i6o 



The Review of Reviews. 



THE RENASCENCE OF ICELAND. 



Ix the Twentkth Century Mai^azine for January, 

 the first of a series of papers on the obscure 

 democracies of Europe is an account by Professor 

 J. H. Raymond of the awakening of Iceland. It is 

 a very interesting story that he has to tell. 



THE GOLDEN AUE. 



874 A.i). is held by the Icelanders to be their 

 natal, year, when they were colonised by emigrants 

 from Norway. For four centuries Iceland was 

 independent, and had her golden age. In 1264 

 Iceland voluntarily put herself under the rule.of Nor- 

 way ; and since 1380, when Norway passed to 

 Denmark, Iceland has been a Danish possession. 

 From that date Iceland passed into obscurity. 



CRUSHED BY MONOroI.V." 



In 1602 Christian IV. of Denmark, wanting money 

 for his building operations and wars, made a Royal 

 monopoly of all the trade of Iceland. This raised 

 the cost of living enormously, and utterly crushed 

 the wretched Icelanders. Its results were so evil 

 that in 1787 the Dani.sh Government made traffic 

 with Iceland free to all Danish subjects, and in 1854 

 to all nations. " As Iceland produces j^ractically 

 nothing but sheep, ponies and tish, almost all the 

 necessities of life must come from abroad." 



AFl'ER I'REE TRADE, HOME RULE. 



Having achieved Free Trade, Iceland began to 

 clamour for Home Rule. The country is one-fifth 

 larger than Ireland, but the population is only 84,000, 

 the majority of whom are women. There are no 

 railroads, either steam or electric, and very few roads. 



Until 1905 

 there was 

 no t e 1 e - 

 graph and 

 no cable. 

 The Ice- 

 landic Par- 

 liament, or 

 .V 1 1 h i n g , 

 had a con- 

 tinuous e.\- 

 istence for 

 nearly nine 

 bund red 

 years, from 

 1^30 to 1800. 

 'I'hcAlthing 

 was depriv- 

 ed of its 

 legislati ve 

 lunctions in 

 J 700, and 

 abolished in 

 1800. In 

 1845 Ice- 

 land's Par- 



Jon Sigurdsson. 

 'i he Hero of Mo'.lern Iccl.iinl, 



liament was restored to it by Christian \'III. of 

 Denmark, but had only advisory functions. 



THE HERO OK )10ME RULE. 



Jon Sigurdsson the beloved, " the modern Ice- 

 landic hero," was a member of the new Althing, and 

 is regarded by all Icelanders as the Father of the 

 new Iceland. He became the leader, almost the 

 embodiment, of the new Home Rule movement, and 

 in 1874, the thousandth anniversary of the settlement 

 of Iceland, its ancient law-making power was restored 

 to the Althing, and the Icelanders celebrated at once 

 their original hiilh as a 1 >.tion and their rebirth as a 

 self-governing .State. The revered Jon .Sigurdsson 

 was the real author of Iceland's freedom. Still the 

 King was represented by a Governor not responsible 

 to Parliament or ])eople. But the Constitution was 

 amended in 1904 so as to provide for a responsible 

 Minister in place of the irresponsible Governor. The 

 Icelandic Parliament is composed of forty members. 

 The .Senate has fourteen, the Lower House twenty- 

 si.x. The franchise was restricted to men twenty-five 

 years old, and not servants. The Althing elected 

 eight of its thirty-four members to the Senate ; six 

 members were appointed by the King — really by the 

 -Minister in, power. 



woman's suffrage granted. 



Agitation for further reform set in, and Ireland 

 again amended the Constitution iti three ways : — 



(l) .She h.is enfrancliisod her servant class ; (2) she has com- 

 pleted the enfranchisement of her women : and (3) she 

 luis removed a renmant of medievalism in her legislative 

 system by abolishing the Royal appointment of the six Senators. 



A nooM IN progress. 

 Having achieved Free Trade, Home Rule, Woman 

 Suffrage, Iceland is bounding ahead. Her new 

 National University began teaching in October, 

 191 1 : — 



.\ splendid new Xational l.ilirary lias been eslablislied at 

 Reylijavik ; telephone lines arf bring extended into many of the 

 remote parts of tlie island ; excrllont and much-needed roads 

 and bridges are being Iniilt ; ;igricidtural experiments are being 

 made which will undoubtedly demonstrate the possibility of 

 raising something more than tin- present lonely and inadequate 

 crops of potatoes and turnips ; prospectors are energetically 

 exploring the nmuntains and plains in search of mineral trea- 

 sures ; municipal improvements, ^uch as water systems and 

 sewer systems, are being introduced in KcykjaviU : and one even 

 hears talk of harnessing some of the magnificent waterfalls to 

 produce electric light and power with which to operate proposed 

 new mills and even railways. 



'{'he Icelandic women have possessed the municipal 

 vote for some time, and are responsible for the itiiro- 

 duction of gas for lightitiy and cooking purposes, the 

 great lack of Iceland being fuel, many an Icelatider 

 having lived and died without having ever so much ' 

 as seen a tree. 



The wreck of the Del In is described by George R. 

 I lalkett iti the Pall Mall Magazhu; with sketches by 

 the writer, and photographs. He gives a very thrilling 

 account of the time between the grounding of the ship 

 and the removal of the p:iNsengers. 



