When the immigrants took over Britain

In recent weeks Walt has referred to [Note: not "referenced"! Ed.] dire predictions made by Charles De Gaulle, late President of France, and Enoch Powell, formerly a British Member of Parliament, to the fate of their countries should immigration by people of alien cultures not be restricted.

See "Charles De Gaulle warns about Muslim immigration" and "'I told you this would happen!': Enoch Powell". (The text of De Gaulle's speech is reproduced in the original French. If you can't read French, use Google's translator.)

Well, that's 20th century stuff. But it's not as if the phenomenon of one people and their culture being swamped by immigrants is new. One can go back to the 5th century A.D. for a cautionary tale.

Most Americans may not know this [Whaddya mean "may"? Ed.] but the original inhabitants of what is now England were not English. When Julius Caesar led his legions into "Britain" in 55 B.C., he found the land inhabited by Celts -- pronounced with a hard "C"; think "kilts". There were Scots (although they lived in what is now Eire), Picts, Welsh, Cornish and, errr, other Celtic people.

Julius Caesar didn't think a whole lot of Britain. No veni, vidi, vici  yet. It was like "I came; I saw; I went home again." (Walt, having lived in England for some years, understands completely.)  But he and his successors came back, to conquer but -- and this is important -- not to settle. Very few Romans took up residence in the Empire's northernmost province. Something about the climate, perhaps.

Britannia remained a Roman province until about 440 A.D. By that time, Rome itself was being invaded by Visi-, Ostro- and assorted other Goths, so when the (still mostly Celtic) inhabitants of Britain appealed for help against marauders from lands across the North Sea, they were told, "Sorry, but you're on your own."

And so invaders from Jutland (the Jutes) and Saxony (the Saxons) landed by the boatload. So did a tribe called the Angles (not "Angels", as Pope Gregory quipped). They were more aggressive and better at warfare than the Celts, who were driven to the north and west, where to this day they resist and resent domination by the Anglo-Saxons who came to rule "Angle-land". = England! Geddit?!

Pause for a moment and think what must have been the reaction of the Celts to the influx of immigrants from overseas. "There goes the neighbourhood!" would be a gross understatement of their reaction. John O'Farrell, a columnist for the Guardian, put it better in An Utterly Impartial History of 
Britain (Doubleday, 2007).

It must have been hard being a liberal in the fifth century. You'd try to talk in encouraging terms about all the positive aspects of multiculturalism, about the wonderful rainbow mix of ethnic traditions and customs, and then all the immigrants let you down by splitting everyone's head open with an axe, forcing you and your family to flee for your lives.

"Yes, well, you see, in their religion, murder and pillage is very much a matter of honour so I think it would be rather culturally elitist of us to attempt some sort of universal moral judgement based on our own ethical -- Oi! The bastard! He just nicked my ox!"

Funny? You'd be hard-pressed to find a 21st-century Anglo-Saxon Englishman (or Englishwoman) who's laughing.