The Viking Age Vol.2 (of 2) (Illustrations)

Book excerpt: While studying the progress made in the colonisation of different parts of the world by European nations, I have often asked myself the following questions:— How is it that over every region of the globe the spread of the English-speaking people and of their language far exceeds that of all the other European nations combined? Why is it that, wherever the English-speaking people have settled, or are at this day found, even in small numbers, they are far more energetic, daring, adventurous, and prosperous, and understand the art of self-government and of ruling alien peoples far better than other colonising nations? Whence do the English-speaking communities derive the remarkable energy they possess; for the people of Britain when invaded by the Romans did not show any such quality? What are the causes which have made the English such a pre-eminently seafaring people? for without such a characteristic they could not have been the founders of so many states and colonies speaking the English tongue! In studying the history of the world we find that all the nations which have risen to high power and widespread dominion have been founded by men endowed with great, I may say terrible, energy; extreme bravery and the love of conquest being the most prominent traits of their character. The mighty sword with all its evils has thus far always proved a great engine of civilisation. To get a satisfactory answer to the above questions we must go far back, and study the history of the race who settled in Britain during and after the Roman occupation. We shall thus find why their descendants are to-day so brave, successful, energetic and prosperous in the lands which they have colonised; and why they are so pre-eminently skilled in the art of self-government. We find that a long stretch of coast is not sufficient, though necessary, to make the population of a country a seafaring nation. When the Romans invaded Britain, the Brits had no fleet to oppose them. We do not until a later period meet with that love of the sea which is so characteristically English:—not before the gradual absorption of the earlier inhabitants by a blue-eyed and yellow-haired seafaring people who succeeded in planting themselves and their language in the country. To the numerous warlike and ocean-loving tribes of the North, the ancestors of the English-speaking people, we must look for the transformation that took place in Britain. In their descendants we recognise to this day many of the very same traits of character which these old Northmen possessed, as will be seen on the perusal of this work. Britain, after a continuous immigration which lasted several hundred years, became the most powerful colony of the Northern tribes, several of the chiefs of the latter claiming to own a great part of England in the seventh and eighth centuries. At last the time came when the land of the emigrants waxed more powerful, more populous than the mother-country, and asserted her independence; and to-day the people of England, as they look over the broad Atlantic, may discern a similar process which is taking place in the New World. The impartial mind which rises above the prejudice of nationality must acknowledge that no country will leave a more glorious impress upon the history of the world than England. Her work cannot be undone; should she to-day sink beneath the seas which bathe her shores, her record will for ever stand brilliantly illuminated on the page of history. The great states which she has founded, which have inherited her tongue, and which are destined to play a most important part in the future of civilisation, will be witnesses of the mighty work she has accomplished. They will look back with pride to the progenitors of their race who lived in the glorious and never-to-be-forgotten countries of the North, the birthplace of a new epoch in the history of mankind. To be continue in this ebook...