Anglo-Saxon race; and within which now, after a lapse of many
centuries, a new institution has arisen, intended to carry far and
wide, to countries of which Gregory and Augustine never heard, the
blessings which they gave to us. Carry your view on--and there
rises high above all the magnificent pile of our cathedral, equal
in splendour and state to any, the noblest temple or church that
Augustine could have seen in ancient Rome, rising on the very ground
which derives its consecration from him. And still more than the
grandeur of the outward buildings that rose from the little church
of Augustine and the little palace of Ethelbert have been the
institutions of all kinds of which these were the earliest cradle.
From Canterbury, the first English Christian city,--from Kent, the
first English Christian kingdom--has by degrees arisen the whole
constitution of Church and State in England which now binds together
the whole British Empire. And from the Christianity here established
in England has flowed, by direct consequence, first the Christianity
of Germany; then, after a long interval, of North America; and lastly,
we may trust, in time, of all India and all Australasia. The view from
St. Martin's Church is indeed one of the most inspiriting that can be
found in the world; there is none to which I would more willingly take
any one who doubted whether a small beginning could lead to a great
and lasting good;--none which carries us more vividly back into the
past, or more hopefully forward into the future."

To this Gregorian canticle in praise of the British constitution,
I grieve, but am compelled, to take these following historical
objections. The first missionary to Germany was Ulphilas, and what she
owes to these islands she owes to Iona, not to Thanet. Our missionary
offices to America as to Africa, consist I believe principally in
the stealing of land, and the extermination of its proprietors by