minaries children of all other religious denominations, without any restriction respecting their places or modes of worship; and thus, probably, in several cases, make proselytes both of them and their parents. In the "church militant", this is a very allowable ruse de guerre, even should it be dictated by policy alone: the dissenting Christians appreciate its importance, and thus blend general liberality of sentiment, with the particular interests of their own community.* * It has been observed, and perhaps justly, that in England the education at charity schools is not properly directed, particularly with regard to boys: that they are frequently pushed on, in a manner that disqualifies them for their station; inducing them to aim at situations above it, and thus to intrude on a class whose parents pay for that instruction which the others receive gratuitously. 66 As a modern author* says: "I will not take upon me to determine, "what precise degree of knowledge it may be necessary to afford to "the lower ranks of people; but I think we may venture to say, all "such information ought to be bestowed, as can tend to impress their "minds with a proper sense of their obligations to God, the community, and themselves." Where children discover particular traits of genius, it would be acting on a narrow principle to restrain their expanding powers: the objection lies against endeavouring to make every one excel in branches of science, a moderate acquirement of which is sufficient for that humble, though eminently useful, rank, in which Divine Providence has placed those who are instructed at the public expense. All institutions of this nature, however, are defective that do not proceed beyond the usual tuition: they should extend to schools of industry; in which the boys might be taught different handicraft arts, and a portion of time be allotted for girls to acquire some knowledge of domestic employments, with a view of • Warren. CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY. The origin of small states can seldom be properly ascertained. Absorbed in the history of larger territo qualifying them for servants. This last observation applies, in an especial manner, to Jersey. The native females of the lower order. are either extremely ignorant, or if, fortunately, they acquire any education, they aspire at being semstresses, from the mistaken idea, that thereby they are less under control. The consequence is, that genteel families are under the necessity of hiring English servants, who are not always such as would be engaged in England. Some have objected, that Jersey is too circumscribed for so enlarged a charity: this appears to be begging the question. It has succeeded in other places, and is well worthy of a trial. It is intended to erect school rooms for five hundred children: this can hardly be termed a very circumscribed number. "In the female orphan house at Dublin, there are 125 girls, who "have been received from five to ten years old, and are kept until they are sixteen or seventeen. They learn writing, reading, ac, counts, and needle work. The produce of the latter, for the last 66 year, amounted to £240." Carr's Stranger in Ireland. The Isle of Wight contained, in 1802, a population of 22,602 souls, a number something under that of the permanent population of Jersey (See POPULATION): yet, in the former island, there has been erected a house of industry, which, including children, contains from 500 to 550 persons. Various manufactures are carried on at this establishment; and to so considerable an extent, that, in 1802, the poor's rate of the town of Newport had been reduced from 5s. 6d. to little more than 2s. 6d. in the pound; and the average of country. parishes did not exceed 2s. About the year 1770, an act of parliament enabled the inhabitants to borrow £20,000. In 1802, this sum had been reduced to £12,500. On an average of some years, the manufactory had cleared, after deducting every expense, £200 annually. If the same advantages have continued, since 1802, what fruit must that island now reap from so excellent an institution! Either of the foregoing measures is within the compass of Jersey. ries, they seldom become objects of notice; anl when they have engaged the attention of any early writer, the account transmitted to posterity is generally a tissue of real facts and fabulous extravagancies; so interwoven as to render it difficult and frequently impossible to unravel them. JERSEY has, in this respect, shared the fate of other minor countries; it is, therefore, quite uncertain at what time it became peopled, or who were its aborigines. It was, unquestionably, inhabited at an early period: the various monuments of Celtic wor ship, that formerly existed, some of which still remain, sufficiently attest this; and the Punic, the early Roman, and the Gaulish, coins, discovered at different times and places in the island, corroborate it. About 120 years before the Christian æra, Transalpine Gaul was portioned out among three nations. The Celta, called by Cæsar, Galli or Gauls, occupied more than one half of the territory. Their dominion extended from the Seine to the Garonne. It was at the above period that the Romans meditated the conquest of these nations, all of whom had originally migrated from Italy. To the Celts, therefore, succeeded the Romans. We are ignorant respecting the precise time; though, as the greater part of Transalpine Gaul was subdued by Julius Cæsar, about forty-eight years prior to the birth of our Saviour, it is most likely that these islands were conquered by the Romans at nearly the same period. That part of Mont-orgueil castle, called Le Fort de Cesar, the immense earthen rampart near Rosel, and the remaining traces of a camp at Dielament, together with the many Roman coins found in different parts of the island, ascertain that it was a place of some consequence under that people: yet as no historical records, while it continued under their government, now remain, it may be presumed that Jersey was only a military station, though an important one. After the Romans, the Franks or French, by ex• pelling them, became masters of the island. They first visited the western coast of Europe about A. D. 280, at which time they sailed from Sicily, coasting round Spain and Gaul; but it does not appear that, at this early period, they attempted to form any set. tlements on the Atlantic shore. In A. D. 536, their sovereignty in Gaul was firmly established. They issued from Germany in the fifth century, and spread themselves in every direction. Under their sove reigns of the Merovingian* and Carlovingiant races, they founded an empire which extended from the ocean to the Danube. Its more general division was into west France and east France; the first called Westria, and afterwards Neustria, which now is Normandy, though far more circumscribed than the ancient Neustria. The islands in its vicinity very naturally constituted a part of the district. About the year of Christ 550, Childebert, king of France, and son of Clovis, made a gift of these islands to Samson, archbishop of Dol, in Armorica, so far as respected their ecclesiastical government. About A. D. 837, during the reign of Ludovicus Pius, son of Charlemagne, the Normans began to carry on a piratical war, on the western coast of France. By degrees, their ravages became frequent and more extensive. Their vessels were light, which enabled them to ascend the rivers, and sack the interiour of the country. In their blind zeal for idolatry, they committed the most horrid barbarities, fire and sword marking their steps. So great was the terror excited, throughout France, by these Pagans, that, in the public service of the church, an addition * So called from Meroveus, the grandfather of Clovis. See Falle's History. |