assembly
whose opinion Is as nearly as possible a
CONSENSUS Of the competent. In other
words. the upper chamber represents
what the early Saxonsw were striving to pro-
duce, namely, a government that should
exercise as little government as possible.
that little being exercised by men Of
leisure and capacity.
From the beginning Of their settlement
in Britain the Saxons have taken a hand
in government only when their governors
overstepped the bounds and attempted
to govern with the physical and financial
aid but without the consent Of the gov
erned. Then, over and over again,
against barons or king or whomsoever it
might be, they have arisen and demanded
to lie governed as little as need be and
according to their ancient custom of per-
sonal liberty for all. Constant personal
participation in government, however,
has not been deemed by the Saxons a
necessity Of personal freedom but rather,
indeed, a drag upon It. Mr.. Collier is
inclined to look upon this as the most i'm
portant factor in their wonderful growth
as q nation.
To sum up the purport Of this chapter,
! the expansion Of England into ar empire,
as our author views it, has grown as
naturally and as surely out Of this love
for land and personal liberty as the
first settlement Of England by the Sa1ons
grew out OF this same desire. The Saxon
plain on the Continent was crowded
That, as we have said, is why some Of its
inhabitants followed the Jutes on one OF
the latter's excursions to England. Find
ing that the Saxons settled peaceably and
, industriously on the lane Inc acted as a
: buffer State between their own settle
ments and the rowing Britons, the Jutes
, induced still more SaKons to come over
and more came, and then more and more,
until they became the predominant fac
, tor in the settlement of Britain. Our au-
thor points out that these migrating Sax
ons were not, as is often ~erroneously
asserted, OF the fighting, marauding,
restless breed OF the piratical races which
! from time to time ravaged the coasts Of
, both what is now England and what is
now France. On the contrary, the Saxone
we're not a warlike people. 81 res poscat,
writes Tacitus of them. III it is worth
while they fight. but they fought not, az
did the iercer tribes. merely for the love Of
fighting. They were not n their de-
~scendants are not a quarrelsome race. 1t
Ia often said. indeed, that England is
always fighting somewhere, but most OF
the wars are defensive; they are prompted
by a desire to protect dependent popula-
tions In the possession OF their land.