who were kept in confinement, the former
for one night, the latter for eight or ten
days, both upon a charge of being at the
head of a conspiracy to raise a number of
men, who were, after securing the English
in the town, to have attacked the Margaret
and Anne and made prisoners of her crew.
The shops and warehouses in Reikevig belonging
to Danes not resident in Iceland
were from the first day put under guard, and
the goods confiscated, and persons were sent
to the distant towns to execute the same
errand.
Mr. Jorgensen, having now fixed himself
in the possession of supreme power, with
the title of His Excellency, the Protector
of Iceland, Commander in Chief by Sea
and Land, posted up, on the T 1th of July,
another proclamation *, in which it was
declared in the first article, fi We Joraren
Jorgensen have taken upon ourselves the
government of the country*until a regular
constitution can be established, with power
to make war and conclude peace with foreign
potentates;” in the second it is stated that
* See Appendix B., No. 5.
the soldiery (consisting as just mentioned of
eight natives) had chosen him to be their
leader, and to conduct the whole military
department: by the third article a new flag
is appointed for Iceland, the honor of which
Mr. Jorgensen promises to defend with his
life and blood: the fourth abolishes the ancient
seal of the country and determines that
his own private one is to be used until the
representatives of the people shall have fixed
upon a new one; in the fifth the time
granted to the civil officers for declaring
their obedience or resignation is prolonged
to ten days for the nearest, and four weeks
for the most distant parts of the country,
after the expiration of which period all who
have not given in their declarations are to
be suspended from their employments: the
sixth article announces that all officers who
shall resign are to repair to Westmannoe
(Westman’s Isles), until an opportunity is
found to convey them to Copenhagen: the
seventh promises to that.part of the clergy
who are willing to declare themselves in his
favor, that their circumstances shall be bettered
: the eighth repeats the intention of
placing the island in a state of defence: the