Page:Speeches and addresses by the late Thomas E Ellis M P.pdf/99

 which differentiates Britain from Germany, and which gives it the pre-eminence? Is it not this which makes the religion of Britain more emotional, devout and ardent than that of Germany, which makes British oratory more passionate, stirring and effective than German, which makes Britain's language more strenuous, supple, limpid and rapid than that of Germany, and which has helped to make Britain's contribution to the abiding wealth of the world weightier than that of Germany? But you may say granting that the Celtic genius means all this, bow has it had scope and play in Britain? Is not Britain, and certainly England, essentially Anglo-Saxon? Well, let us examine. It is often too readily assumed that when Saxons, Jutes and Angles made piratical raids on Britain, they annihilated the Celtic inhabitants. But science and history utterly reject this assumption. All admit that the population of the Scottish Highlands, of Wales, and of Cornwall, is overwhelmingly Celtic. It is further admitted that there is a large mixed population of Celts and Teutons in Strathclyde and Cumbria, in Lancashire,