CO885(3-4) — Page 99

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Miscellaneous.' No. 25.

44.

Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. April 1876.

CONFIDENTIAL.

て

COPY of a Private LETTER from MB. SMITH to

ME. MERIVALE.

(Private.)

Dear Mr. Merivale.

BEFORE giving you a rapid sketch of what I saw and heard during my short visit of seven days to Heligoland, it may be as well to place before the accounts which have been given of the institu-

tions of that island, by two modern writers.

you

I shall commence with short extracts, fréely trans-

lated from the work of the Hanoverian General, Count Von der Decken, which was published in 1826,

the date from which various circumstances have contributed to raise the island into a fashionable watering-place:-

"We may go far and wide, say the Heligo- landers, and we shall nowhere find such a country and such a people as theirs. Such is their boast; and, in truth, it is only in very rare cases that they have been tempted to leave their island home, even for a short time.

"Their love of their country is grounded upon their free institutions. When the Government of Schleswig-Holstein, after the great inundation of 1649, offered to settle a portion of them in those provinces, their unanimous answer was, that they would rather continue on their remaining strip of territory. Only leave us,' they said, our old Friesian constitution.'

"It is to this anxiety to preserve their freedom, so frequently threatened by encroachments of their Sovereigns, that we must ascribe their frequent resistance to authority.

"The ancient inhabitants of the north were, indeed, devoted to their Chiefs; but not in modern monarchical fashion. Every yeoman had his voice

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

C.O. 885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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