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248 248 H. W. SCOTT. Thus the framework of our own institutions is Teutonic, inherited by us or descended to us through England. Roman influence in Britain left little behind it ; but the Englishman, who came at the end of Roman dominion, remains an Englishman. It is one of the results of the fact that the land to which our ancestors came remains an island, immune from attack by the greater forces of the Continent. Because Britain is an island, Teutonic institutions took root there, and, as Taine says, "While the Germans of Gaul, Italy, and Spain became Romans, the Saxons retained their language, their genius and manners, and created in Britain a Germany outside of Germany." These Teutonic institutions of England, with their modi- fications through time, have spread from Britain over a a large part of the present world. The body of our own Nation is of this same origin, for down to the year 1820 our population was mainly of Anglo-Saxon origin, and nearly all of it of the Germanic race. It was very homo- geneous and composed almost entirely of the descendants of the immigrants who came to the country prior to the Revolutionary war. There were no regular statistics of immigration prior to 1820, but it is estimated that between 1783 and 1820 only 250,000 immigrants came to our shores. Since 1820 immigrants have poured in from all parts of the Old World, in fluctuating but ever increasing numbers, until the aggregate equals nearly 23,000,000. Of this num- ber, about 15,000,000 belong to the various branches and elements of the Germanic race, such as the people from Germany^ Great Britain, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries, while about 6,000,000 belong to the different branches of the Latin, Slav, Polish, Hungarian and other kindred races. The Anglo-Saxon influence predominates in our National life, for it was rooted here and has been steadily reinforced by assimilable materials, and the power