THE CESSION OF HELIGOLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIV, Issue 195, 19 August 1890, Page 4

THE CESSION OF HELIGOLAND.

(London Standard.') The British Empire has become a litHe smaller, though not much poorer, ty the virtqal excision cf Helij-olaud from the long roll of our colonies. The entire island dot*:-, not contain more than three fourths of a Equare mile of territory, no: a sinple wheeled carriage or beast of burden, no field except the potato patch on the t< p of the rock, lo road except " Land-was '' or " Kark*f£ol« AUee, " between the plots of potatoey. Germany oannot boast a vast, dcoefsion of ttintory, nor England any maiked diminution ol ita nine million sq. «*•*!• mi ts of dependencies"-. The inhabitants of fleligohmd aro Frisians, a race who at ouo time occupied a lar&e slice of the mainland, but, wnh tha exception * of iho Dutch province oi that name, the Friesland of our day comprises the sandy islands which form a sort of breast- woik to Europe from Texei off Holland, to Fat*o, on the cons'; of Schleswf. Tl 636 iala'ideis fall speak tbe a*.eieno Frisian langaage, though in dialects so different that those of one group do not always find it easy to understand the speeoh of their nearest neighbours. But the people are of the same stock, and formed — there cannot be a doubt— a large propor tion of these ADgles who have given their name to England. The Heligolanders are the best known, snd, as it were, most typical of this race, and their island the most famous oi the Frißianß. '• Sunt ct aluc insuhv contra Friesiam ct Daniam, sed nulla carum tarn memorabilis, ' writes Adam, of Bremen, and Pontanus is even mere enthusiastio : " Multa regno, multas regiones et insulas perlustravi. nee imqxiam similes huic sacra' vidi." For here Hertha Lad her great temple, and hithei oame from the mainland the Angles tc worship at her shrine. Here aho officiated the priestess Fossite, after whom, iK pre-Christian times, the island was named, On Heligoland also lived Badbod, a Paget Viking, who, on the monks telling him iba! now he was on the eve of being baptised he would no longer be fated to the same doom as hia heathen fathers, stepped out of the rain pool, declaring (with a mighty oath, that he would rather burn in Gehenna with kings end earls ihan eefve in Heaven with shaveling olerks. On this little iele, 120 C years ago, St. Wiilebrod first preached Christianity; and, in the struggles of eea rovers for its possession, the red cliffs and green turf have Eeen far wilder soenes during the centuries which have succeeded. Oui connection with it dates from no earliei a period than the year 1807, when we seized it from the Danes, who were then its masterE by reason of the isle being a dependency oi the Duohy of Holsteio, and retained possession till 1814, when the place was formallj vested by tbe Treaty of Kiel in its seven-year-masters. Yet in all this period we have dom little with it. Its yearly deficit, until recently, when the •' oolony " paid its way, waa met oul of the Imperial Revenues, and its little debt, by the good management of its Gover nors, has beeu wiped out, and a number oJ useful public works executed. There was i time when the island was believed to hav< the making of a North Sea Gibraltar oapable of commanding the mouth of tin Elbe, But steam, the lack of anything lik< a harbour, the shoalness of the sea iv its im mediate vicinity, and the endless banks formed by the silt of the river pouring Bea- - ward, have year hy year rendered thesi plans less and less practicable. Hence, exoept during the period when Napoleon i "Continental system" made smuggling { brisk business, the trade of Heligoland ha* always been trifling, and that almost entirely with Bremen and Hamburg. Guns there are, we believe, on the island, housec in sheds ; but there are no soldiers, and thi few Uoastgimrdsinen stationed thero are like the other minor officials, either Frisian; or Germans. Indeed, with the exception o. - a judge, who was for a few years addec to the staff, no person on tin island is English except the Governor Even an English visitor is rare, and as Ger man, in default of Frisian, is the onlj language understoon by the inhabitants and everything is framed to suit Teutonic tastes, its only rivals as a sea bathing place are Norderny, Fohr, and Sylt, three othei - islands belonging to the same group. Frorr the middle of October to the beginning oi June, Heligoland is a lonely, rainy, windswept, spray dashed, and often fog-euvelopecl spot. The islanders "are then left to themselves. Lobster catching, which find.occupalion for numbers of them is suspended Very little other fishing goes on, so that tinpiloting of vessels into the Elbe and Wesei which, at one time, formed the principal occupation of the men, is, though on the decrease, almost the only colonial industry, But from the middle of June to the end oi September, Heligoland— or Helgoland, as - the Germing call it — is a busy spot, The voyager who, during these sum mer months, j>asse3 tbis famous land mark sees little save a lighthouse on the cliff, a picturesque pilo oi high-pitched red-tiled roofs, and a churcb hard by, and on the spot below anothei similar group of buildings, while the sand island appears like a dune, often scarcely raised above the surface of the sea. At one time it was much more extensive, and counected with the adjoining island by "de waal," which the sea broke down hist century. But the rock island is a more imposing place, though little over a mile long and two and two-thirds of a mile in circumference. The business part of the little town is in the "Unterland, I ' or spit, which is connected with the " Oberland " above by a steam lift and a wooden stair, up and down which a long str am of people are passing all day long. Once let this flight of 192 steps be broken down, and the flat, 20011* above, is impregnable. Nothing save starvation could compel those who chose to take refuge there to surrender, though it may be admitted, as the surface is only slightly rolling and sloping, without any means of forming retreats, the garrison would be sadly open to the risk of being shelled into submission. On the '' Oberland," with the exception of a little grass, on which a few sheep are tethered, some potato plots, and little gardens, there is no cultivation, and no room for any ; for the entire " colony " is from west to east only 5830ffc long and 1845 ft wide at the broadest part, and water, except what is obtained from wells and from the " sapskulen," is not to be had. The island is, therefore, an abode of peace. Except the bray of the brass band and tho strident laughter of the idle Hamburgers, the moan of the waves in the caves below, and the scream of the sea fowl are the only sounds which break the silence of this holiday retreat— always practically German, and nov^ soon to be so in reality. The islanders are sharp-witted people, peaceful, hut fully alive to the main chance. They remarkable for longevity, their average life being about 63 years, so that Heligoland deserves all the kindly compliments paid to it by Heine. Scrofula is the principal disease ; and insanity, owing jpoasibly to the melancholy induced by their isolated position for the greater part of the year, is said to be more than usually common among the natives. But they are contented folk, who fully appreciate their advantages as British subjects. For it is certain that, in spite of the constant talk of the German visitors regarding the injustice of the English keeping possession of this outlying bit of the mainland, the Heligolanders have ■ never displayed the slightest desire to become subjects of any, other sovereign than Queen Victoria. Apirt from the liberal subsidies 'which their slender local resources have received from their English rulers, and the ever-in creasing prosperity which they have enjoyed since the opening of the place as a bathing station 00 years ago, and pre-< eminently since the closing of the gambling - tables in 1871, they have hitherto escaped the compulsory military service incumbent on every Dane and German,