UNIVERSITY COURIER.
11
advance beyond this, stronger ties are needful to bind society together.
Republican government never has been successful when applied to a nation already developed. France has tried it, at one time a government, than which no other in Europe appeared more firmly established, and after ninety years of revolutions without liberty, her destinies are still hanging in the balance. After civil wars and multiplied experiments in republican institutions, who shall venture to forecast her political future?
The fame of democratic Athens has filled the world, but this was only the case of a single brilliant city. a fit comparison to a great country like this or England. Her renown is the product of a single century, and all her wisdom and glory did not prevent her premature decay.
The rapid progress of this country is sometimes attributed to her government, but it is not wholly true, and if it were, that would not prove a similar advancement inconsistent with other forms. Our national growth is due to the favorable surroundings, climate, fertility of soil, and natural resources. With these advantages it would be surprising had we not made remarkable improvement. But as the country becomes more thickly settled, and the resources more thoroughly developed, the struggles for superiority between man and man will increase, and the looseness of our governmental ties will add bitterness to the conflict.
In conclusion, republicanism is ideal, not practical. It has been supported this evening upon the supposition that character is universal among men, in which case any form of government would be superfluous. But the people live, and our object is to secure for them their rights and liberty, the highest human conception of which is loyalty to law.
GENIUS OF ENGLISH NATIONALITY.
Contest Oration by F. D.Hutchings, Oread Society.
Along the shores of the Black and Caspian Seas lived the Aryan race centuries before the birth of Christ. As by the natural increase the country became too thickly inhabited the stronger seized the lands of the weaker leaving them the alternative of finding other habitations or perishing. According to Herodotus in the seventh century before Christ, we find the Scythians, one branch of this people, crossing the Araxes, invading the country of the Kimmerians and for the first time in history appearing in Europe. Arriving in what is now Southern Russia, they ceased from their wanderings and settled down. Soon joined by others of the same nation they so prospered in their new homes that Darius, King of Persia, in the sixth century B.C., considered them of sufficient importance to attempt their subjugation, his victorious career receiving its first marked check. At this time the Scythians appear to have been a hardy bold people, very barbarous in many of their customs, but still possessing remarkable qualities for an uncivilized community. Eschylus calls them the well governed nation; Homer says the Scythians are the most just of men. It is thus that our Saxon ancestors are first introduced upon the historic stage. Here in the very infancy of the nation we have indications of what may be called the genius of the race, social justice, the natural accompaniment of personal freedom. This glimpse given by the Greek writers is the only reference to them in history till Eutropius speaks of the Saxon
pirates swooping down from their homes along the North Sea upon the sunny fields of France. From that time, till the conquering multitudes under Charlemagne swept over their country, the records of their valorous deeds are found in the annals of the chronicler and the songs and ballads of nearly every nation.
While the Goths, their neighbors and kinsmen, were gathering strength and discipline preparatory to moving down in a living avalanche under Alaric, on the tottering Roman Empire, the Saxons cultivated their naval power, and like the uncertain 'will o' the wisp' they danced over the sea plying their piratical trade. During one of these expeditions a small band, either driven by storm or attracted by chance of booty, landed on the shores of England. Their arrival was timely for the British king, who immediately employed them against the Picts and Scots, then threatening his kingdom. Success crowned their efforts. More of their countrymen were invited over and in a short time their strength was sufficient to arouse the jealousy of the natives. An unsuccessful attempt was made to expel them, when the Saxons, making peace with the Scots, turned their victorious arms against their former friends and, after a brief struggle, succeeded in effecting a permanent settlement. From that moment the fate of the Britons was sealed. They were assailed by the intruders with all the doggedness that has characterized the race since and slowly but surely driven back, their lands occupied and those unfortunate enough to become prisoners reduced to slavery.
But the Saxon occupation of the country was not destined to be undisputed. The Danes or Northmen soon appeared and for the next 300 years the contest was waged with varying success, for a short period the Danes securing complete possession of the country. In 1066 the Saxons were at last subdued by the Normans and compelled to undergo the indignities that always fall to the lot of the weaker in a semi-barbarous age.
In tracing the course of the Saxons thus far there has always been an element of uncertainty, owing to the lack of reliable authorities, but from this time uncertainty ceases. We may follow the progress of freedom, from its then obscure beginnings to its present perfection, as we can watch the budding and blooming of a rare flower. Freedom is indigenous to Saxon soil. From their Scythian ancestors, years before the humble Galilean spoke to the world, down the cycling ages, across continents and seas, it was brought and planted on the British Isle to bloom and blossom in a southern profusion.
The Normans by physical strength conquered the Saxons, but their spirit was as undaunted as when they roved the sea fearless and free as the wind. It bent beneath the load of a tyrant but never broke. Such a people could not be subdued and as the lapsing years shrouded the remembrance of their defeat in oblivion the old haired died out between the races. The conqueror and conquered met on the soil that was holy to them both—the land of their homes. In defense of a principle dear to all men—liberty. In that hour, fraught with endless good or endless evil for mankind, the Norman gladly accepted the Saxon as his equal. The Saxon forgot the injuries of the past and hand in hand with his subjugator of a century back sought but for the good of the future. In that moment not as Saxon or Norman but as Englishmen they maintained their rights,