only. As seen from Guernsey, the appearance of these various islands, studding the sea, and becoming more or less distinct with every change of the atmosphere, and every alternation of light and shade, is exceedingly picturesque.

By every one, who has admired the 'tall ancestral trees' of England, the want of timber is at once felt as a great deficiency in the Channel Islands. Whether it be owing to the absence of all shelter from the winds, or to other causes, we are unable to say; but not one fine tree, like the forest trees of our own country, is any where to be seen. With this exception, however, the traveller will find little to check his admiration, and very much to awaken it. To those who wish for the mild but bracing air of the sea, it were difficult to select more agreeable places of resort. All the islands excepting Alderney-with which there is no regular steam communication-are easily accessible: and if our readers purpose to repair, for a month or so, to the vicinity of the sea, we can assure them that they will be highly gratified by a trip to the Channel Islands. At an expense, scarcely greater, perhaps less, than that incurred by a sojourn at Ramsgate or Brighton, they may combine, with saline breezes in perfection, scenery beautiful and varied, and a state of society which, to an Englishman, is novel and instructive.

The largest of these islands, Jersey, is the most populous and lively. In the interior it is well wooded, though the trees are not large; well cultivated; and pleasantly diversified. Some of its views are surpassingly beautiful. From Prince's Tower, for example, where the eye commands a considerable part of the island, and, looking across the sea, discerns a long range the French coast, and on a clear day may distinguish the cathedral of Coutances, the stranger tears himself away with great reluctance.

of

Sark is a mountain three miles long and one broad, rising around its whole circumference, precipitously from the sea; and is accessible on the one side, only by the aid of a rope; on the other, by landing in a small nook, where a tunnel bored under the beetling rock, leads to the upper part of the island.

As the voyager approaches Guernsey, he sees St. Peter's Port, its only town, nestling in the bosom of a small bay. The houses come down to the beach, and cover the side and crown the summit of the rather high and steep ascent; being, on the rising ground, very generally interspersed with gardens and greenhouses. The suburbs of the town surprise the visitor, by the number of genteel residences they contain, each one adorned with luxuriant evergreens and flowers. In the interior of the island are several villages; and though the population is four

times as dense as in Ireland, there is no crowding. Every cottage has its garden, which is well stored with shrubs and flowers, and very rarely neglected. Indeed, the passion for gardening, ornamental as well as useful, is among the most striking characteristics of the natives of this charming island. They are distinguished also by simplicity, honesty, enterprise, and independence. Existence among them is enjoyed, not endured; and certainly, as compared with the people of our own beloved but misgoverned country, they are a thriving, contented, and happy race.*

The coast scenery of all these islands is captivating. Here, the traveller pursues his way through a deep and winding valley, to the quiet and sandy beach. There, he climbs to the edge of the abyss, and seating himself on a huge crag, looks far down on the rock-bound coast, and finds a strange delight in the sweep and shriek of the sea-gull, and the cauldron overflowing with the foam of the wildest surges. Or yonder, with careful footsteps, he picks his way along the steep and rugged descent, till he finds himself by the water's edge, with stupendous precipices of solid rock towering behind him, a wild cavern yawning at his right hand, the beach strewed with rocky fragments of every size and form, while here and there a vast pile of rock stands bare and erect amidst the spray.

At the time of the Conquest, the Channel Islands were a part of the duchy of Normandy; and they remained so, as long as the English kings held possession of that province. When John lost his continental territory, the islanders remained faithful to him. Being thus completely severed from the seat of government at Rouen, it became necessary to give them new laws. These were framed according to Norman customs, and are to this day styled the constitutions of King John. If a Guernseyman be asked when his country became subject to England, his quick reply is, that England is the subjected country, and that the Normans were the conquerors. Many of the ancient customs and privileges still exist; and the ancient language, Norman French, still struggles, though in vain, for the precedency.

The institutions of the several islands are substantially the same. It will suffice, therefore, to explain those of Guernsey, which have recently undergone a slight reform by a bill, passed in the island legislature on the 9th of June, 1843, and the

* Barbet's Guide to Guernsey will be found a very useful handbook. Unlike the generality of books of its class, it is filled with really useful information, and without the ordinary intermixture of garish description and bad poetry. We may mention also a very usefully constructed, and cheap pocket map, published by Moss.

royal assent to which was communicated on the 26th of December last.

To render the explanation as clear as possible, we will first exhibit the judicial and legislative authorities assembled; and afterwards explain the mode of their appointment.

Will the reader imagine himself crossing the hall of a substantial building, and entering, not at either end but by the side, a moderate sized room? Fine portraits of Sir John Doyle and Lord Seaton, and full length portraits of Lord de Saumarez, and the late eminent bailiff, Daniel De Lisle Brock, Esq., adorn the walls. The room itself is plain, and yet wears an air of thorough respectability. To the left of the visitor, as he enters, there rise from the floor, seats for perhaps two hundred people. At his right there are also seats arranged for official persons. This is the court-house, where justice is administered. It is also the parliament house.

Suppose the proceedings to be judicial. At his right, the visitor observes on a raised and distinguished seat the bailiff, who is the highest civil functionary on the island, and has a salary of £300 a year. On the right and left of the bailiff are other gentlemen, not less than seven; if all are present, twelve. These are called jurats. Together with the bailiff, they act in all important civil and criminal causes, as both judge and jury : and from their decision there is no appeal excepting to the queen in council. Below the bailiff and jurats, and at their right hand, is the attorney-general, who has a salary of £200 yearly: at their left and before them, are seats for the advocates and others connected with the causes tried. Such is the court of justice. The proceedings are carried on in the French language, but witnesses are examined in English, if they speak it. The jurats listen to the pleadings and the evidence; question the witnesses if they think it necessary; and when the trial is completed, give their verdict aloud, one by one, generally assigning the reasons for it. The bailiff commonly gives a summary of the cause; and then pronounces the opinion of the majority of the jurats, which is the sentence of the court. If there be an equality of votes, the bailiff has a casting vote. There is no display in the court house. Neither counsel nor judges wear any official dress. The proceedings are marked by much less technicality, and much more common sense, than our own courts of justice. May this people ever beware of apeing the follies of their neighbours, and retain their own dignified simplicity! For it they are pre-eminent. Should they ever stoop to become imitators, they can never get beyond an humble mimicry of that which is useless and effeminate in the customs of England. Enter the same place when the legislature, or "States of Deliberation," are assembled: and, if all the members be pre

sent, there are the bailiff, the twelve jurats, eight rectors of parishes, the attorney-general, six deputies of St. Peter's Port, and nine deputies from the other parishes: in all thirty-seven. That is the parliament. In cases where a question is not decided by two-thirds of the members present, the president (the bailiff) may, if he think fit, submit it a second time, within one month, when it is decided by a majority of votes. By this body the general affairs of the island, including its taxation, are managed. Its proceedings are public by sufferance. The military governor-of whom more will be said hereafter-has a right to be present and speak, but not to vote. The relation of this local legislature to the British parliament, has given rise to some serious difficulties; and would, but for the spirit of the inhabitants, and their ancient and cherished charters, have sunk the people into thorough dependence and beggary.

It will be observed that the bailiff, jurats, and attorneygeneral, are functionaries both in the judicial court and in the legislature. When they sit as legislators, they are joined by eight clergymen and fifteen deputies. The bailiff and attorneygeneral are appointed by the crown; which appointment, however, is commonly a formal way of executing the wish of the Guernsey authorities. The clergymen sit in the parliament ex officio. The other members are appointed by the people as follows. The rate-payers in the parish choose persons to manage their parochial affairs. These persons elect the deputies in the several parishes. When a jurat dies, the bailiff, the surviving jurats, the attorney-general, the eight clergymen, and all the parochial authorities, form one elective body, for appointing his successor. The appointment is for life, the yearly fees are not more than £15, and the person elected must serve, under pain of imprisonment or expatriation. Every man in Guernsey is bound to serve his country when called upon to do so by the public voice. The same elective body appoints the sheriff, to whose office there is annexed a salary of uncertain amount. The entire number of electors is 222; but it will be borne in mind that they never act as a body, excepting in the choice of a jurat or sheriff.

The mode of electing the deputies requires and deserves a little further explanation. In each of the country parishes, the rate-payers choose yearly two constables. The same parties choose also other officers called douzeniers, the number of the latter being generally twelve. They are chosen for life: their service is compulsory and without pay. No one is qualified for the office who has not been constable. These constables and douzeniers regulate the parochial assessments. In the collection of such taxes as are levied on property, they occupy the place of the income-tax commissioners in England, and their task is

usually an easy one. They also attend to the streets, roads, boundaries, drainage, &c. In short, they are a sort of corporation in each parish; the senior constable being the chairman of their meetings. By the recent Reform Bill, the populous and wealthy parish of St. Peter's Port is to have five such corporate bodies; but the parochial authority is to remain almost exclusively with one of the five.

The number, then, of these corporations-so we may call them-is fourteen; namely, one for each of the country parishes, and five for the town. Of these, one sends two deputies to the legislature; the remaining thirteen return one deputy each. The election is for one session only, there being several sessions during the year.

Every man in Guernsey, unless in very special cases of exemption, is trained to arms; and is thus prepared in case of invasion, to defend his rock-bound home. The island is also protected by the dangerous navigation of the surrounding seas -the danger arising both from the rocks and the currents. None but practised and skilful seamen can venture there. If the reader should ever pass from Guernsey to Sark in the neat little cutter which runs between those places daily, he may have an opportunity of admiring the style in which she is made to thread a triangle of rocks, where but for the turn of the helm at the right instant, the vessel must inevitably strike. The English government, however, deeming the island both important and insecure from its proximity to France, has planted cannon all round it, but from their small calibre and short range they would at present prove totally inefficient. On the heights above the town there is an extensive and strong fortification, which cost, certainly more than £200,000, and, we have been told, more than half a million sterling. A military governor-now General W. F. Napier-resides on the island, and the garrison is entirely under his control. has also the regulation of the island militia, which, during the last war, was very effective. Sir John Doyle said, that with it alone, he would undertake to defend the island against any attack of the French. The garrison expenses, including the erection of the works, are borne by that pay-master general, John Bull. The military governor is the patron of all the church livings.

The mischievous custom of primogeniture and entail, as existing in England, is, in Guernsey, unknown; and the law verges, to say the least, towards a contrary extreme. The owner of landed property may sell it at any time; but, if he have children, he cannot bequeath it. The law divides it among all his children, giving however some advantage to the eldest In consequence of this arrangement, there are no large

son.