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douzaine would of course be better than the individual’s
oath. Property in any funds, is rated at the
price at which the funds chance at that time to be.
This is certainly a strange tax. Nothing can be more
just, than that property should be assessed for the
support of that government within whose jurisdiction
the property is situated, and by which it is protected;
but to tax the fluctuating, and almost nominal securities
of some foreign states, the same as a freehold
estate, or to tax them at all, is something very like an
outrage upon common sense.
I will not conclude this chapter, without mentioning
the subject of education in Guernsey. When speaking
of the hospital of Guernsey, I mentioned the
school attached to it. This is quite a distinct institution
from the free school, on Bell’s system; which, as
in Jersey, is supported by voluntary contribution. It
may be said to be flourishing, and instructs between
two and three hundred children. In every parish in
Guernsey, there is^an endowed school; but the endowments
are so small, that an addition is made to each
of them, from the funds at the disposal of the directors
of Elizabeth College. Almost all the children in the
island attend school; and the number of persons in the
country parishes, who cannot read and write, is extremely
small. There are also Sunday schools in the
country parishes, in connexion both with the established
clmrch and with the dissenters ; supported solely
by voluntary contribution.
C H A P T E R VHI.
HI S TOR ICAL SKETCH.
I shall not waste the time of the reader, by an unprofitable
inquiry as to the ancient name of Jersey; it
is enough that we know from the itinerary of the
emperor Antoninus that in his days, the island was
known to the Romans by the name Csesarea; from
which we may conclude that this little spot owned the
dominion of Rome, and perhaps had the honour of a
visit from Csesar. In the same itinerary to which I
have alluded, Guernsey is called Sarnia. It appears
from the researches of those who have thought it
worth while to make them, that Jersey bore also, the
name of Augia, a name which some think, it bore
before it was known to the Romans, and which it
is certain it did bear at a far later date; for by this
name it Avas made over to a certain archbishop in the
year 550, by Childebert, the son of Clovis. This
apparent discrepancy is not difficult to account for. A
name, like a language, is difficult to change. The
decree of a conqueror cannot blot out the name by
which a place is known in its vernacular and accustomed
language; or as little, eifect its appellation
among surrounding countries; so that when Csesar, or
whoever else it might be that annexed Jersey to the
Roman empire, chose to call it Caesarea, in place of
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