no more tolls on the croaa channel passa^^e. The 

 next year was the memorablo B.C. ijo. The liigh- 

 way from the eternal city to the isle of gold was 

 free as well as open, and the next great enterprise 

 was to follow it across the silver streak. An un- 

 expected hindrance, however, occurred. Two 

 German tribes on the right bank of the Rhine had 

 been forced across the river by the incursions of 

 the Suebi, the strongest of the Gi-rman States. 

 These two tribes, afti-r defeating tlie Uenapii— 

 already sor.jly depress -d by the extermination of 

 the Veneti,— had wintered in their country. 

 Sundry other of the Belgic S'ate.s, however (among 

 whom probably were the Morini), regarded the 

 iutrudei-s as " a Godsend," and urgently implored 

 them to come tu their assistance against the 

 Kcinian armie?-. <^tlier German tribes were hasten- 

 ing in the sanio direction. A fierce engagement 

 and ii hideous massiK-re ensued in circumstances 

 wliii-h Cato in the Komau Senate aftei-wards 

 denounced as treafln,T0U3 on the part of Caisar. 

 The eonqueror himself , however, records the result 

 Avith considerable complacency, and the Emperor 

 Louis Napoleon speaks of it as a !)rilliant success. 

 Thi' numfier of the enemy Cifisar reckons, includ- 

 ing women and childi-en, at four bmulred and 

 thirty thousand. Of these a vast numlier were 

 slain by the army, and a vastly gi-eater number 

 were drowned at the confluence of the Maas and 

 the Vaal in their effort to escape. It was still 

 necessary, however, to prevent the possibility of a 

 German advance along the shores af Belgic Gaul, 

 which might perhaps intercept his return, or even 

 cut off his retreat from Britain. Cscsar bridged 

 the Rhine and spent eighteen days on tlie German 

 side. His military precautions were now com- 

 plete. Bnt the eventful voyage w;i.s not to be 

 undertaken without full enquiries as to what 

 kind of reception he might expect on tlie British 

 side of the channel. Nearly all that Csesar 

 knew of our isbmd up to this time was that 

 many of those he defeated in Gaul foiuid a refuge 

 in Britain, and that in almost every battle with 

 the Gauls, contingents from Britain had fought 

 against him. He summoned from all parts a 

 conference of merchants who ti'aded to oiu* shores 

 and catechized them as to the size of the island, 

 its people and fits resources, its harbours, and its 

 armies — he might as well have catechized the cod- 

 fish of the Channel. They knew that Britain was 

 Britain, but nothing more, absolutely nothing. 

 Caisar as yet was very imperfectly acquainted with 

 the British commercial traveller. Business is 

 business the world over, whether it be carried on 

 in Carthage or Mai-seilles, in Rome or Maidstone, 

 Failing to elicit any information in this quarter, 

 Ctesar despatched the trusty Caius Volusenus in a 

 warship to I'econnoitre and report at the earliest 

 possible day. He himself advanced to the Morini, 

 probably BoiUogne, with all liis forces. And all 

 the ships from all the ports along the Belgie and 

 and Amioric shore were summoned for the trans- 

 port, of his armies ; the maritime population that 

 had survived the extinction of tlie Veneti, supply- 

 ing able-bodied seamen, willing and unwilling, in 

 abundance. Meanwhile the commercial gentlemen 

 whom CiEsar had found so reticent had contrived 

 to convey to Britain full and immediate informa- 



tion of what was going forward. In a few days 

 envoys ai-rived from the British States announcing 

 the willingness of their chiefs to submit to Caesar 

 and Rome, and to give hostages for their good 

 behavioiu". Caesar received them courteously and 

 sent them back to Britain with much good advice, 

 and a distinguished escort. After his victory 

 over the alliance of the Belgic States in Gaul, 

 among which the Attrebates were tht; most in- 

 fluential, he had created Commius, one of their 

 own chiefs, King over the survivors of tlie ti'ibe. 

 The Attrebates, whose capital on the continent 

 was the modem AiTas, held territory on both sides 

 the Channel. Whether Coiumius regarded the 

 title of " King of Aii'as " conferred upon him 

 by Caesar as conferring also the sovereignty over 

 the people and territory of the Attrebates in 

 Britain at tliis time does not appear. At all events. 

 King or no King, he possessed great influence with 

 the Belgic States in Britain, as well a.« with those 

 of Gaul, and his army now formed part of the 

 assembled auxiliary forces. He was accordingly 

 told off to accompany the envoys on their return, 

 with orders to visit as many Britisli States as he 

 could, and induce them, if possibl-', to ac:x'pt the 

 "protection " of Rome. A guard of thirty horse 

 accompanied the Royal representative of C»sar 

 and the native envoys on their return to Britain. 

 I do not propose to repeat the venerable story of 

 Ctesar's first landing in Britain, you know it all, 

 the difficulty of approaching the shore, the 

 heroism of the Roman legionaries, and the ultimate 

 flight of the defenders. It is necessary, however, 

 to follow the fortixnes of King Commius of Arras, 

 for he will figure in an important position here- 

 after. After the first victory on British soil, a 

 nmnber of envoys were hurriedly despatched to 

 Csesar to discuss terms of peace. With them came 

 Commius of Arras. "He had been seized," he 

 said, " on his arrival in Britain, and thrown into 

 chains, from which he waa only now released in 

 order that he might plead the cause of the van- 

 quished before Caesar. Csesar's clemency accepted 

 both the submission of the tribes and the excuse of 

 Comniiu?. I need not linger on the other details of 

 this first descent into Britain. The real invasion 

 took place in the following year, b.c. fifty-four, 

 the seven hundredth year of Rome. On this 

 second occasion, by the timethatCsesar an-ived on 

 the Gallic side of the Channel, six hundred new 

 transport ships had been built after designs of liis 

 own, and were nearly ready to be launched. Besides 

 these, Caesar tells us that he had 28 warships, 

 as well as those employed against the Veneti the 

 year before ; and that a number of others were 

 fitted out by private individuals for their o^vn 

 convenience. The fleet had orders to meet at 

 Boulogne. Altogether Caesar reckons that his 

 fleet numbered more than 800 sail. Before this 

 great arraadj, gets under way, let us do a few 

 sums in simple arithmetic. Simple as these sums 

 are, the result perhaps may be found not wanting 

 in a certain element of surprise. Of the 800 

 vessels of which the fleet consisted, no less than 

 628 had been specially built for the occasion. 

 98 others used in the war against the Veneti lii\d 

 been employed the year before in the first 

 expedition to Britain ; some of these had now been 



