Greater England. Being a brief historical sketch of the various possessions of Her Majesty, the Empress Queen, etc

Front matter

§mt0 a §rwf Historical Sketch of THE VARIOUS POSSESSIONS OF HER MAJESTY, THE EMPRESS QUEEN", IN Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Oceania. BY J. FREDERICK HODGETTS^ Late Professor and Crown Examiner at Moscow. Author of ' Older England/ * The English inthe Middle Ages,' 'The Champion of Odin,' Lectures on Anglo-Saxon Dress and Hahits, Food and Dv:ellingst etc., etc., etc. LONDON HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY. 1887. LONDON: Printed by Straxqewats and Sons, lower St., Cambridge Circua. TO Cfje 9@ost J£)on. t&e of lorne, 1&.C. THIS WOEK IS DEDICATED, AS A SLIGHT MARK OE EESPECT AND ESTEEM BY THE ATJTHOB.

Preface

. The object of the following pages is to give a kind of collective historical view of the Colonial possessions of Her Majesty the Queen (plus the great Anglian population of the United States), and to consider the whole as one great English-speaking nation, whose unification is already almost complete, and whose disruption would be the greatest misfortune that could befall mankind. In Germany we have recently seen the results of union from one point of view. Several minor king doms, speaking the same language and animated by one idea, have formed together the most splendid Empire of modern times. The little Electorate of Brandenburg has advanced, within a short and present day experience, to the glorious position of arbitrator among nations. There is no dread of war when Germany says 'Peace.' In our case the countries to be united are free States, not only speaking one language, but animated Preface.

VIII by the same ideas respecting the right of man to perfect freedom, both in religious and in civil matters. This peculiar bent of mind I have ventured to indicate by the expression, 'Anglian Thought;' and I have endeavoured in these pages to trace its origin and history, and to show that in forming a grand whole of all the countries where this thought prevails, we should be doing what the brave old Ger man Emperor has done, only in a different way, and upon very different lines. The outcome of this union would be peace ; for such a grand confederation would minimise the possi bility of war as much as any scheme could do it. And if a war must come, the natural alliance of thought, and speech, and blood is there already in over whelming force. I have consulted all the authorities within my reach when treating of our separate Colonies, and freely taken from them such facts as bear upon my views on this important question.

As a traveller in many lands I have myself gained something from personal experience in the countries I refer to, but it has fallen outside the scope of the work itself to refer to that experience very specially. Nor has it come within my plan to give the results of many years of service in Prussia and in Russia. Preface. IX The result of German union has been most startling in the improvements in her arts and manufactures. "When I was living at Berlin (from 1858 to 1866) various articles in almost every branch of human in dustry were reckoned twice as valuable, at least, if bearing the stamp of English workmanship. Many un principled German manufacturers even went so far as to put names of English makers on their goods. "When passing through Berlin on my return from Russia in 1883, I had the curiosity to go to several shops which still remained much as they were in my time, but still I found a change had taken place.

The price of German goods was somewhat raised, the quality was much im proved, and all were marked with German stamps. And in the very shop where I had paid four thalers for an English pocket-knife a quarter of a century before, the shopman was surprised to hear a person asking for an English knife at all. ' Why,' he said, ' we export knives now; we don't import them as my father used to do.' Twenty-five years had scarcely passed, and yet within that time the change had been immense. Much of the improvement that I saw upon revisit ing Berlin must be attributed to the new sense of con fidence and of superiority given to the Germans hy their success in the last war, and this success was Preface. X clearly due to the prompt action of united Germany against the common foe. It is a short-sighted policy that would confine the attention of the wisdom of our nation to what is wanting for the welfare of this island, which, in comparison with what is claimed by our vast pro geny forming the Greater England, is now a very 'Little Britain.' I want to see the plan which the late Prince Consort first conceived, of having such an empire as I have endeavoured, though very feebly, to mark out, thoroughly established.

The modus ope rands by which a widely-scattered state like 'Anglia' could be directed and administered, without infringing on the liberty of any individual portion of the whole, is not a very difficult or abstract problem, but it is one which should be left to statesmen for solution. The experiment is well worth trying, and its success would prove that an alliance so national and so extensive, founded in peace and love, would be far stronger even than the German Empire, and far more beneficial in its influence on trade and industry. The fleets of Anglia would put a girdle round the world which could not very well be loosened, while in these days of electricity and steam there should be no more difficulty in communication with the farthest thread of this enormous network than there is now Preface.

XI in flashing messages from "Windsor up to Downing Street. As a prominent portion of this mighty subject is the consideration of the aborigines of Africa and other portions of the globe where we have settlements, I have devoted many of these pages to the consideration of the mode of life and habits of such races as we call savage. And here I must return my very warmest thanks to Dr. Bond and other officers of the British Museum, for their extreme kindness and great readi ness in assisting me, by facilitating my use of the grand Ethnological Collection there preserved under the special care of Mr. Franks. I have preferred to give a list of the books I have consulted while preparing this work to men tioning them constantly in footnotes at the bottom of the page, which is a practice that in the opinion of many readers greatly disfigures a book.

I only claim originality in the view I take of our Asiatic possessions, and of their value to the world and to ourselves. Fifteen years' residence in Russia has convinced me that, although some of the pessimist ideas of our alarmists are unfounded as to immediate danger from the North, the Duke of "Wellington was right in saying that 'from thence our future enemy would Preface. XII come.' And hence it is important for us to render all attacks of hostile powers impossible by union which is strength. My friend Professor Ruskin, who has already in another place* expressed his sympathy with me and with the strong feeling which has impelled me to search out the moving cause of what we have good and noble in us among the records of our Scandinavian past, writes me a letter in answer to my request that he would send me a few words by way of preface.

Short as the letter is, it is so strongly to the point that I have yielded to the wish of other friends, and have printed it as an introduction by a great man to the public of a writer whose name has been too short a time before them to ensure success or even a kind hearing. * Lectures at Oxford on ' The Pleasures of Learning,' 1884. Braxtwood, Coniston, Lancashire. 23rd Feb., '87. Dear Mr. Hodgetts, I rejoice to hear of your being at work on this lovely subject, but cannot myself write a word on any subject, now, that touches my sense of incurable ignorance. And I am ignorant beyond hope of any cure of the nature of what you call 'Anglian Thought.' But I have the deepest respect for your many-branched historic learning, and deep and warm sympathy with your generous enthusiasm ; and I am sure (if my surety be of any weight with publisher or public) that whatever you record of the past or recommend to the future will be faithful, delightful, and wise.

Ever affectionately yours, JOHN RUSKIN. List of Works consulted during the preparation of the following pages. Africa. Gruar Fortes. London, 1874. 8vo. Anglo-Saxons, History of. By Sharon Turner. Second Edition. Edinburgh, 1807. Two vols. 4to. Cæsar de Bello Gailico. London, 1860. 8vo. Ceylon in 1883. J.Ferguson. London, 1833. 8vo. Confederation of the British North American United Provinces. Thomas Rawlings. London, 1865. 8vo. Eddalæren. Finn Magnussen. Copenhagen, 1812. Four vols. 4to. Edda, Sæmund's. Grundtvig. Copenhagen, 1874. 8vo. Edda, Snorri Sturluson's. Th. Jonssons. Copenhagen, 1875. 8vo. Encyclopædia Britannica. English Encyclopædia. Charles Knight. Establishment of British Rule in India. Sir George Cox. London, 1881. 8vo. Ettmiiller's Altnordisches Lesebuch. (A collection of IS orse Sagas in Icelandic.)

Zurich, 1861. 4to. Histojre des Aventuriers. Œxmelin. Paris, 1688. 12mo. Life on the Niger. William Cole. London, 1862. 8vo. Mallet's Northern Antiquities. London, 1874. 8vo. Max Miiller 's Lectures on Science of Language. London, 1885. Two vols. 8vo. Oceana. J. A, Froude. London, 1886. 8vo. Older England. J. F. Hodgetts. London, 1834. Two vols. 8vo. Tacitus. London, 1861. Two vols. 8vo. Thorabury's Monarchs of the Main. William of Malmsbuiy (Chronicle). London, 1876. 8vo. Wright's Manners and Customs of the English in the Middle Ages. London, 1840. 8vo. Zee Roovers Esquemeling. Amsterdam, 1684. 4to. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface ........ vii

Chapter I

Little Britain ........ 1 Account of the opinion formed of the aborigines by the English on their taking possession of Britain. — Hatred of tyranny, and especially of Piome. — Assumption of Romance manners and language by the Normans, and consequent hatred between the English and them. — Continual struggle between the descendants of the old Scandinavian English and those of Eome.

Chapter II

North America ....... 44 Discovery of America by the Scandinavians in the tenth and eleventh centuries. — English discoveries in 1497, Spanish discoveries in 1492, in the West Indies. — Columbus independent of the Norsemen. — Continued struggle between ourselves and Eomance races in America resulting in European war and English victory.

Chapter VII

Ceylon 288 Battle of the races continued. — The Dutch our enemies as well as the Portuguese and French. — Final occupation of the island by the English. — Descendants of the Portuguese black, a circumstance militating against Darwin's theory. — The cause considered. — Buddhism, devil worship, and Christianity. — Ferguson's work quoted. — Possible future value of Ceylon to the English race.

Chapter I. Little Britain

Macatjlay was quite right when he said that ' nothing in the early history of Britain gave promise of her future glory.' He was quite right if he only regarded the dwellers on the soil, just before the advent of the Romans, as Britons. He was quite wrong if he confounded ms with Britons. The Britons never were great. They had none of the elements of greatness in them. A more miserable set of despicable savages never disgraced the earth. Macaulay's other friend, the 2sew Zealander, in his tattooed and savage state, with somebody else's thigh-bone as an ornament and a collar of shark's teeth by way of costume, was a gentleman compared to the disgusting brute described by Cæsar as a Briton ! I hold that a nation may be judged by the manner in which their women are treated. The Australian savage dies out because he has fallen so low as to iil- B use his poor, wretched gin, whom he glories in beating and degrading.

The New Zealander was a warrior, and could afford to treat his wife or wives with respect, but the debased brute described by Cæsar was, in his treatment of women, such a despicable rascal that the modern pen, hard though it be, would refuse to chro nicle his foulness. Yet we get mixed about Britons, and English people pride themselves on being des cended from those whom Cæsar describes with indig nation and contempt. As Macaulay further remarks: 'Britain was the last of Rome's conquests and the first of her conquests to be laid aside.' Quite true, but of no interest to us as Englishmen who never — thank God! — stooped to take directly from the Romans either a word of their language or the faintest tinge of their manners, until the Church of Rome spread over all the then known world and imparted to us some of her influence, but not until two centuries had passed, seeing us masters of the British soil which had become England.

These wretched savages were always quarrelling amongst themselves, but were unable to face a foe, and when the Romans left them they began to whine for their conquerors to come back and help them against the Scots (who seem to have been in every respect a superior race) and the Picts. Having been taught to call ourselves Britons be cause we were born on the island formerly called Britain (as if a man must be a horse because he was born in a stable !), we have grown to be ashamed of the accounts brought down to us by the muse of history of those who are thus taken to be our ancestors, and, instead of reading the truth on her pages, we try to make her authorities in the wrong when they say disagreeable things of Britons. We say that the account given by Gildas is fictitious, that William of Malms bury knew nothing about the British race, that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was biassed in some way or other, that the Venerable Bede was an old woman, and Alfred the Great a copyist ; that the Brut is a mere translation of one-sided fiction, and those dear, good Britons, our respected progenitors, were maligned!

But Cæsar was not the man to have been biassed. It would not have paid anybody to suggest to him to ■abuse the Britons in his Commentaries ' for the sake of nnborn millions ! ' Nor had he any interested motives for painting the Britons of a deeper dye than their •own woad could produce. I have, before writing this little book, devoted years to the patient study of Nennius, Gildas, William of Malmsbury, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Layamon's Brut, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Cæsar's Commentaries, Tacitus (Hist. Germ.), Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, and other books bearing on this important ■question ; and the result of much groping in the works of ancient writers is the conviction that whether some of these are improperly influenced by their partial feelings or not, they all agree in one point, which is that, of all the people subdued by the Romans, the- Britons were the lowest and most degraded.

That they were unable to cope with the warrior Scots (Irishmen they should be called properly) and Picts, there is absolutely no reason whatever to doubt ; that they called in the help of the Scandinavian Teutons, there is no ground whatever to disbelieve ; and that such heroes as Hengist and Horsa really existed, although doubted, has never been disproved. I have brought forward some evidence on this point in the Antiquary, in a series of papers on ' The Scandina vian Elements in English History,' published last year. There was amongst the Scandinavians a small tribe of warriors, whose local habitation was in the obscure district near Sleswig Holstein in Denmark, called Angeln. These people called themselves generically Danes, but specifically Angelsk - men, or men of: Angeln. The pronunciation of sk in Scandinavian languages, under certain circumstances, resembles the English sh.

The word in question would be pro nounced Angelskman or Angelsh-man ; the true adjective form would become -Ængelisk - man, pro nounced Engelish-man, which is our name to-day, as it was in the fifth century. We came from Angeln, and, according to Scandi navian custom, brought with us a handful of English earth on the brow of each dragon-ship, and a heartful -of the legendary lore of Thor, Odin, Baldur, and Val halla, in the memory of each man. We brought ourscalds to sing our praises and to keep us in mind of the dear old saga literature of our youth, and, more than all, we brought our wives and households with us, for we were good husbands in those days, and loved and honoured woman as something nearer to the gods than we. Her words were often inspired and always respected. So we brought wife, priestess, vala (or pro phetess) to Britain.

There we found the ' land good, out the men beyond all measure vile, mean, base, and •cowardly.' They had small swords, or daggers, made of bronze to imitate the Roman gladius, but we bore with us such a sword as had laid Rome's legions low. We asked the Briton where his foe was lurking, and inarched against this enemy, whom we soon routed. The Britons were delighted, but despised us be cause, forsooth, they were baptized and we were not ! They were good Christians ! but we did not like the •creed. Ours pleased us better. Odin was Allfather; Le would reward the faithful, and we were faithful death. We knew that in his mead-hall we should quaff the golden mead in gold-tipped drinking horns, while the sage song-god Brage1 would sing the praise of Odin and ourselves until the last day came, when heaven and earth should pass away to be succeeded by a new, resplendent, eternal heaven, called Gimle the ■Golden, and that should never pass away.

Aye ! we were Danes — spear bearing, shield cleav ing, fighting Danes ; and these poor, crawling cowards •dared despise us — us, who were champions of Odin Who were they, with their pale Roman gods— their Peter, Paul, James, John, and others such ? No, our gods were warriors, not puling monks with all their hair shorn close, with neither sword, nor lance, nor helmet ! Gods, quotha ? We have fought with aborigines like these (only not quite so sunk in vice and lost to decency) — fought during fourteen centuries, and it has ever been the same old story. Down with the Welsh (for so we called. a foreigner of Roman stock in those old days), up with the English flag ! We called them Welsh, and they in turn dubbed us all ' Sassenach,' meaning a foreigner, a word which be came applied to all those Germans living near the Gauls, while the term ' Welsh ' is used by us for men of Wales, and by the Germans for the men of Rome. * Sassenach,' reduced to ' Saxon,' is used in speaking of the dwellers in a certain part of Germany, and by the Welsh in speaking of us.

The Britons could not keep their land against the Picts, who were half-naked savages, but very brave. How could they keep it, then, against such men as we ? No, they went down. We drove them out, and soon our matrons formed a brighter Angeln in the corner of the island that we took. The Britons threatened us with curses from their priests, and then we laughed and raised gigantic stones to Odin — stones that he loved,. set up in such grand circles as those we had at home. Soon Scandinavia lived again in Britain. The sacrifice to Thor and Odin smoked where formerly a Christian temple stood, and we were merry. We quaffed the golden mead, the rich brown ale, and slew the Britons. We had a store of learning with us. The scalds brought legends of our ancient home, of mighty gods, of deeds that we had done ; and we were lords of Britain, which we divided, as time wore on, among the various kindred tribes that joined us — all sons of Odin, children of the sword.

Gildas, a monk of British blood, who saw us still advancing in our pagan pride, waging a devastating war upon his kinsmen, reproaches them with having made no effort to Christianise their foes. He pours out lamentable groans upon their many vices, and adds to these the vice of want of charity in not approaching nearer to the English and making them, too, Christians. This would be very much as though some well intentioned Maori should have endeavoured* to convert to his belief an English Governor, say, Sir George Grey, for instance, who in his kind benevolence of heart has done so much to make New Zealand love him. That would be too much for even him. And just as difficult — nay, more so — would it be to think of Scandinavian warriors listening to men whom they despised for want of valour, the chief and greatest good in their Odinic code !

We talk of our forefathers at the present day in the most vague and contradictory way. We glory in King Arthur, who was the enemy of our race. Grant him a brave and able warrior, but he was no more an Englishman than Tippoo Sahib or Napoleon Bonaparte. Then when King Alfred comes upon the scene — the greatest man, or one of them, our race has yet pro duced — we call him Anglo-Saxon! He called his people and his language English, and surely he must have known what he was doing when he employed the Words ! We seem to have taken to the name of Briton because the first inhabitants of England were called by it, and yet we grow more inconsistent when the Normans come and take from us what we had taken from the Britons ! Many a turncoat Englishman in these degenerate days boasts of his Norman blood as though (even if he possessed it, which he does not) it were a thing to boast of.

Some men claim to be •Saxon,' but few have cared to know that they are really English. One of the old Odinic laws forbade the champions of the faith to marry with the daughters of another race. The priestess, vala, wife, was worshipped as a demi-goddess. With her the right lay to divorce her husband should he prove Nithing, that is, mean, or base, or cowardly. These women did not wield the sword, but they inspired the warriors, who for their praise would 'rush on death, and laugh, and die.' There was no foe they feared, but all feared them. Even the legions of proud Rome, at the first sight they had of Gothic warriors, laid down their arms and fled. Marius could never bring them to the charge until he hit upon the plan of forming an encampment, by which his men might grow accustomed to the eagle wings, chain mail, and frightful battle-axes wielded by men of giant size, taller than our Life guardsmen.

These men, against whose spear and sword the armoured ranks of Rome herself formed no defence, these warriors who ' laughed at death, and died,' were courteous and gentle to their women, whom they believed to be the best and purest on the earth. Before their women they were most respectful, holding them in awe as well as love, and something of their spirit has, I am very proud to feel, come down to us. And would these women let their sons wed with Britons? Compare the high-souled English with the Britons Cæsar paints. Compare their Anglian thoughts with the gross impurity of thought and manners in the Arthurian cycle of later British legends, and then say which is the prouder title, Englishman or Briton. The fact seems very clear to me that, being re tentive of their ancient customs, the English were as English here in Britain as they had been at home in Angeln or any part of Scandinavia.

They were con servatives, and their old customs have most of them come down to us. Some of these, though pagan as can be, have even been called Christian. So little do we know either of our history or ourselves. The faith which we brought with us has not quite died out, in consequence of. this conservatism. We call the days that form our week precisely as we called them fifteen hundred years ago, and even the Church of Rome, with all the power she possessed, could not effect the simple change of having Sunday christened the Lord's Day, though this was tried in the eighth century. These names are those of seven Pagan gods : Bal dur (the sun) ; Mani (the moon) ; Tys, a youthful warrior ; Odin, the god of wisdom ; Thor, the god of war, whose province is to slay the giants ; Freya, the goddess of domestic bliss ; and Surtur, the destroyer.

The sequence of these seven days is full of mystic teaching, and it is very curious that something of this teaching should have been seen by Shakespeare, the greatest and most English Englishman of all the glorious workers in the glorious field of English literature. The myth of our week (which I treated more at length in a paper read before the British Arch æological Association some years ago) is briefly as follows : — Man, the sun-child, the offspring of the gods, is born into the recipiency of all delight. The earliest age is one of bliss and perfection ; the numeral one is divine. It means Odin, as his name means one. And as he is the leader of the gods, the ordinal is ' First ' (cognate with German Fiirst), a leader or a prince. Born into the world, the sun-child requires tuition, §o he is placed under the tutelage of the warrior Mani, whose badge is a white shield (the moon).

He rules the tides, marshals the months, and, being lord of the sea, is, on account of the emblematical value of water (meaning external knowledge which has not yet be come actual wisdom) the fitting guide to bring youth forwards on the onward course. The number two means the first separation of the two primal elements, goodness and truth, or love and wisdom. Therefore, Mani rules the second day. When the young soldier has achieved some deed which may procure him entrance to the Ting, or meet ing-place of warriors, he comes directly under the protection of the youthful god called Tys, or Tyr. And here it may be noticed that Tyr is the first of the Valhalla group whose name is given, the former days being indicated merely by the attributes of the respec tive gods. And three means what is most divine.

The holy three is always predicated of the gods as Odin, Villi, and Ve. Henceforward the young warrior becomes one of those who may wear the blood-red camb (or kamb, or comb) upon his leathern hat or cap, which dubs him kæmber (pronounced chemper), or wearer of the comb, whence our word champion and the Latin cambri. Then comes the fourth and most important day or state, middle life, which Odin guards for himself as his own special day, hence our Wednesday. The champion now may wear the eagle's wings bound to the iron or gold ring that forms the base of Odin's helm, which is a leathern cap surrounded by a ring, and further guarded by two half rings of iron crossing each Other at the apex, and permitting the purple coloured cap to be discerned below. This is the prototype of our imperial crown, which is more English than men generally think.

Upon this day once every year the mystery of Odin's Ash Yggdrassill is explained. On this Ash Wednesday, the myth of the tree which is the Cosmos is expounded. It has nine roots reach ing to nine inferior worlds, each one of which is gnawed at by a serpent ; the mighty trunk, whose wood forms Odin's spearshaft, pierces the circular disc called middle-earth, which is the place where men abide. Here in the centre, near the tree, the earth is green and lovely ; beyond, the waters flow named Eilivagr, or the ocean, where the monster serpent, one of Loke's progeny, is cast, holding his tail between his jaws, forming the mystic ring to keep the world together. Beyond the waves of Eilivagr are the hills of ice, the terrible abode of giants, foes of the gods and men. Returning to the centre of the plane of earth, the mighty stem of Yggdrassill, we come to where a mountain rises, called Valhalla.

Upon this mountain Odin sits enthroned ; upon each shoulder sits a mystic Taven. One is called Hugin and the other Munin, meaning respectively the memory and the mind. A squirrel, Rattatosk, runs up and down the tree, bearing to Odin news of what is done below amongst the mortals. There is a plain below this mountain called Idavollr, where the gods and champions chosen from the battlefield meet and practice warlike games, and round the plain twelve gleaming dwellings are arranged, in each of which some god or goddess dwells, their homes to gether forming Asgard, or the dwelling of the Æsir. A rainbow forms the bridge between Valhalla and the earth, and is continued downwards to the nine roots of Yggdrassill, forming the nine worlds which are the ' lower earth,' and this is under the control of Hela, another of the progeny of Loke, the calumniator of the gods.

Here flock all cowards, all adulterers, all liars, all who die a peaceful death, without the wound upon the breast that stamps them sons of Odin. Her name still lives among us as the abode of evil spirits rather than a person, but it is the word. Four is the square of two, the reunion of what had been severed, making a perfect number ; hence Odin is perfection. He is maturity, he is manhood deified, wise beyond all conception : so the fourth day is his. Thursday is corrupted from the old word Thun resday, or Thunder's Day, meaning the Day of Thun der, the Day of Thor, the god of battles, who also is the god of thunder. When man has reached maturity he is assailed by various desires and cravings, which he must subdue. The first of these is a grim giantess, by name, ' The Love of Gold.' She must be quelled, with others of her kin, who, as a step in their assault upon the gods, attack poor mortals on the middle-earth ; these would be swallowed up and lost but for the aid of Thor, who rushes to the rescue.