ably, some zealot desires to introduce representative government into the island, and we are quite prepared to hear that the recent plague of rabbits is ascribed to the want of parliamentary institutions. It appears that in 1866 the governor reported that the constitution was working admirably, and two years afterwards it was abolished. If it be true that, while the inhabitants had not paid the taxes imposed on them, the public debt which had amounted to 750l. was reduced to 600l., we can only say that charity should begin at home, and we should like to have such a beautiful constitution among ourselves. We decline to adopt the suggestion which may possibly be offered that the debt was reduced out of the profits of the gambling-table. The Duke of Buckingham, when he was colonial secretary, is said to have gone in uniform in a man-of-war to Heligoland, and taken away its bauble of a constitution. The German newspapers, which naturally take a lively interest in the descendants of the Sicambri, have lately called attention to this alleged grievance, and they complain that, whereas we are always preaching liberty to other governments, we have summarily abolished the constitution of one of our own dependencies. Lord Carnarvon, in answer to Lord Rosebery, remarked that the Heligolanders are a sensitive race, as indeed are most of the races with which he is brought into official contact, and he feared that the production of the capitulation of 1807 would wound the susceptibilities of the dependency. Considering that this capitulation is, as he says, an historic document, and that its contents must be perfectly well known to those who were affected by it, Lord Carnarvon's anxiety is perhaps excessive. It may be remembered that Napoleon had by the Peace of Tilsit converted Russia from a dangerous enemy into a subservient friend. Our government apprehended that he and the emperor Alexander would employ the Danish fleet against us, and so we determined to seize it ourselves. Whatever may be thought of the justice of this resolution, there can be no question of the vigour with which it was executed. A fleet and army was immediately despatched; and, whereas the battle of Friedland was fought on the 14th June and the Peace of Tilsit concluded on 9th July, the surrender of the Danish fleet was exacted on the 7th September. As a branch of these operations, a small squadron was sent to Heligoland, and while our admiral was preparing to storm the place with his marines and seamen, a flag of truce arrived, and next day was signed the capitulation which Lord Rosebery now wishes to have produced. Thus the island, which was much wanted as a refuge for our cruisers in these dangerous waters, became a possession of the British crown, and our traders, we may be sure, promptly utilized its commercial capabilities. The hope which we had founded on the stubborn courage of the Russian armies was dissipated as soon as Napoleon's military genius had full scope. But not even by his splendid victory at Friedland, nor by the confederacy which followed it, could he abate the pertinacity of our resistance. Whatever came of our allies we were never disappointed in ourselves, and it may be doubted whether the vigilance of our cruisers or the activity of our smugglers caused greater irritation to our enemy. It would have been better if we had not imitated the petty spite he showed. When we employed our naval power in cutting off supplies of drugs from Napoleon's confederates, Sydney Smith ridiculed our great scheme for closing, as he said, the ports and the bowels of Northern Europe.
It was against an earlier confederacy of the same kind that Nelson battled in 1801. Twice within seven years Copenhagen heard the thunder of our guns, and the capitulation of Heligoland commemorates our second attack on the nation with which we have now so close a tie. Yet Nelson wrote that the Danes were the brothers, and should never be the enemies, of the English. They might, however, be pardoned in those days for thinking that we had a way of dissembling our love. If, as is likely, the Heligolanders have now German sympathies, they may not feel any particular irritation at looking back at our attacks on Denmark, and at any rate they know their own history. Lord Carnarvon tells us that the capitulation did not confirm ancient rights and liberties. The island is now, he says, in a state of contentment and satisfaction, and he implies that it does not regret the constitution of 1864. If its people are happier than they were when they could pay off debt without collecting taxes, the Colonial Office has something to be proud of. They may be prosperous; but if they are contented they deserve to be described, in the indignant language of agitation, as wretches whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance. Their community is probably about as big as one of those "populous places" which lately exercised the sagacity of magistrates at quarter sessions. The colonial secretary, correcting Lord
