settled by the representatives of the people, allowing by the sixth article, to the existing authorities the option of remaining in their respective situations. In the tenth article it is declared that the country shall be put in a state of defence: the twelfth annuls all debts due to Danish merchants in the

is not hindered from following the irresistible dictates of nature in the care and education of the children. But this cannot be done if we are not allowed to marry, and I humbly beg Mr. Bishop Videlin's declaration; so much the more so, as I am convinced of the justice of my cause.

"I also commit my life and worldly happiness to your Excellency's gracious consideration.

"With the confidence and attachment of a subject, "BIARNE THORLEVSEN.

Skridnafell within Barderstrand Syssel,

1st August, 1809.

To his Excellency, Mr. Jorgen Jorgensen, Protector of the whole Island of Iceland, and Chief Commander by Sea and Land.

As my readers may wish to learn the fate of Mr. Biarne Thorlevsen and his faithful girl, I will add that upon farther inquiry on the part of the bishop into the affair, he found that the wife was anxious for a separation from her husband, when there remained no obstacle to his wishes of entering a second time into the marriage state.

country or abroad, and prohibits clandestine payment of them, under pain of the individual being compelled again to pay the same amount to the new governor: the thirteenth provides against the prices of provisions being exorbitant: the fourteenth takes off the half of all taxes to be levied upon the inhabitants till the 1st of July, 1810: by the eighteenth, all communication with Danish ships is forbidden: the second third and fourth guarantee personal safety and property, and payments of pensions, &c.; while the nineteenth extends the same protection to Danes who do not intermeddle in the political affairs of the island.

It may be observed, that the number of representatives that were to have been sent were three from the southern ampt, one from the eastern ampt, two from the northern, and two from the western ampt.

The government-house was from this time occupied by Mr. Jorgensen, and all public business was as usual transacted in the office belonging to it. The salaries of the

various officers under government were also paid; and they so far appeared satisfied* with the present arrangements that none of

* This satisfaction, to judge from the remarks of Count Tramp and the Etatsroed, existed only in appearance, since the former says, "Thus, a new order of things, presenting to view all the miseries that can spring from boundless despotism, was forced upon an innocent people, loyal and faithful to their king. The Danes that had been in public employments, who were now deprived of their places, and laboring under a suspicion otherwise honorable to themselves, of detesting the introduced changes, and meditating schemes' for the fall of the usurper, and who were on that account exposed to the same persecutions and ill treatment of which so many instances had been seen, resolved to depart from a country where, with their best wishes, for want of means and assistance they found no possibility of being useful. Many natives in public functions followed their example in resigning, whose offices were filled with the most unqualified persons, by notorious drunkards and flatterers, who were indebted only to their officiousness as spies and calumniators for the favor and protection of the new ruler.” -The latter, after mentioning some of the most severe articles in the proclamation, proceeds to affirm that "they did expand a general horror all over the country; and that only the rascality of a few people did approve them, for the gain of money and for the sake of getting some share in the disturbed government or rather in the

the principal ones resigned their situations, though some few* in private expressed their dissatisfaction at the republican form of government about to be established; it seeming to them absurd that an island, to which nature had denied all internal resources, should be proclaimed in a state of independence which it necessarily wanted the means of supporting. The bishop, however, and many of the clergy, at a yearly meeting of the synod, signed a document, in which they expressed their satisfaction at

high anarchy here. Very indebted officers, being misled by fair promises of more salaries, did submit or approve the altered form, to their lasting shame for having dispensed with that homage and duty they owed to their native soil. Many good officers resigned their situations, the most did not give in the least declaration. We (Magnus and Stephen Stephensen), the Etatsroed and Amptman of the western part of the island, declared our wish to administer our offices only for the present year and according to the laws of our country."

* These persons, however, it must be confessed, were equally averse to their former government.

+ Count Tramp asserts that this meeting was attended only by a few of the clergymen of the neighborhood, "who were surprised into a declaration in favor of VOL. II.

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the present situation of affairs, and declared their willingness to support it, exhorting all classes of people to do the same.

Many, likewise, of the natives, came forward, conformably to the tenth article of the last proclamation, with an offer of their services, for the purpose of forming a body

Jorgensen, while all the rest in the island remained unshaken in their allegiance;" and he adds in other parts of his narrative that, "though the proclamation of the 26th of June had struck a dread into the minds of people that could not easily be removed, and though means were taken to keep it up, partly by daily scenes of violence and partly by an armed force from the crew of the Margaret and Anne perpetually patrolling the streets, still the new state was by most people considered a bubble, and the public officers in particular, who ought to have been the first to have paid their homage, did not do it, but some laid down their offices, and others declared they would only hold them for the good of the country by virtue of the same authority under which they had hitherto acted!"-He likewise stigmatizes the motives as well as the conduct of those who attached themselves to Mr. Jorgensen, calling them "a contemptible band of idle persons and men of ruined fortunes, attracted by his being beyond measure lavish of the sums of money amassed by his plunder, and by the pompous promises that he daily retailed on paper or held forth in his harangues."