GOVERNMENTS AND LAWS EXHIBITING THE GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURES "Mens, et animus, et consilium et sententia civitatis, posita est in legibus." 760848 342 A429 Copyright, 1916, 1922, by STEPHEN HALEY ALLEN Published August, 1916 Revised Edition, August, 1922 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS CHAPTER XXIV THE BRITISH EMPIRE The earliest inhabitants of the British Isles of whom we have any accounts are styled Britons and are not classed as Aryans. The first settlers of the latter stock are said to have been Celts. Caesar says that in his time the inhabitants of the interior were accounted descendants of the natives of the island, while the maritime portions of the island were peopled by invaders from Belgium, who had settled down and commenced to cultivate the soil. He says the country was very populous and the buildings similar to those of Gaul, that they had many cattle, that they used brass or iron bars for money, that the inhabitants of Kent (Cantium), did not differ much in customs from the Gauls, that many of the inhabitants of the interior did not sow grain but lived on milk and meat and wore skins for clothing, that they painted themselves dark blue, wore their hair long, and shaved all but the upper lip, that ten or twelve brothers or even father and sons had wives in common. They used not only horses but also a kind of chariot in battle and were brave and strong. It is impossible to tell what race of men first inhabited the island. In the earliest accounts we read of Britons, Picts and Scots as antedating the advent of the Romans. Sometimes all are classed as Celts, and again the Britons are spoken of as allied to the Basques of the Pyrenees. Ireland was peopled by Celts and, while authentic history of it in the time of Caesar is wanting, popular traditions, handed down apparently with more than ordinary trustworthiness, indicate that the people of Ireland were at that time better organized and more prosperous than those on the larger island. In religion the people of both islands were Druids, with rites corresponding with those of the Celts of France. The organization of society was essentially tribal, with the authority of chiefs enlarged or con I |