Jersey As It Is - Part 9

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

His language is at times perhaps rather too flowery, but there are some wonderful nuggets of phrase - I love this one: "History satisfies the soul, tradition interests and surprises it; but legend charms and enraptures it."

His visit to Faldouet sets of his imagination in fine fettle - of course as most guide books of the time note, it was identified back then not as a Neolithic dolmen but as a much later "Druidic Temple". And his imagination runs riot with blood sacrifice - "harrowing shrieks of human victims"! This never happened at any Neolithic site, and it is even uncertain if the Druids practiced it. He also mentions Mont de La Ville, lost to England by this time, and also a visit to Hougue Bie's Princes Tower and the spectacular view - little realising that another monument lay beneath the artificial mound.

Jersey As It Is - Part 9
On the summit of the hill, which overhangs the castle, has recently been discovered, in a state of perfect preservation, a druidical temple. It consists of rough stones fixed perpendicularly, and covered by one only, which astonishes the beholder by its immense proportions.

When seated beneath this ponderous vault, the mind strives to ascertain the meaning of this assemblage of rocks on which no date, no image, no superscription flings the least glimmering ray ; then is it that the weight of this moor stone covering seems to weigh down the spirit, which it overwhelms with its mystery, and with that thick darkness which settles all around, shrouding every annal of its existence, destroying every remembrance of its history. 

In the dim and cloudy distance, where the imagination seeks to plunge itself, what blood-stained images, what ossianic and gigantic shades, flit hither and thither enwrapped in that profound eternal night which the mind dares not fathom ! And when placing our hand on the stern reality which remains, these rocks which testify of facts of which we are ignorant, we endeavour to take up that chain which by-gone ages have snapped asunder, what an abyss discovers itself to the affrighted vision ! How is the dizzy brain hurried down, as in a fever dream, to the bottom of this boundless immensity which time has hollowed out by utterly destroying the links of that chain of which, so to speak, we have but one end in our possession! 

There is in druidical ruins a charm, an interest, which, ruins whose history is known, do not possess. In the latter, the past satisfies the mind by the positive verdict of facts which history or tradition hands down to us; the imagination, powerfully aided by the knowledge of these truths, launches without difficulty into the expanse of the past, builds again with ease those shattered porticos, those decayed turrets, those grassy mounds, where peacefully the lamb and the kid are browsing together, or sleeping in their ivy bed. This solitude is easily peopled ; history then unfolds itself in living pages along those proud walls, in those chambers with their sculptured rafters and emblazoned heraldry. The change is effected in the twinkling of an eye. 

Doubtless the charm is very great ; but when this powerful, this enchanting fairy queen, Imagination, herself and alone, creates the ever-varying aspects of this magic lantern, oh ! Then, at least for me, the charm is still more sweet. Like a rapid courser, the bridle on his neck, the spur in his flanks, unchecked she rushes into space where no mere fact opposes any obstacle. The terrible images which she calls up around her on this rocky theatre, she loves, they are her creation ! Those gentle figures which smile upon you, those venerable shades of Druids which pass before you, half veiled from sight, and leaning on their long white wands,-the harrowing shrieks of human victims which she brings upon the ear,-this is all her work, she is delighted with it, she admires it. 

Laughing to scorn the uncertain intimations which tradition has handed down to us, as no better than the faint and dying echo of echoes still more remote, she models all things according to the fashion of her own will. In the scene which she displays, Fancy is her only counsellor, and in the wide-spread domain of her thoughts she chooses those only which delight her. Hence doubtless, these stirring and exciting feelings which agitate me in sight of these ancient ruins, on whose origin ignorance slumbers, and on whose history the past is silent as the tomb. 

History satisfies the soul, tradition interests and surprises it; but legend charms and enraptures it. Legend ! It is the ignis-fatuus which oft times, at the dead of night, floats over churchyard graves. This druidic monument is not the only one that has been discovered in the island. When the platform of the Mont de la Ville was cleared for building Fort Regent, the workmen brought to light a beautifully preserved druidic temple ; but with a vandalism almost unparalleled the states made a present of it to marshal Conway, then governor of the island, and this gentleman had it carefully taken down and rebuilt in his park in England.

On your return to St. Helier’s you pass by a tower built on an artificial eminence, and surrounded with lofty trees whose majestic boughs, rivalling in height the tower itself, leave its summit alone visible. Nothing can be more lovely, nothing more charming than this tower, clothed as it is with the ivy-leaf from summit to base. A pathway, edged with odoriferous shrubs, with quick-set hedges, and with flowers, sweeps round the little eminence, and you arrive by a gentle and delightful ascent to the entrance of the tower, to which has been given the name of Hougue-Bie or Prince's Tower. 

From the summit you command nearly the entire island. It is one of the most beautiful views that can be seen. You have at a glance of the eye all those beauties which we have now attempted to describe in detail. The eye surveys at once all the gentle declivities of the sea-shore,-the deep indentation of the bays,-the graceful undulation of the valleys,-the towers and steeples of the parish churches springing up as from a verdurous mantle of sombrous hue flung like a veil of mourning over the tombs of the cemeteries beneath.

Before you Fort-Regent and St. Aubin’s-bay appear mellowed by the softening tints of a golden sky, and beneath your feet rich champaigns, intersected by roads only discoverable by the green arch which bends over them, are spread out even to the ocean sand, and above all, as a setting to this brilliant cameo, the blue horizon of the deep broad sea. 

The building of this tower is only to be traced back and found in the antiquity of legendary lore, and that which is related on this subject is already too well known for us to stop to transcribe it here; suffice it to say, whatever may have been the idea which gave being to this delightful retreat, whatever may have been the remembrance which has been sought to perpetuate by building it, we are not the less put in possession of one of the most delightful spots of which the imagination can conceive: a spot where, unexpectedly, the visitor desires to dwell in, where each leaves his name behind, and bears away a remembrance in return. 

To describe the other parts of the island would be merely to repeat what we have already said. Everywhere the same beauty reigns, although sufficiently varied to exclude all monotony. Everywhere exist that freshness, that richness of vegetation, those unexpectedly-beautiful horizons which burst upon you at every angle of your path. Everywhere you perceive that neatness, that air of comfort, which bespeak the prosperous, the happy country.

The stranger, as he first wanders over this earthly paradise, doubtless questions himself as to the cause of that contentment of mind which sparkles in the countenance of all he meets, from whence springs that prosperity of which everything around exhibits such tokens, and which seems to float in the very air he breathes :-inquires he of history ? She replies it is the reward of loyalty:-does he question the constitution ? She exhibits to his view those special privileges which the past has earned for the island ; She points to commerce, which, freed from every shackle, flies abroad on the pinions of innumerable vessels, and returns, like a bee to her hive, laden with wealth and luxuries.

Jersey As It Is - Part 8

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

This tour sweeps along the Northern coast, then the Eastern, reaching Gorey Castle. Two singular points worth noting. The oyster season runs only in the Autumn, Winter and Spring months from "1st of September, and is closed on the 31st of May". And French fishing limits were guarded by French war-cutters! It is not clear how the fishing limits were agreed upon, but it appears they may have been roughly half way between the coasts of Jersey and France.


Jersey As It Is - Part 8
The northern coast of the island is indented by many small bays and creeks, the principal of which are the Greve de Lecq, so celebrated in picnic remembrances ; in the neighbourhood of which are the beautiful Plemont rocks, pierced with deep and mysterious caves.-

Boulay-bay, which is most admirably calculated for a military harbour, and whose perpendicular rocks conceal their base under a water deep enough to float men-of-war; indeed, one of the greatest advantages that England might draw from the possession of Jersey, would undoubtedly be the establishment of that naval station which, in case of a war with France, would counter-balance powerfully the strength of Cherbourg, and would serve as an observatory to watch the enemy's proceedings in that part of the channel. 

The establishment of this port becomes even necessary, if we consider that St. Malo also is being fortified with an immense dock, capable of sheltering a powerful squadron. But dropping these questions of war and politics, let us go and rest our thoughts on the sweet and graceful Rozel-bay, with its verdant cliffs, its misty and gradually-fading distances, having for its horizon the bright shores of Normandy. Then rapidly passing through the shadowy roads leading to the beautiful Rozel manor-house, let us go down along that path, winding amidst orchards and cottages, and let us admire again at St. Catherine those lovely shores, those old Martello towers, looking so peaceful, notwithstanding the silent guns that surmount their summit; and let us listen with delight to the warbling of the birds, answering the deep bass of the beach.

Next comes Mont-Orgueil castle, sitting on its headland, mournful and silent, like a mausoleum. The great part that this old fortress has played in Jersey history, the whole of which seems written on its walls, deserves a detailed description. 

The monuments of the past are the best guides of history, whose philosophy is never so well understood as when studied on ruins. That splendour of by-gone days, which time bands down to us on these remains, enlightens our mind in the chaos of past centuries, notwithstanding the dust of ages that stain it, the ever-invading ivy that covers it. The dates, sculptured on their fronts formerly so haughty, guide our researches and corroborate or belie written history and tradition and the legends so original, so graceful, that emanate from all the old ruins, show much better than the most authentic documents the manners of generations who now are not even dust. 

Such appears Mont-Orgueil, a vast and gloomy structure, hearing in the style of its architecture all the severe character of the age in which it was erected. None of those vain ornaments which elsewhere charm our eye with their fine and delicate carvings : here everything is strong ; it is an old knight covered with his battle armour; gold does not sparkle on his shield : iron all over,-iron only !

Placed on that part of the island the nearest to France, its construction unites all that constituted an impregnable fortress in the times it was built. It is defended on the sea-side by inaccessible rocks, capriciously shaped by the waves, and incessantly beaten by rapid currents formed by the tides confined within the narrow channel between the two coasts. This part of the castle is destitute of ramparts; narrow windows strongly barred alone open to the sea like loop-holes. 

Towards the land strong walls are built on the rock, of which they seem to be a continuation. The entrance is rather strange, though skilfully directed : it is formed by a road between two ramparts, close to the western part of the castle, ending in a vaulted gate, furnished with towers and all the means of defence then in use. The other extremity is formed by another gate, opening on the outer yard. 

The interior construction astonishes by its strange irregularity ; the accidents of the rock are remedied by steps, many of which are cut in the stone. The most singular fancy seems to have actuated the builders in the erection of the castle itself: here, some turrets, now clothed with ivy,-there, some broken arches,-elsewhere, windows all differing one from another, some made double, with a slight stone shaft in the middle,-others single, but barred with iron half eaten by old age 

On the left of the first court is a bastioned gate, giving entrance to the interior; above the door-way may be seen the arms of Edward the Sixth, with the red dragon, and the date 1553. 

On the right is a passage, lined on both sides with a stone seat, where it is said sat the judges in the trial of criminals,-a simple court, like the justice of those days; opposite this tribunal is a narrow cell, where the prisoner was confined, at the vault of which is a book which served as a gibbet to put an end to his life. 

Still ascending the steps, in the wall of the rampart a gloomy vault is found, at its extremity is a very deep well, the water of which is the purest in the island. Farther on, visitors are shown into a small yard newly cleared up, where, under a vault for a long time unknown, exist some stalactites of a marvellous whiteness. At last are reached the ramparts;-here all the majesty of the reminiscences of Mont-Orgueil is summoned up by the imagination.

Upon these walls, enveloped on all sides with ivy, formerly fought Carteret and his valiant islanders, who had to struggle against two of the most famous warriors of France;-Duguesclin, the hero of Brittany, and the duke of Bourbon. These valiant leaders, though assisted by the flower of French chivalry, found in that weak garrison obstacles to which they were not accustomed. 

The arrangements within correspond with those without; the apartments are small and gloomy. The room where the unfortunate Charles resided during his exile may still be seen ; under this room lies the dungeon where was confined Prynne, the poet, so well known in the history of Charles the First, for the bitterness of his writings and the severity of the punishment they brought upon him. This dungeon has a gloomy and dismal aspect, the vault is uneven and green with moisture, the floor is a damp and slippery earth, light penetrates into it only through a grated loop-hole, situated in the angle of an adjoining cell. 

Happily for the poor captive that opening overlooked the watery expanse, which, sometimes calm and blue, gladdened his heart with bright beams of hope, and sometimes furiously lashing the rocks beneath, harmonized with the stormy strain of his own thoughts. Amidst this stern appearance, this display of strength, on the armour of this old hero, there is a place for the cross of Christ, there is a religious thought in this warlike stronghold. 

In the first court may be remarked the remains of a chapel of the highest antiquity, the only entrance has been made in the roof, the depth of the nave having been filled. There has been discovered in it a rough statue of the Virgin Mary, now enclosed in a glass case for the benefit of visitors, who may still wonder at the brilliant colouring of her drapery. The exact time when this castle was built is rather uncertain; some name Robert, son of William the Conqueror, as its founder.

The name of Mont-Orgueil was given to it, according to some historians, by Henry the Fifth, king of England, and on the most creditable authority by the duke of Clarence. Its history, from the famous attack of Duguesclin and its occupation by Maulevrier, presents to us only secondary occurrences ; prisoners sometimes of importance came by turns to its dungeons; noble and royal exiles have found an asylum within its walls; and at length, from age to age, time has handed it over to us, rich with souvenirs, and firm still, notwithstanding its antiquity. 

Beneath the stern ruins of Mont-Orgueil lies the little town of Gorey, whose harbour shelters, in the season, the oyster fishing-boats employed on that fishery between the coast of France and Jersey. The season begins on the 1st of September, and is closed on the 31st of May. During that period the harbour is all life and motion, upwards of 250 boats bring to it daily the result of their toil. 

As the fishing-ground lies almost midway between the two coasts, it has been necessary to fix upon limits beyond which the English fishermen cannot cruise without being seized by the French war-cutters, who are constantly on the look out to protect their countrymen in the lawful exercise of their industry ; but as the most productive part of the bank is within the French limits, it happens that the English often take the opportunity of foggy weather to drag on their neighbours' ground ; and this accounts for so many of their boats being detained at Granville during the fishing season.

Jersey As It Is - Part 7

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

Some items of note. The claim by St Aubin to be a major harbour was clearly a noisy one, and only the building of the Albert Pier seems to have fortified St Helier's position as dominant. It is worth noting that the Pier was originally referred to as the North Pier when its foundation stone was laid in 1847.

Trade with Newfoundland was still profitable and they came to St Aubin not St Helier at this time.

At the time of writing, the road between La Haule and St Aubin was not complete, so the omnibuses (which would have been horse-drawn) had to go up La Haule and down the old St Aubin's High Street.

The date of St Brelade's church is false, it comes from an incorrect manuscript which unfortunately made its way into all the early histories and tourist guides. J.A. Balleine notes:

The alleged date of its consecration, viz., A.D. 1111, is based on a statement contained in the "Livre Noir" of the Cathedral of Coutances in Normandy. But it is now well known that the original "Livre Noir" was stolen some years ago and that the existing book was compiled from memory by a monk of the period who had studied the original MS. very carefully, and early chapters prove that the Church existed prior to A.D. 1111. For example: a charter of Robert I, Duke of Normandy, dated A.D. 1035, "confirms the donations made to the Monastery of Montiviliers", and his son, William the Conqueror, adds thereto, "the half of the revenues derived from eight Churches in Jersey", one of which is-that of St. Brelade. As these allocations confirm previous grants, it is evident that the Churches existed at earlier date than that of the Charter of Robert 1.

Finally, he seems to have met some old lady at St Brelade who told him that the wall paintings in the Fisherman's Chapel were her work! Tourist tales were inaccurate even then, just as today, people have been told of granite coffins containing the bones of dead monks beneath the walls, which Warwick Rodwell (who excavated the site in the 1980s) confirms is a complete fabrication.

Jersey As It Is - Part 7

The harbour of St. Helier’s, though safe and spacious, is too narrow and of insufficient extent for the number of vessels required by the daily increasing commerce of the island ; but a new pier is in the process of building, and though this harbour will not perhaps possess all the desirable qualities of safety, it will, however, prove useful, and will not fail to make up in a short time for the enormous expense it will cost when finished. 

When it was talked of beginning this harbour, a contest between the inhabitants of St. Helier’s and St. Aubin as to the relative merits of the two situations for the harbour was carried on with much spirit on both sides ; after serious discussion and some bitterness of feeling had expended itself in noisy meetings, the claims of St. Helier’s were declared superior, and St. Aubin retired vanquished. 

Though of much less importance than St. Helier’s, St. Aubin holds the second rank in the island. Frequent communication between the two towns is established by means of omnibuses, and the small distance they have to run allows them to make many trips a day. 

A new road is now making under the cliffs, beginning at la Haule. This alteration in the line of the carriages will not only be advantageous by shortening the distance, and avoiding the steep hill, which renders the entrance to St. Aubin so dangerous and toilsome, but will still add to the picturesque beauties of that road already so attractive. 

Up to that place it is but a long street, nearly four miles in length, bordered on one side with houses and villas surrounded with gardens, orchards, and shadowy groves ; on the other, is the sandy beach as polished as a mirror, in which the clouds and sea-birds are reflected in their flight. 

On the right, the hill, forming the rich and varied outline of the bay, rises up in some parts in a gentle slope, in others steep, and in every part displaying the most luxuriant vegetation. On the left, is the Elizabeth castle, with its old tower, its greyish ramparts, and the enormous rocks which rise on all sides as if to defend it. At length, at the entrance of the valley, appears before you the village of St. Aubin, with an air of sweet tranquillity and mysterious silence, which cannot fail to convey a pleasing impression. 

Then, as a contrast to this peaceable picture, is seen the Tower, that inoffensive parody of a fortress. The harbour is large and commodious ; but, as there is no trade whatever going on, it is rare to see more than two or three vessels at the same time, except in winter, when the Newfoundland fishermen return to spend that season. There is also an excellent building-yard, where the largest vessels are constructed.

In summer, the hills that overhang the town preserve in the houses a delicious freshness ; and the tranquillity that reigns through the deserted streets makes it one of those peaceable retreats, where those whose hearts have been wounded by contact with the world and its passions, may come and live alone with their own thoughts, and with but few of the distant echoes of a society they have abandoned, to raise the partially-extinguished embers of their griefs. 

The environs of the village harmonize in every point with the stamp of quietness that is so deeply impressed on this little paradise. If the visitor slowly ascends the winding alley leading to Noirmont, through the paths of the cliff, he rests on rocks carpeted with ivy; beneath his feet the rippling waves gently break among the pebbles of the creeks, and from the luxuriant canopy of verdure over his head, comes the air cool and light, and hidden birds pour forth the melody of their songs. Everything will appear to him charming and beautiful,-everything will reveal to his heart the exquisite wisdom of their Creator.

To describe this old Noirmont point, with its lonely and mysterious recesses, its green and flowery cliffs festooned with ivy, its rocks carpeted with moss, braving the waves to the level of the tides,-those line sandy coves,-that immense horizon, would be a vain attempt. Who that loves the pleasures of memory, dearer even than those of hope, would not dwell on the hours passed here, till the tears fill his eyes, and the scene rises again before him, even by his own fire-side, by his own sullen shore, when the winds howl, and sea and sky and all is desolate ! 

Next comes St. Brelade's-bay, which opens wide and majestic to the long waves that roll over the sands. Oh you who love Nature in its wild beauty ; you pious souls who seek solitude to muse on godly things; poets who ask for inspiration and ecstasy ; painters who love the backgrounds that wane, fading away grey and dim,-the cliffs with those rosy tints that dawn casts on them,-and trees warm with the autumnal shades they borrow from the setting sun ;-come all to St. Brelade, where you will find the object of your researches,-the solution of your doubts,-the sparkle of your genius !

In St. Brelade's-bay arose the first feeling of adoration and dependency on a holier power. The walls of the first Christian temple constructed in the island, were hid in this wilderness. How picturesque and venerable is that old church, sitting amidst the remains of so many generations! 

It is impressive to think that seven centuries have passed over its walls, bearing in their simplicity so strong a proof of their high antiquity. Built on the shore, the waves beat the old wall that surrounds the enclosure, and on holy days, the distant and hollow sound of the ocean over the sandy beach, joins its deep melody to the sacred chants that arise from the temple. 

With what delight I loved to wander over this solitude ; climbing the rugged rocks piled upon the hills around, and from thence overlooking the scene, viewing with one glance all the magnificence spread beneath me, and yielding all my faculties to the delight which such a contemplation created in my mind. Then that old guardian of the mausoleums, a living ruin among so many dead ones, who smiled to every tomb as to a friend, and who was ever seen sitting on the graves, silently grazing a few sheep, and turning her spindle with the undisturbed gravity of one of the Fates. How naturally she used to show visitors about her domains !

For this field of the last rest, that old church, whose date, 1111, she pointed out with her bony hand with so much pride, and the chapel es pecheurs, still older, on the wall of which she explained some remnants of rough paintings representing Herod's massacre, were all her own. 

One could have said, on seeing her so crippled, so much bent under the burden of years, that she was a contemporary of all those ruins. But, alas! Where is she at present? the traveller will in vain look for her on the favourite tomb-stone where she was wont to sit: the long grass of the churchyard has long since covered the seat she so much loved : moss, no longer disturbed, has laid its green velvet over the inscription : she is no more ! The old guardian has at last taken her resting-place among the dead over whom she watched so long.

The village of St. Brelade is composed of a few cottages only, with the vicarage, and a hotel has been lately built for the accommodation of the numerous parties that come to visit it. Everywhere the same aspect of solitude and retirement. The steep hills forming the bottom of the bay abruptly rise in their wild and rugged barrenness ; on their slope granite pierces through the thin stratum of vegetable earth that covers them, and sandy hills, no doubt formed by the tempest, crown their lofty brows.

At a short distance from St. Brelade is St. Ouen's bay : if such a denomination can be given to the immense beach that extends from north to south, and forms almost the whole western extremity of the island. This bay offers nothing remarkable but its desolate aspect ; the banks are formed by sandy hillocks, covered with a hard grass of a silvery hue.

Enormous blocks of stone, scattered about by the storms, lie Pêle-Mêle on the beach ; and in the middle of these crags, rises a small square tower having the name of a fort, which it ill deserves.

In the distance are discovered the lofty cliffs of the island of Sark, and still further the isle of Guernsey. On the right, shines the white tower of St. Ouen's church; and on the left, an immense rock issues from the waves as a throne for the god of storms and shipwrecks: it is the Corbière, an awful rock that no one can see without shuddering. Around its base the 'sea knows no calms, and furious currents urge on their rapid course with a thundering noise. How many storms have raged over its blackened sides ! And then, how many victims lashed with wild waves, have been crushed and torn on its sharp edges !

Jersey As It Is - Part 6

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

Born on 9 Feb 1819, he was baptised at St Brelade's Church on 25 Jul 1819.

This passage looks at some of the author's views on religion, the way in which churches had been stripped to a bare plain look under the influence of Calvinism in Jersey, and the difficulties Roman Catholicism has in coming to Jersey. The Dean who made a speech against them would almost certainly have been François Jeune who served as Dean of Jersey (1838–1844) Master of Pembroke College, Oxford (1844–1864) and Bishop of Peterborough (1864–1868).

The different churches and religions are also listed. A few oddities there:

Brianites are members of a Methodist body formerly called Bible Christians founded in England by William O'Bryan in 1815, splitting off from the Wesleyans. The Bryanite sect merged with the United Methodists in 1907

The New Church (or Swedenborgianism) is the name for several historically related Christian denominations that developed as a new religious group, influenced by the writings of scientist and Swedish Lutheran theologian Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772).

I have been unable to find out who the "Truly Pious" sect were.

Jersey As It Is - Part 6

At the western extremity of the Royal Square lies the parish church of St. Helier’s. As to its architecture, it brings us back to the infancy of the art; four walls of greyish stone, half eaten away by old age, covered with an irregular roof, the whole commanded by a square tower, having a dial on its front like the eye of a Cyclops :-so much for its exterior. 

The interior would not be more remarkable, were it not that the funeral inscription of Pierson has found in the old temple a stone to place on it his memory, and the remembrance of his death. After all, this church, though evidently very old, is well kept : some say it was founded in 1341. In any other part of the island it would look very interesting; its grave appearance, that grey tint, which five centuries have laid on its granite, would suit well a rural spot, and would add much to the picturesque of the scenery, but in the middle of a city this building is quite out of place.

Whilst gazing on that old temple one cannot refrain from meditating on the destiny which hangs over the works of men, ordains their vicissitudes, determines their duration, and extends or destroys their prosperity. Wherever an aggregation of men has taken place, a religious building has come to demonstrate that instinct of dependence and weakness that belong to the human mind. The want of referring to a first cause all the natural mysteries that surround man,-life which animates him, death which puts an end to his career, the great uncertainty, in which all beyond the grave is involved, have always wrought on his heart a feeling of awe which causes him to bend his knee before the Author of those inexplicable wonders. 

This first want being satisfied, this first craving of conscience being appeased by that act of religious submission, the material interests resume their habitual course. Around the temple, houses are grouped, streets are formed, squares are opened, edifices are built; then population increases, wants are multiplied, taste changes and improves ; time at length touches the generations with his wing and they disappear. 

The first buildings crumble, others are pulled down, larger and more comfortable structures spring from the ruins ; the ancient monument of God alone remains untouched, unimproved, amidst these progressive revolutions. The tombs themselves, those monuments erected over human ruins, crumble and mix their dust with the dust of the bones they cover; but the shadow of the temple sweeps unchanged over these ruins, like the great principle which has caused it to be built.

Why have not Jerseymen extended to their churches that spirit of progress and embellishment which animates them --Is it negligence ?--Is it respect ? Through almost all Europe the new era of architecture, even in times comparatively barbarous, has done away with all those rough structures which might have been sufficient for newly-converted barbarians, but not for civilized Christians. The immense cathedrals which adorn our cities of the middle ages demonstrate, at this hour, the old-time potency of religious enthusiasm among Christian nations.

The architects of those days sought not to exhaust their inspirations with the Parthenon of Athens, or the temples of Rome. The religion of Christ, such as they understood it, supplied them with sublime ideas, with more daring conceptions. Can modern science, which has circumscribed everything within an horizon of rules and principles, tell you the secret of those aerial vaults, those vast piles, those sculptured portals, those solemn naves, where God seems to enthrone Himself in all His awful majesty ? 

Oh! No ; the secret is dead with the faith which disclosed it. Men have bent the old Christian religion to all their interests, to all their passions; enthusiasm is extinct, and the religious sentiment of which we speak can now produce nothing but miserable parodies of churches, well whitewashed and plastered, wherein every sect fashions forth a worship for itself, where each community works out for itself a theory. 

In Jersey, as everywhere else, the principle of union in religious matters, which has created so many marvels, exists no more. Numerous chapels have been lately built by Methodists, Baptists, Independents, etc., and even the Jews talk of erecting a synagogue.

 The Jesuits also, ever actuated by their hatred to Protestantism, and their love of making proselytes through their cunning and sly means, have applied lately to the states for permission to establish on the island a college of their own, which, under the deadly and barren influence of their system, would have proved a wasp's nest for the community, and a source of discord and enmity which could not have failed to venom forever the discord and enmity already extant; but the States, enlightened by a vehement speech of the Dean, showing in glaring and eloquent words what awful results were likely to proceed from the labours of such men, whose actions are directed by such atrocious rules and anti-Christian morality, were unanimous in rejecting their request; and the worthy Father, who had come over himself to try the ground, had the mortification of seeing his hopes blasted under that anathema which has been fulminated against his society from every throne in Europe.

To give an idea of this religious diversity, and of the great number of systems springing from a liberty of which Luther was the first advocate, I have thought that the following table, showing the different religious congregations of St. Helier’s, the number of people composing them, or at least who may find place in the temples where they meet, would not be without interest:

Parish church about 1000
St. James's chapel 1200
St. Paul 800
All Saints 700

English Wesleyans 1100
French ditto 850
Primitive Methodists 400

Bryanites 200
Independents (Halkett Place) 650
Congregationists (Union-street).. 600
Grove-place chapel 200
Baptists 300
Bethel 100

Irish Catholics 700
French ditto 400

St. Mark's chapel will contain ... 1500
The Synagogue 100

Total: 10800

There are, besides, rooms where Quakers, Truly Pious, Swedenborgians, etc., meet in the proportion of 20 to 100.

Jersey As It Is - Part 5

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

Having dealt with the history, now we have his "tourist guide" to Jersey as it is in 1844, which is fascinating. No lighthouse on Corbière. A windmill in St Aubin's bay! And while most of it is described in glowing terms, the statue of George II in that ridiculous Roman outfit gets a lashing! It must be remembered that it was not until 2016 that his name and regnal dates – 1727 to 1760 was added to the plinth, so it must have seemed bizarre.

Jersey As It Is - Part 5
The traveller, who arrives from France, enjoys a sight which he cannot forget; scarcely has he passed the Minquiers, those awful rocks, the witness and cause of so many shipwrecks, when before him rises an aerial apparition, a long greyish vapour, which seems to hang over the waves like a transparent mist. 

Every minute of his rapid course adds to the distinctness of this cloud. A bright spot soon appears on the right, some villa, no doubt, shining in the sun. The shade of the promontories invests itself with a deeper tint, and the bays and creeks recede into the land. 

On the left, the Corbière erects its rugged and terrible crest, concealing its base under the misty clouds which rise from the sea that rages around. On the right, Mont-Orgueil castle is seen, dark and frowning, at the extremity of its peninsula. Next appears the fort, with its signal-staff and stern ramparts. 

Noirmont point stretches at the other extremity, and these two characteristic spots are joined by a beach curved like a bow, which soon appears gemmed with verdant clusters of trees, thickly dotted with villas and cottages. The steeples peep from the bosom of the valleys, the sails of numerous vessels whiten the wave, the golden sand of the beach extends all round like an immense girdle, and this fairy-like scenery offers at last to the dazzled eye, the magnificent St. Aubin’s-bay. 

In this immense amphitheatre, which displays itself so gorgeously, the gaze is sometimes on the Hermitage rock and the Elizabeth castle, which interpose their grey mass upon the landscape : sometimes on Noirmont, covered with its shadowy trees :-St. Aubin, reflecting itself in its solitary harbour, and mustering its villas half bid with the trees on the sides of its bills : then that windmill, rising on the sandy shore, so white, so graceful and distinct, on the rich dark green of the hill behind, whose indolent wings, scarcely moved by the sea breeze, leisurely ascend and descend, alternately brightening in the sun.

At last comes St. Helier’s, sending forth to the sky its spires of smoke, which alone give an estimate of its extent ; the harbour, thickly filled with masts, and resembling a long avenue of leafless trees; all this ensemble, this panorama of waves and shores, of life and solitude, of motion and tranquillity; those striking contrasts of forts, cottages, streets, and villages ; all this mixture of objects so heterogeneous, but so harmoniously intermixed, presents one of the most beautiful sights that can greet a mortal eye. 

To the stranger the aspect is certainly English; the language that sounds in his ears, the interior of the hotel where he has taken up his quarters, the peculiar appearance of the inhabitants, everything he meets bears a stamp of English fashion not easily mistaken or overlooked.

To those who have known St. Helier’s these last twenty years, this kind of naturalization to the British isles has taken, since that time, a character of similarity in manners, the difference of which fades away more and more. 

The suburbs, which in a few years have extended themselves around the city, and rise on all sides in rows, crescents, terraces, and parades, are most decidedly English ; those little flower-gardens, so neatly divided by gravelled paths, and defended by slender iron railings, so gracefully fronting the houses. The extreme cleanliness, so bright and comfortable to the eye, contrasts charmingly with the dirty and gloomy aspect of St. Malo and Granville. 

Villas, capriciously constructed, peep through the foliage of luxuriant trees, whose dark green adds to their spotless whiteness. Everywhere plots of grass of velvet smoothness, intersected by white gravelled walks, fragrant shrubs and flowers,-cool and mysterious groves, rose-trees softly waved by transient breezes, send forth in the air the sweet perfumes of their blossoms ; everything contributes to the fairy aspect of those beautiful suburbs. Seldom have Nature and the industry of man joined their skill in so happy a manner. 

The roads which wind around those villas are wide, and kept in good order, with a broad path for pedestrians almost everywhere overshadowed by trees banging over the walls and railings ; and crossing this rural scenery numerous and brilliant equipages give it an air of life and motion.

Besides its suburbs, St. Helier’s boasts of several other remarkable parts. The famous Halkett-place, both a walk and a market, offers rather a singular aspect; on one side a row of symmetrical houses, the ground-floors of which are generally taken up with elegant shops, some of them really attractive, though inferior to those which are to be seen in King street. On the other side is the market, which, viewed on a Saturday, presents a dense crowd, coming in and going out. 

The Royal Square comes next, with its weekly meetings, where political coteries agitate, in open air, their most important questions. In the middle rises a statue that resembles nobody, that has not been placed upon its pedestal by any motive of reminiscence, respect, or glory ; a dull monument without a name or a date, which has not even the merit of execution. Stupid and vain parody which has usurped the place where Peirson fell, bravely defending his flag, and which rises more insignificant than a rough stone, where the statue of the hero ought to stand proud and alone !

Jersey As It Is - Part 4

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

This brings us to the end of the historical sketch of Jersey, and next will be how he finds Jersey today -1844. In between I will be posting a slightly different blog for a couple of weeks before coming back to this book.

Jersey As It Is - Part 4

Under the reign of the unfortunate Charles, it was no more a question to repulse intruders for whom they had no sympathy. Now, by a calamitous fatality, the protecting shelter they had adopted is broken asunder; the standard which had waved glorious, unconquered, over their victories, is torn by factions ; but, true to their sympathies, the islanders saw the revolutionary storm a long time beat vainly the rocks of their islet, which contained their unfortunate sovereign; and when at last number and power triumphed, when, pierced with sorrow, the valiant Carteret surrendered his sword, it was with the noble pride of having defended, to the last extremity, the only rock that remained to the exiled king out of all his extensive realm.

Everyone is acquainted with this quarrel between Charles and his parliament ; unfortunate discord which has cost so much blood and tears to England ! Unluckily for our islanders, the rebellious spirit, which divided their mother country, influenced also their little community ; but most of the inhabitants espoused the cause of the king ; and, animated by the noble example of Captain de Carteret, who refused the rank of admiral offered to him by the parliament, they hoisted the standard of legitimacy.

The grateful king knighted the loyal and disinterested captain, and appointed him governor of the island. Scarcely invested with his new authority, Sir de Carteret equipped a fleet of ten sail, which hindered a great deal the channel trade, and rendered important services to the king's cause. It was then that Charles, driven out of his estates by the power of the parliament, took refuge in the island, accompanied by Lord Clarendon, and a numerous suite of gentlemen who had shared his perils and his bad fortune.

The prince was received by the faithful islanders with the greatest deference. However, his stay in their country did not extend beyond two months; for, yielding to the entreaties of his mother, he decided upon going to France. Lord Clarendon did not follow him in this his new place of exile, he retired to the Elizabeth castle, where he wrote the greatest part of his valuable work.

When the unfortunate Charles had atoned, with the loss of his life, for the faults he bad committed, the Jerseymen immediately proclaimed Charles the Second as their legitimate sovereign. This prince, unknown to, and unacknowledged by, his subjects, came also to rest his roving and wearied life within the green and peaceful valleys of the island which formed, if I might so say, the only patch of ground that recognized his authority.

Sir de Carteret set on foot a subscription amongst the inhabitants to meet the monarch's expenses, and their enthusiasm was so great that it amounted, in a short time, to a considerable sum. But so entire and adhesive, so courageous a loyalty, fixed at last the attention of the parliament.

A fleet was sent, under the command of the celebrated admiral Blake, in the month of October, 1681, and in this fleet they embarked a large body of soldiers, commanded by general Haines. George de Carteret, with his brave companions, repulsed on several occasions this overwhelming army, but at last, unable to defend, with his few followers, all the exposed parts, he could not prevent a landing, which the parliamentary troops effected in St. Ouen's bay; then, seeing the impossibility to oppose such a force, he shut himself up in Elizabeth castle, determined to defend it to the last extremity. The parliamentary troops, finding no resistance, besieged at once the castle, and, from the hills which overhang it, bombarded it without relaxation.

The islanders, stimulated by their noble chief's example, resisted as long as their ammunition lasted; but the impossibility of receiving help, and the protracted duration of the siege, reduced them at last to the utmost distress. They decided then on soliciting the help of the king of France, through the medium of Charles, who had taken refuge in Paris; but this prince, having failed in obtaining what he asked, advised de Carteret to capitulate. 

Such a recommendation did not suit the governor's courage ; it is even recorded that he kept this message for some time unknown to his followers ; but so much perseverance and heroism could not bear up against the want which prevailed in the castle; and, yielding to an imperious necessity, he surrendered on honourable conditions. 

Thus fell the last gem of the unfortunate Charles's diadem; but as soon as the restoration brought him back to the throne he did not forget the island which had welcomed, loved, and defended him when he was proscribed and homeless. Carteret was appointed lord chamberlain and state counsellor, and the privileges of the island were confirmed and enlarged. 

From this stormy period, to the reign of George the Third, the island enjoyed a tranquillity which was not disturbed by any occurrence; but when, in the time of that prince, war broke out again between France and England, the French made another attempt to get possession of Jersey. 

On the 1st of May, 1779, a fleet, commanded by the prince of Nassau, appeared in St. Ouen's-bay: a landing was attempted ; but, either dismayed by the number of native and British troops assembled to oppose their descent, or by the roughness of the rocky beach, the French re-embarked, and, having made another attempt in St. Brelade's-bay, with the same results, they desisted from their enterprise and disappeared. 

A second expedition was defeated by Sir James Wallace, who destroyed the French fleet; but, far from being discouraged by these failures, they fitted out a third expedition, which was entrusted to the command of Baron de Rullecourt. 

This officer succeeded in landing, during the night, on the island with about twelve hundred men ; favoured by the darkness, he penetrated to the middle of the town of St. Helier’s, which he occupied without striking a blow. Early in the morning he repaired to the governor, Major Corbett, and by exaggerating the number of his forces, and demonstrating the futility of resistance, compelled him to sign a capitulation, a copy of which was sent to the officers commanding the troops of the island, with an order to lay down their arms, and to submit to the French 

This message, however, was not obeyed ; and the command of the troops having been entrusted to Major Pierson, that brave officer marched upon the town, and after a severe conflict, in which he and the French intruder lost their lives, the Jerseymen triumphed once more over this attempt on their liberty. 

This enterprise is the last which has taken place against the Channel Islands. During the long wars which attended the French revolution, no danger of any consequence threatened them. The ambition of Napoleon made him aspire to more important exploits; and the only events which we have to record, from that time to our own, are but the results of an ever-increasing prosperity, and of a reform in the constitution which encourages further hopes of a still more prosperous future. However, these were not the only instances of the islanders' bravery. 

During the frequent conflicts which ensued, the Jersey and Guernsey mariners distinguished themselves in the gigantic battles which have rendered Nelson's name immortal. On every occasion they showed that cool and determined courage, and, most especially, that strong tendency to discipline, which has attached to the memory of their ancestors so bright a glory, such spotless remembrances. 

After having thus rapidly sketched the principal features of the history of the Jersey people, in order to present more clearly their existing physiology, in establishing a comparison between the causes modified by the events which I have related, and the effects produced by these causes, I will attempt to demonstrate these effects in explaining the constitution and privileges granted to the island by the British monarchs, and in exposing the facts and advantages which make its prosperity ; but before I begin with these statistical documents, I will briefly describe the parts of the island which I have thought it most worthy of admiration, and present a few topographic observations on some principal spots, in conjuring up the legends and historical reminiscences which belong to them.

Jersey As It Is - Part 3

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

This third extract takes us from Henry IV to Henry VII of England. It is interesting, because the author sides with what we would call "progressive" forces of reform against what he calls the "oppression of feudality". I really like his description of the people of Jersey as "a people, attached to the principles of legitimate constitutions, who will yield neither to triumphant usurpations, neither to force nor intrigues ; but who will always act after their conviction, founded on justice and loyalty." That's us in a nutshell!

His father was Jean-François Robiou de la Tréhonnais, of a noble lineage in France, and who Gilbert tells me was "a chouan hero", who fled from Brittany , to Jersey, in 1789, as he wanted to escape the French Revolution.

Something of the scale of numbers fleeing during that time is mentioned in Michael Monteil's book "French Immigration to Jersey". He states:

"A century after the arrival of many religious refugees from France, Jersey became the destination, or at least the passing-through point, for a new group of French people in considerable numbers: those fleeing the Revolution of 1789. In this group were the nobility and their families. and supposedly ‘defiant’ (réfraclaires) priests who refused to swear their allegiance to the new Republic."

"At the time, Jersey would have had a population of slightly over 20,000 people. In the space of a few months, somewhere between three and four thousand people landed in the island, equating to between a sixth and a fifth of the local population. This would be like England or France seeing between ten and twelve million refugees arriving today!"

Jersey As It Is  - Part 3

Under the reign of Henry the Fourth, frequent descents were made on the islands ; and, though they had no other importance but that of mere plundering expeditions, they caused, however, great disasters among the inhabitants. The leaders of these bands were mostly lawless adventurers, who, palliating their piracy under the pretence of the war then raging between France and England, roved about the channel, having no other aim but to enrich themselves by blood and plunder.

During the reign of Henry the Fifth, though hostilities between the two countries were in their highest paroxysm of fury, the French did not attempt any enterprise of a more serious character than those I have mentioned. The king of France had enough to do then in defending his own kingdom, and had no leisure to attack the enemy on his territory.

Under Henry the Sixth important events happened. It was at the time when that unfortunate quarrel was kindled between the houses of York and Lancaster, a quarrel which caused the most disastrous results to our island. Margaret of Anjou went over to France to solicit help from Louis the Eleventh : this crafty prince, to whom no means appeared unavailable, however unlawful, as long as they forwarded his views, did not dare to declare himself openly for this princess; but set on foot an intrigue, which ended in a treaty between Margaret and a Norman lord, named Peter de Breze, count de Maulevrier, who bound himself to march against her enemies, and, as a reward for this service, he was promised the sovereignty over the Channel Islands.

Some historians, as I have mentioned, pretend that this treaty was the result of the intrigues of Louis the Eleventh, who coveted the ownership of these islands, of which his predecessors had failed to possess themselves by armed expeditions, and which he thought to obtain by means of his crafty machinations. It is certain, however, that a treaty of such importance could not have been settled without the approval of this monarch, as being the feudal master of this Norman adventurer.

The Count de Maulevrier, having left for England, sent one of his officers to take possession of his future dominions. The commander of the castle, who belonged to the party of the Queen, allowed himself to be surprised, and the garrison having been disarmed, the authority of the new lord was proclaimed throughout the island. It was not long before Maulevrier himself arrived ; he assumed all the manners of a despot, enacted laws, and publicly acknowledged his allegiance to the crown of France.

But the principle of loyalty, which until then had characterized the Jerseymen, could not be annihilated by the tyranny of the new master. The part of the island nearest to the castle was constrained to bend to his iron yoke; but the hearts of the inhabitants which the power of kings cannot crush, never ceased to kindle at the thoughts of liberty.

All the western part obstinately refused to yield to the Norman chief. Philip de Carteret, the worthy representative at that time of his heroic family, whose name always brightens the finest pages of Jersey history, and which is always seen where there has been an act of courage and heroism, placed himself at the head of this handful of inhabitants, and maintained for six years the sovereignty of Great Britain.

What a singular contrast is there exhibited within the narrow compass of so small an island! On the one hand, this new chief, morally propped by the sanction of a queen, and physically supported by a powerful monarch, who could succour in a few hours the instrument of his policy ; on the other, a faithful and gallant troop, far from the mother country, itself torn and weakened by factions, resisting the usurper, not only by their convictions to which they sacrificed all their interests, but by their gallant resistance whenever the sire of Breze attempted to crush them.

Edward the Fourth having at last mounted the throne of England, it was thought earnestly of purging the island from the presence of the Normans. Sir Harliston, who cruised in the channel with an imposing fleet, secretly communicated with Philip de Carteret, and they resolved to combine an attack, by land and by water, on the castle of Mont-Orgueil. The Normans, surprised, sustained for some time this formidable storm with astonishing bravery, and even repulsed their opponents ; but at last numbers prevailed, and, all communication with France being intercepted, they capitulated, and the British flag again waved over the whole surface of ancient Caesarea.

As a reward for so much attachment and bravery, Jersey received a new charter, the English admiral was appointed governor, and no doubt, though history does not mention it, the gallant de Carteret was included in this share of gratitude which manifested itself in so striking a manner.

Nothing important happened until the reign of Henry the Seventh. This prince, when he was only Duke of Richmond, driven by the misfortunes which attended his youth, was obliged to take a momentary refuge in the island.

During his exile he soon made himself acquainted with the laws and constitution by which Jersey was then governed, and, with his usual acuteness of observation, be quickly discovered their faults, which he remedied as soon as he came to the throne. He enlarged the charter and restrained the power of the governors : however, the evil, though apparently lessened, became at last so unbearable, and the exactions of the governors took such an alarming character that Helier de Carteret, then Bailiff of the island, went himself to London and did so well by his energetic protestations, that the governor was recalled.

Another evil remained still, so much the more formidable, as it was more difficult to uproot,-I mean the oppression of feudality.

This question, which has lately been revived, even rendered superfluous the royal authority, and the king of England was obliged to appeal to Pope Sixtus the Fourth, whose spiritual power obtained at last what the arrests of the court of justice, and the regal puissance had failed to achieve.

This page of the history of the island, already so bright and glorious, and which I have so summarily sketched; these noble defences against foreign invasion; this fidelity, proof against all seductions, all attempts to alienate its tendency : this page, so free of all the spots which stain the history of other nations, remains comparatively insignificant, compared with the one which is to follow.

For it will no more be a people sacrificing their fortunes or their lives to the religion of an oath, which binds them to a powerful country; it will no more be a struggle between foreign invaders and a handful of heroes, who fought for their independence ; it will be a people, attached to the principles of legitimate constitutions, who will yield neither to triumphant usurpations, neither to force nor intrigues ; but who will always act after their conviction, founded on justice and loyalty.

The cause for which they had so many times confronted death was too powerful a stimulus not to have created in the breasts of the Jerseymen all that heroism which a similar cause could not have failed to produce in any other people.

The comparative nothingness of their islet, the limited number of their population, caused them to seek, as a natural result, a protector, whom they had once chosen, and to whom they clung with a resolute courage, against which their neighbours' insinuations and powerful attacks never could prevail. This new epoch in their history will present quite a different motive to their fidelity.

Jersey As It Is - Part 2

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

Although there is no photo of him in the book, I have been in touch with his descendant, Gilbert Engelhardt, who lives in South Brittany, and was able to furnish me with photos and considerable background information, which I will be putting up, with his permission, in the weeks to come.

His father was Jean-François Robiou de la Tréhonnais, of a noble lineage in France, and who Gilbert tells me was "a chouan hero", who fled from Brittany , to Jersey, in 1789, as he wanted to escape the French Revolution. He escaped the guillotine, as he was a royalist. Jean-François married Elizabeth Le Bouteiller in 1806 - she was born at St Aubin in Jersey.

Chouan means "the silent one", or "owl", and was a French surname but was used as a nom de guerre by the Chouan brothers, most notably Jean Cottereau, better known as Jean Chouan, who led a major revolt in Bas-Maine against the French Revolution.

The Name of Jersey

On the name of Jersey, the text makes the mistake (common until recent times) of assuming that Jersey was called Caesarea; it does however, make the same note that is found in W. Plees on the name of "Augia". Plees wrote (1816):

"Some have conjectured that it was previously called Augia : by this name it was indeed given by Childebert, King of France, the son of Clovis, to Samson, Archbishop of Dol, in Armorica, about A. D. 550 : but this being subsequent to the declension of the Roman power in Gaul, seems rather to corroborate a contrary opinion."

Falle also mentions this (1734):

"a donation of Childebert, king of France, to Samson, bishop of Dol, in Britany, of  four islands, named Vesargia, Augia, Sargia, and Rima which he takes to be Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, and Herm ; Augia being the name of Jersey before the Romans gave it that of Caesarea."

He is citing a translation from D'Argentré, Hist de Bretagne, Liv 1, Ch XXVIII, fo1 114:

"A c'est Archeoesque Childebert donna quelques Isles et Terres en Normandie; Rimoul, Augie, Sargie et Vesargie, qui estoient Isles en la Coste; car je trouve cela aux vielles Lettres."

However, while the legacy of the ancient name may be taken at face value, the document is not! John Henry Newman, in his "Lives of the English Saints" notes that the original documentation has historical weaknesses as to its veracity:

"Baldricus, Archbishop of Dol, asserts that these islands were given to St. Sampson by king Childebert. It may however be asked, whether an Archbishop of Dol in the twelfth century is very good authority for an event of the sixth, especially, it may be added, at the height of the dispute between Dol and Tours."

The donation of Childebert, while probably reflecting early names of the Channel Islands, may well be in the class of the Donation of Constantine, a 9th century ecclesiastical forgery.

Jersey As It Is  - Part 2
by F. Robious de La Trehonnais 

The island was known to the Romans under the name of Caesarea, no doubt because the conqueror of Gaul paid it a visit. However, as people do not always accept denominations imposed on them by their masters, the island continued to bear its ancient name of Augia, as it is seen by an act of cession made by Childebert, the son of Cloris, to St. Sampson, the Archbishop of Dol, towards the middle of the tenth century.

Until the year 912, history is silent as to the events which may have taken place in the island; but towards this time the Normans, weary of carnage and devastations, accepted the province which bears their name to retire in peace and enjoy the fruit of their far and widely-spread plundering excursions.

This province was granted to them by Charles the Simple as a fief; and this prince, wishing to cement an union which the weakness of his reign rendered indispensable, gave his daughter in marriage to Rollo, the chief of these barbarians, having had him first converted and baptized by the bishop of Rouen.

The cession of the Channel Islands was comprised in the treaty, and they became thus dependent on the duchy of Normandy.

From the reign of Rollo to that of William the Conqueror, an interval of a hundred and fifty-four years elapsed. Six dukes reigned successively over the duchy, and the peaceful influence of their just and good government extended itself to the Norman isles and deposited in them seeds of prosperity and importance.

In the time of William the Conqueror, these islands, together with the province to which they belonged, passed over to the English crown; however, in the reign of Robert, son of the Conqueror, and who then governed Normandy, they attempted to proclaim their independence ; but shortly after, Henry the First, having superseded Robert's rights and title which he used so treacherously, bound, in a definitive manner, the islands to British dominion, and this bond has stood firm until our days, notwithstanding the numerous attempts that have been made to break it.

It is worthy of remark that the Channel Islands happen to be the most ancient fief of the English crown; for Ireland, Wales, and Scotland were not subdued until a long time after.

Until the reign of King John, history presents no occurrences worthy of notice; but during the reign of that prince, whose weakness was so disastrous to England, the Norman isles were almost alienated from their rightful owners, in sharing the fate of Normandy, of which Philip of France had just gained possession.

The French monarch, anxious to pursue his advantages, encouraged besides by the state of impotency to which the misgovernment of John had reduced England, fitted out and sent an expedition to capture the islands. The historians of the time have not left any record of the defence of the inhabitants; but, if we judge from the result, there is no doubt but they distinguished themselves by their bravery. The French twice landed on the shores of Jersey, but in these two instances were compelled to retreat, and at last to abandon their enterprise.

John, undoubtedly ashamed at having lost his beautiful French province, sought to expiate his disasters by concentrating quite an extraordinary interest to this last remain of one of the finest fiefs of the British realm :-he came over with a fresh supply of troops and provisions; then actively applied himself to protect the coast against further attempts of invasion, by erecting strongholds and fortified towers ; at the same time, his heart did not remain unmoved by the fidelity of the natives, who in the midst of his disasters had not abandoned him, but rather served his interests in so efficient a manner.

As a reward for their good and loyal services, the English monarch gave the islanders a peculiar constitution, attended by numerous privileges; and, though the Norman laws were still maintained, the isles were entirely sequestered from the fief of Normandy, and all the appeals were made to the English government.

These important dispositions were attended with results of prosperity and aggrandisement, and went on increasing until the reign of Edward the First.

Under this prince the French, pursuing their envious tactics, attempted again to possess themselves of the islands. As on the former occasions, they met with such a determined resistance, that again they were compelled to retreat. Edward was so pleased with the islanders, that he handsomely rewarded those who the most distinguished themselves, and pensions were granted to the families of such as had fallen in the contest.

During the reign of Henry the Second the islands were not visited with any foreign invasion; but they did not less suffer from the arbitrary and unjust acts of a tyrannical government. The privileges and institutions with which king John, in his gratitude, had presented the island, were violated in their most sacred clauses, and the inhabitants were exposed to exactions and tyrannical proceedings, which, exercised on a people less attached to the standard they had adopted as their own, would have caused feelings of irritation and disaffection.

When Edward the Third ascended the throne, the islanders exposed their complaints in an humble petition, and obtained from the new monarch a full and complete reparation for the grievances they had suffered under his predecessor.

However, this reign, which dawned so bright and prosperous for the Jerseymen, did not set without storms and disasters : the bloody wars, which raged between France and England, extended their calamities as far as the Channel Islands. Philip de Valois, then king of France, fitted out a powerful fleet, which he sent against Jersey, but this enterprise was not more successful than the others,-it entirely failed before Mont-Orgueil. Some historians maintain that their attack on Guernsey was attended with more success, for the French succeeded in taking possession of it, and even occupied it for nearly three years ; but, after the naval battle which Edward gained over the French, a fleet was entrusted to the command of admiral de Cobbam to rescue Guernsey from the foe's hands. The Jerseymen generously offered to join their efforts to those of the fleet, and their contribution in hands and money added greatly to the success of the expedition.

After these remarkable occurrences, the islands were again blessed with a profound peace, which unfortunately was not of long duration. Charles the Wise, having mounted the French throne, did not approve of the treaty that his predecessor had ratified with Edward of England, a treaty in which France abandoned all her claims to the possession of the Norman isles, and acknowledged the legitimacy of those of England. Charles renewed hostilities, divested Edward of all the remainder of his French possessions, and turned his victorious arms against the islands.

Guernsey was first attacked; but this expedition having totally failed, Duguesclin, whose warlike exploits had so much contributed to the success of the king of France, placed himself at the head of a new army, and landed without opposition on the shores of Jersey. The French general besieged first the castle of Mont-Orgueil, which was then the most important place in the island. His army amounted to no less than ten thousand men, if we credit the chronicles of that time; but, though Duguesclin's exertions and bravery were worthy of his fame and the glory he had acquired by so many victories, his efforts remained useless in presence of the defenders of the castle : the more vivacity and courage he displayed in his attacks, the more the besieged were heroic in their defence; and, exhausted at last by a struggle that brought no result, the assailing army and the garrison entered into an agreement, and it was decided that if in a stipulated time help did not come to the besieged, they were to capitulate under honourable conditions.

Before the day appointed an English fleet appeared, and the French hero, true to his word as he was to his sword, withdrew with his army as he had agreed. It was in that memorable siege that first dawned the name of Carteret, which enriches with so much splendour the history of the island.

Drago de Barentie, the commander of the castle, having been killed, whilst valiantly fighting on the ramparts, Carteret took his place, and continued that glorious defence, against which the invincible arms of one of the greatest warriors France ever had were of no avail.

Jersey As It Is - Part 1

This Friday is a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

The introduction lays out how the essay is planned, starting with history, but also including geography and customs. It is wonderfully poetical.

Jersey As It Is - Part 1

THERE exist upon our globe certain spots, the importance of which, far from being proportionate to their extent, seem to derive the more strength and influence from the very diminutiveness of their proportions. They are so many centres to which converge the interests of human societies, and which seem to be marked out by Providence, to preserve by their counter-weight an equipoise in the scale of international justice.

On the threshold of the Mediterranean Sea, a rock rises, immense, threatening: it is Gibraltar, this old guardian of a whole sea, who, from his hollow batteries, opens or shuts the gates of the east. Malta, girded with its ramparts as a knight with his armour, commands and protects the new route to the Indies, and becomes a depot for all the riches of Asia. Although of less influence, as regards the great interests of Europe, Jersey shares, in a smaller scale it is true, but on the same principle, this central importance which sets in motion a whole world of interests.

An advanced guard of Great Britain on the coast of France, this isle possesses too many advantages as a military post to need any demonstration. Its harbours and creeks can shelter squadrons, its resources are sufficient to maintain an army, and from the midst of its rocks can rush forth, at the first signal, a swarm of hardy privateers, who, in hindering the enemy's commerce in the channel, would insure and protect a frequent communication with the mother country.

Situated at the south of the group known under the name of Channel Islands, Jersey, as well by its extent and its population, as by the large scale on which its commerce is established, is by far the most important. Its picturesque beauties are a constant source of attraction to a multitude of visitors, whose arrival and departure impart to it an air of life and prosperity almost incredible in an island of so small dimensions. The lofty cliffs of Normandy, the golden sands of which can be perceived, stretch themselves towards the east; on the south and the west fade away the coast of Brittany, to which the island seems to be linked by a chain of rocks, whose grey summits rise on all sides; and Guernsey and its neighbouring islets are scattered towards the north.

Its proximity to the shores of Normandy, of which it formed a province before the conquest of Britain by William the Conqueror, must have cast on its community a similarity of manners, laws, and language with that part of France ; but at present a broad line of distinction has been established.

In France the political and social revolutions have overturned not only institutions and customs, but also laws, language, and manners: everything has yielded to that irresistible impulse which they have given to all the principles of the society of men; and that great level to which nations aim, like the waves of the wide ocean, has suddenly been accomplished, attended by the wreck of all that obstructed their overflowing. These mighty convulsions which shook the Continent like an earthquake, crumbling to the dust the firmest and the most highly-placed social edifices, and the most ancient constitutions, were, however, compelled to pause on the shore of the waters that divide the island from the Continent.

There, fell powerless and exhausted those torrents of innovations which, Pêle-Mêle, carried along the just and unjust, the innocent and guilty; and Jersey, ever generous and hospitable, opened its arms but to receive the victims whom these mighty conflicts cast poor and forlorn on its beach, like shipwrecked mariners after a storm.

The constitution by which the island was governed centuries ago is still almost the same at present; perhaps some charters granted by the kings of England, or resolutions carried by the states, have either increased or restricted its abuses, but the principle has remained unaltered, and the observer can derive from their study valuable insights into the old Norman customs, the remembrance of which has even vanished from the country where they formerly flourished.

The so picturesque and expressive idiom is still spoken now as it was in the days of yore. The Jerseymen, religious guardians of the language spoken by their illustrious fathers, are loath to abandon the use of their own old patois, and that sacred heritage traditioned from lip to lip until the present age, displays the striking contrast still observed in the heath of Armorique, on the wooded hills of `Vales, and on stern coast of Erin. Strange spectacle, is this struggle of old things with modern civilization, strengthened with their antiquity, using as an arm the religion of souvenirs, they resist with a persistence which their young enemy will conquer, but after many efforts.

This love to their old customs will render the Jersey people very interesting to the philosopher. Their character, much calumniated by superficial authors, who, confining themselves to a rapid observation, judge a whole race by the moral of a few individuals, will appear in its truer light, if their habits, their faith, their principles, and, above all, their history, are scrutinized by a free and judicious mind.

The general aspect of the island presents a variety of picturesque beauties, in which Nature seems to have blended all her loveliest features with the most stern and severe ones. There, the ocean with its calms, its majestic storms, its boundary-rocks shaping themselves into all the fantastic forms with which imagination, aided by distance, loves to invest them.

Here, retired and peaceful valleys, deep creeks, solitary bays, disturbed only by the plaintive cry of the sea bird, by the merriment of summer visitors, and by the voices of the wind and the waves.

There, ruins mantled with ivy, that people the solitude with phantoms of past and nobler days, of heroes and captives; whose moated recesses are covered with wild flowers, and around is many a deep-shaded and gloomy path dear to the fancy.

Laughing orchards, whose fruit weighs down the rich branches which bear it, and in which idly recline, or quietly graze, the far-famed kine of Jersey-vales, where the bird sings and builds its nest, the brook murmurs, and from the cottages the light columns of smoke wreath and disperse themselves over the oaks which shelter them with their foliage.

There, old seignorial manor-houses, the calm retreats of men who live apart from the world, without forsaking its charms; whose casements open but on velvet smooth lawns, on flowers and fragrant shrubs.

All this multitude of natural charms, which scattered throughout a realm would make its aspect attractive, are here centred in one small islet, which God has cast as a forlorn rock on the shores of a mighty empire, whose advanced golden downs surround and shelter it within their embraces.

The history of Jersey, although rather closely connected with that of the neighbouring isles, presents, however, a peculiar physiognomy and a quite distinct interest, not only for its superior importance, but for those frequent struggles out of which it has ever come victorious and faithful.

The sole relic of the power formerly held by the kings of England over Normandy, Jersey was the stage and the object of the ambitious enterprises of most of the successors of Philip of France, who wished to complete the conquest of that monarch over John of England, in reuniting these islands to the fief of Normandy ; but the inhabitants, combining their efforts to those of the kings of Britain, anxious to keep to their realm this last remain of their beautiful Norman province, obstinately clung to this rock and there displayed more valour and prowess than would be needed for the conquest of kingdoms.

Unfortunate royalties, bowed down under the anathema of their subjects, have come to seek in it a sympathy for their broken hearts, a loyalty for their fallen power, and a sword to defend them. The privileges which are the sources of its prosperity and the reward which it has deserved are also the proofs of its glory; the island has preserved them with quite a religious fondness, like a soldier his Croix d’Honneur.

Jersey As It Is: The Preface - Part 2

This Friday I begin a blog in which I have transcribed a translation of an essay called "Jersey as It Is", published in 1844, as the result of a winning entry by F. Robious de La Trehonnais which won first prize in the competition of the Jersey Emulation Society.

This preamble gives the background by Auguste Luchet. Auguste Luchet (22 April 1806 – 9 March 1872) was a 19th-century French playwright, journalist, novelist and writer.

He became a journalist at Le Temps, then joined the Journal de Paris and took an active part to the July Revolution of 1830, which earned him a five-year exile in Belgium, then in Jersey. And in 1844, he commended this essay to Jersey people during this exile.

Auguste Luchet

Jersey As It Is: The Preface - Part 2
by Auguste Luchet

IT is, generally speaking, a bold attempt on the part of a stranger to come before a people who have no knowledge of him, recommending a work written for them by another who is to them a stranger also ; and, therefore, the few following pages might well prove to be without effect and valueless, if the production to which they refer had not already commended itself in this place, as much by the extracts which have been published from it, as by the flattering distinction with which a Society, young though it be, yet rich in science and benevolence, has invested it.

The book of M. de la Trehonnais had not, in truth, need of patronage from any one, the people of Jersey have adopted it beforehand as a work written in love to their island and belonging to them. The medal of the Society of Emulation has, so to speak, conferred the right of citizenship on its author ; but if it had been otherwise,-had it been necessary to seek the patronage of someone, it were easy for him to have found it far more powerful and exalted. 

But, a Frenchman by birth and by name, the author is reminded that here he had a countryman, a brother of the soil and of the sun, and taking him by the hand he is desirous that their names should appear before the public fraternally interwoven. This is a sentiment honourable to both.

Here, then, is a good book : aye, and better than that, a good action also. This work will prove to the people of Jersey, far more than numberless speeches, how much men of heart and mind hold themselves above the mean, the petty jealousies existing between people and people, between nation and nation ; hatreds, pretendedly national, which dishonour the sacred name they thus dare to prostitute to them. 

The people of Jersey will see by this production of a stranger, as well as by what they know of the stranger who has the honour to write these lines, that if the filthy scum of two great countries, veiled like crime in the darkness of night, is washed, wave after wave, on their hospitable shore ; this filth, repudiated, disowned by the nations self purged of it, has not prevented emigrations more pure from arriving, voluntarily or by compulsion, as to a flourishing asylum which the constitution of this island holds open for all misfortune. 

They will perceive that a nation should not, any more than provisions, be judged of by a few rotten samples ; and that the common sewers of London and Paris are not the waters of the Thames or the Seine. 

We apprehend it would have been a task of difficulty for a native of this happy island to have found, more truly than M. de la Trehonnais, colours taken from the skies wherewith to paint its wonders ; or in sentiments more sweet; poetry more charming ; reflections more noble, respectful, or chaste, to set forth its interests, its inhabitants, and its institutions. 

The Jersian himself had proved a less effective painter, because he would have been less faithful: filial love is ever disposed to flatter a little, even where it is not entirely blind. The Jersian might have uttered a panegyric without undue warmth I am well aware, but necessarily inevitably partial. Here, we have a prolonged and friendly burst of enthusiasm,-of admiration,-of acknowledgment to God, uttered by a soul entirely unprejudiced, filled with affection and sincerity, in contemplation of a spot which, to him, appears as an exception on the face of the globe; fixed, like a magnificent lesson of Providence, between two great nations, each in her turn the mistress of the world,-under the eye, within the grasp of both, as though to teach them that the happiness of man consists neither in submission nor dominion ; a paradise, planted by angels in the midst of the waves ; a society unique, which knows neither the aristocrat nor the pauper,-those devouring ulcers of all communities; a family of fifty thousand freemen, to whom the words master and slave are alike unknown, which has no troubles but its little dissentions, mostly fugitive and transitory, as indeed there must be in all families to diversify and animate their existence,-divisions which would all be extinguished, we have no doubt, were the hour of danger ever to strike for the common welfare. 

It is the sanctified joy of a benevolent and philanthropic state of mind, saddened with the studies of ancient and modern history, written as they are in lines of blood, at the sight of this little nook of earth which owes nothing to any one,-where the labourers are gardeners, the merchants loungers,-where the money is of paper, -where power is a temporary and gratuitous office,-at twenty leagues from England which owes thirty thousand millions, and five leagues from France which devours two thousand millions, of francs every year ! 

But this admiration, this rapture, this pleasure possesses, however, nothing which can stifle in the author the stern and serious voice of reason. Young, we have called him, but enlightened, devoted from his infancy to the severest studies ; the poet in him closes not the eyes of the philosopher, and instruction, advice, and criticism occupy in his book the places which most become them. It is necessary, generally, to suspect those who represent everything as good, as much as those who find fault with all as evil. 

The one as the other sees through a false medium ; for, in the history of mankind, as well as in the works of Nature, absolute good, as absolute evil, is scarcely possible. 

Everywhere the ocean has its unfathomable abysses, the heaven its storms, men their passions. In the rose-perfumed chalice the insect finds wherewith to renew the venom of its sting : beneath the embroidered velvet of the meadow the reptile whets his tooth to kill,-the toad hides his hideous form.

But with M. de la Trehonnais, blame, reproof, reprimand are mild, affectionate, and fraternal as is the praise, A good conscience, a love of justice and of truth have dictated all alike. I am, then, proud and thankful that he has selected me to affix my unhappy and proscribed name to the frontispiece of this work. 

It is for having dared to tell the truth respecting the circumstances and men of my own country that, driven by the force of those circumstances, and by the hatred and revenge of those men, I am come, like the just man cast into the sea in a tempest by the dissolute crew, whom his presence overburdened, to embrace the tutelary threshold of Jersey. 

I have readily, therefore, and ardently embraced this opportunity of rendering in my turn homage to that saviour-soil to which so many political shipwrecked mariners have fled to escape the death of their body, or their liberty. I feel my heart surcharged with gratitude in responding to the generous appeal of a young man, who, with exquisite delicacy of feeling, comes to me and says,-" Brother, accept the consolation which I bring you. Poor forgotten exile, amongst the millions of France there are still those who love thee, and think upon thee ! "

And, again, there is another reason which has contributed to render the commission which I this day accomplish flattering to me, and, with myself, I am sure the people of Jersey will find therein a just motive for self-congratulation. 

This book is the first work of M. de la Trehonnais. For the natural and moral beauties of this island was it reserved to furnish the author with his maiden inspirations,-for that youthful association which has so honourably rewarded him was it reserved to stimulate-to encourage him-to give them to the day. Jersey will have had the honour of this debut; and it is something, I say it proudly, is the literary maidenhood of such a man as M. de la Trehonnais. 

This book, a first nosegay of leaves and flowers, gathered from a sapling so green, so healthy, promises at a future day gustful sumptuous fruit. We are not perhaps sufficiently aware of all that is to be respected-of all that is solemn in the production which thus falls first, fearful, trembling, unspotted, dazzled, of the rich mind of a thoughtful man, so gifted by Nature and by education. This is not, -let everyone be convinced of it,-one of those painful abortive elaborations, dead even in their birth, which for a moment illumines the name of some new man, but on which the night of oblivion afterwards drops its everlasting wings. 

It is a hidden casket, into which no profane glance has ever yet penetrated, which is all at once thrown open, rent by the abundance of its own riches, and throwing abroad in all directions rays of light sparkling with pearls and precious stones. The time afterwards arrives to employ in that which remains, his discreet distribution, his harmonious and judicious operation : the author becomes great,-he rises, he reigns ; then is his cradle sought for, and those who have received his first homage call it to remembrance with emotions of pride. As for me, I shall always remember with delight, that I have assisted at this baptism of a poet of my country. 

AUGUSTE LUCHET. Jersey, 1st July, 1843.