78 ENGLISH GARRISOX OF GUERNSEY. 



heavy bombardment of the town, but beating off* to the last 

 with heavy loss every attempt to capture the castle, and in the 

 end, when further defence was no longer possible, exacting 

 from their enemies as the price of their surrender, permission 

 to march out of the castle with all the honours of war, and an 

 indemnity of £1,500. Also it was their honour to be the last 

 Eoyal garrison in the kingdom to surrender to the Parlia- 

 ment. 



Mr. Tupper also gives at length an interesting " Declara- 

 tion of the people of Guernsey" addressed to Cromwell in 

 1653, pointing out the inadequacy of Castle Cornet as the 

 chief defence of the island, and urging that the island itself 

 should be fortified and made the headquarters of the garrison 

 and a small guard only be kept in the castle.* The many 

 reasons advanced in support of their request are too long to 

 detail here, but the time was not ripe for the change, so no- 

 thing Avas done. 



At the Restoration of Charles II. the old system of a 

 small garrison paid by the Governor was continued. A letter 

 describing Lord Hatton's solemn entry into his government 

 on the 1st November, 1664, shows the number of the force to 

 have been the old guard of 40 to 50 men. We are told that 

 he came from Castle Cornet in a barge made purposely for 

 the occasion, and had for his guard 24 soldiers with halberds, 

 who marched before him, and 2U others who had carbines 

 who came after in blue casaques.f Lord Hatton was suc- 

 ceeded in his government by his son, the second Lord Hatton, 

 who is memorable for his marvellous escape when the magazine 

 at Castle Cornet blew up on the 29th December, 1672, and 

 destroyed a large portion of the castle, killing Lady Hatton 

 and several other persons.^ He was the last Governor to 

 reside in Castle Cornet, and also the last who paid and main- 

 tained the garrison. It is surprising that such a rotten 

 system should have lasted so long, but at length the garrisons 

 of the islands were placed under the control of the Board of 

 Ordnance and the old Governors' guard replaced by troo])s of 

 the then recently established standing Army.§ 



The exact date of this change is not given by any of our 

 historians, but it evidently took place about the year 1680, 

 when Thomas Phillips was sent over by the Board of Ord- 

 nance to survey the defences of the islands. His maps, plans 

 of our fortifications and of proposed improvements, are now in 

 the British Museum. 



* Tupper, Hist, of Guernsey, p. 342-3. t Do., p 363. t Do., 371-4. 

 § Duncan, Hist. Guernsey, p. 409. 



