He had still, in Germany and all around, many enemies to fight and many
campaigns to reopen. Even among the Germanic populations, which were
regarded as reduced under the sway of the King of the Franks, some, the
Frisians and Saxons, as well as others, were continually agitating for
the recovery of their independence. Farther off, toward the north, east,
and south, people differing in origin and language--Avars, Huns,
Slavons, Bulgarians, Danes, and Northmen--were still pressing or
beginning to press upon the frontiers of the Frankish dominion, for the
purpose of either penetrating within or settling at the threshold as
powerful and formidable neighbors. Charlemagne had plenty to do, with
the view at one time of checking their incursions, and at another of
destroying or hurling back to a distance their settlements; and he
brought his usual vigor and perseverance to bear on this second
struggle. But by the conquest of Saxony he had attained his direct
national object: the great flood of population from east to west came,
and broke against the Gallo-Franco-Germanic dominion as against an
insurmountable rampart.
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