numbers that one half of them could with
ease have overpowered the invalids who were
stationed to guard the door; for it is sufficiently
known, that in time of war the
crews of merchant-ships consist of such men
only as are unfit for. the service of his
Majesty. Mr. Phelps, having taken this
step, was aware that, as a British subject, he
had it not in his power to establish or even
to maintain in the island any form of government
without the consent of his own; but
he was at the same time fully sensible of
the necessity of some regular authority being
constituted, till more decisive measures could
be taken for the welfare of the country; and
it was therefore determined that Mr. Jorgensen,
not being a subject of the crown of
Great Britain, or responsible to it for his
actions, should assume for the present the
chief command. Conformably to such a
determination, this gentleman immediately
commenced the exercise of his power by
issuing a proclamation*,'which in the first
* The extracts from this as well as the two following
proclamations published by Mr. Jorgensen I have
thought it best to insert almost verbatim from Count
article declares, that all Danish authority is
dissolved in Iceland: in the fourth that arms
and ammunition of all kinds are to be given
up; in the sixth that the keys of private
warehouses and shops, money, accounts and
papers, belonging to, or concerning, the
interests of the king of Denmark or Danish
merchants, shall, likewise, be delivered* ; in
the second third and fifth articles, it orders
Tramp’s statement of them, with many of his comments,
that I might be the less liable to be accused of
partiality; but I have printed literal translations of the
originals in the Appendix B. (See Nos. 1, 2, and 5.)
Nos. 3 and 4 are copies of other proclamations of less
importance, and not noticed by Count Tramp.
* This was preparatory to the confiscation of all
Danish property in the island; upon which subject I
must beg leave to make use of Mr. Jorgensen’s own
words. " This,” he observes, <£ was absolutely necessary,
for, if such property had been permitted to have
been taken away, the country would have been extremely
impoverished, since all goods, property, and merchandize
on the island belonged to the Danes, as well
all that lay in the store-houses, as even what the poor
peasant had in the field; for the lower classes were
generally deeply in debt to the Danish factors. It was
likewise just and proper to detain all such property,
whether public or private; for Iceland had certain funds