THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
51 
savage or half-civilised land, to fly the Union Jack. It cannot be 
called in evidence to attest the existence of a Roman road to which 
there is no other witness ; nor can an unproved Roman road be held 
to convert a loyal memorial into a milestone. 
Whether, when the Romans left our island, and the Britons had 
to rely upon their own efforts for protection against northern and 
seaborne marauders, this part of England shared to the full extent 
in the general despair is doubtful. The preservation of an inde- 
pendent or quasi-independent status would tell in its favour. It is 
impossible to credit the assertion that the Picts and Scots carried 
their raids into this western promontory. Moreover, the cliff 
castles, 1 which undoubtedly indicate danger from the sea, are in 
part, at least, of earlier date, and in part, we may presume, of 
later origin. I am inclined to hold, therefore, that this isolated 
corner enjoyed for a while comparative quiet, and was one of the 
last places vexed by Saxon or by Dane. The Saxons were familiar 
with the channel coast, "the Saxon shore," before they reached 
thus far West, and the Danes make their first historical appearance 
in connection with Cornwall as the allies of the Cornish race 
against their Teutonic kin in the reign of Ecgberht. 
Probably the West still retained its trading characteristics. This 
seems the most reasonable explanation of the presence of early 
bezants at Exeter, instead of attributing them — as is sometimes 
done — to the time of the Crusades. 2 There is other evidence of 
the continuance of a tin trade with Alexandria in a seventh- 
century legend, disinterred from the " Acts of the Saints " by the 
late Sir Edward Smirk e. A ship load of Cornish tin is said to 
have been turned into silver for the behoof of the Church. What- 
ever we may think of the evidence for the miracle, unless a traffic 
in tin between Cornwall and the East had existed, there would 
have been no suggestion for the legend. 3 
And here we get some light from the peculiarities of the local 
hagiology. Cornwall has been called the " land of saints," but few 
of the holy names with which its map is studded are of home 
birth. "The Land's End district, with the strip of north coast 
1 See ante, p. 19. 
2 The Exeter bezants include examples of Justinian I., Justus II., Phocas, 
Constans II., L Commenus, Constantine IX. — a.d. 527-969. 
3 Jour. R. I. Com. viii. pp. 283-291, 
