PEOCEEDINGS FOE 1889. ' XXIX 



Tlie invaders took firm root in England; they engrafted upon tlic nation the best qualities of their 

 own natures. Many of the men who fioni various parts of France accompanied William, became the 

 founders of great J"]nglish families. For eight eentiuics their descendants have hold a dominant jilace 

 in the national councils; thc\- have assumed high command on land and sea, and they have been ])romi- 

 ncnt in the roll of statesmen who have controlled the destinies of the kingdom. 



William himself left a lasting impress on the monarchy; the dj-nasty which he established has 

 continued through to our own time, although not in the direct lineage from father to son. Since the 

 death of William in 1087, the blood of tiie French conqueror has flowed in the veins of every monarch 

 of England. In the words of Palgiavc, " Magnificent was William's destiny— can we avoid accepting 

 him as the founder of the prédominent Empire now existing in the civilized worhl ? Nay, the stripes 

 and stars of the Trans-Atlantic Eepublic would never have been hoisted, nor the Ganges flow as a 

 British stream, but for the Norman-gauntletcd hand." 



The French conquest is without a parallel in history, ll is ihe most momentous event which our 

 annals recoid. It humbled the nation to the last degree, ^nd with other great changes it cITcctod a 

 va>t teriitorial and social revolution. While all this was being accomplished with much pain and suticr- 

 ing lor the time being, it must now be recognized that the landing of the French and the settlement 

 of the kingdom by the French, and the ultimate fusion of the coiiquei-ors with the i-onqucred, was con- 

 ducive of the greatest possible good. The French element thus thiown into England under the 

 circumstances in which it was introduced might be expected to produce great and lasting effects. 

 The ethnological result has been to commingle the blood of the two communities, already possessing 

 the aflinity of ancestiy, and to produce a new national type. By whatever name it may be known, 

 it is a French-English type. The political effect has been to weld together the component parts 

 forming the Biitish nation in so compact a chajacter as to withstand every shock to which it has 

 since been exposed. If after the lapse of eight hundred years wo dispassionately view the effects of 

 the l^i^torical event, it is impossible to escape the conviction that the direct influences springing 

 from the Conquest have been of lasting advantage to the world. 



The general result of the enquiry into which I have been led may bo briefly summarized. Wo 

 may trace back the relations of the two peoples as thcy-are represented in this Society to a pei-iod long 

 anterior to the date when they were fii'st known as Fj'cnch and English. We learn that they sprang 

 Oi-iginally from a great primitive race which, befoie the Christian era, spread over western Europe and 

 flourished under a half-developed civilization. In both cases the orignal stock had been modified by 

 foreign influences similar in character, until the eleventh centurj-, when a powerful French element 

 became intermixed with the English people and penetrated the highest and lowest grades of societj-. 

 At that pciiod the portion of Jùirope which is named France contributed the ruling class and the 

 men to form the British aristocracy. To this day the prominent families of England, with few 

 excepiions, trace to France the foundations of their names. From French sources have come those 

 who have helped so much to make (rrcat Britain strong and indissoluble. 



Thus it was that the descendants of ai.cient Gaul, modified by the Eomans, the Franks and the 

 Danes, have been absorbed and assimilated in the great mass of the English people. The blood of the 

 French intermingled with the blood of the English has since been carried in the veins of colonists to 

 America, to Australia, and to every British colony, and by British sailors to every port in the two 

 hcn.iisphcres ; and thus, through the intcrmixtui-eof the races an Empire has been raised up to girdle 

 the globe. 



These imperfect remarks will, I trust, be found to fuinish an answer to the query, Who are 

 the French, and who are the English? The records of history establish that they are not alien in 

 blood, that they have often met in conflict, and '.hat they have fi-cquently cooperated in amitj\ 

 The character of the relationship which sprung up eight centuries back connected England and 

 France by domestic ties, and the some lineages spread over both lands. The histories of the two 

 nations have been more or less interwoven ever since the French and Fnglish people had an existence, 

 and for part of the time the two peoples have had ono 'nirl tlip same histoiy. 



