THE ALDERNEY BREED. 335 



were to spring, with Hollo, the Scandinavian chief, to whom 

 was yielded up the whole of Normandy and its dependencies, 

 to he held for ever as a fief of the crown of France, but in truth 

 to be an independent kingdom ; for so little did the warlike 

 Northman understand or regard the feudal fiction, that he 

 refused to undergo the customary forms. One hundred and 

 fifty years later, his great successor, surnamed the Con- 

 queror, added the proud kingdom of England to his Norman 

 inheritance. In the memorable course of events, the Duchy of 

 Normandy was severed from the English sway ; but the 

 islands on its coasts were preserved, and have remained, in 

 all the changes of fortune, to the present hour, a part and 

 dependency of England. The customs and language of the 

 people were retained by them, and their laws and ancient 

 privileges have been respected for the long space of 900 

 years. The inhabitants have been treated by England with 

 the favour which their fidelity and peculiar condition seemed 

 to demand. While all the privileges of British subjects are 

 accorded to them, with respect to their commerce with other 

 countries, they are freed from the heavy imposts to which 

 the parent country is necessarily subject. Their corn, their 

 timber, their wine, their sugar, and all colonial and foreign 

 merchandize, may be imported by them free of all the cus- 

 toms and restraints which, in England, must be imposed for 

 the purposes of revenue and protection ; while they may ex- 

 port them again, as well as their own productions and manu- 

 factures, to all the world. Although Norman in their ori- 

 gin, and speaking the ancient language of the country from 

 which they have been severed, they are English with respect 

 to their interests, their religion, and their feelings as sub- 

 jects. Insulting, as it were, by their contiguity, the proud 

 and warlike nation which regards their country as a natural 

 adjunct of France, they have bravely aided in repelling the 

 attempts of repeated armaments to subdue them. But their 

 true defence is the powerful navy of England, without whose 



