The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-04-18

4
time attracted but little attention. Its place
among the nations was once conspicuous;
but its climate was then different from now
and its soil more productive. The whole
aspect of the island was, indeed, unlike
what it is to-day. A thousand years ago.
when first discovered, it possessed extensive
forests, which have since disappeared The
Mortimer migrated there in considerable
numbers from Norway, Denmark, Sweden,
the Farce Islands and the Hebrides, but prin-
cpally from Norway, whence they fed from
the tyranny of their kings. It was indeed
sort Of Plymouth Rock to the prosecuted SUBJ
jects of Harald Harfagr-he of the fair hair
who made q vow, and kept it that his
hair should never be cut until he had
broken the power of the Jarls and
concentrated the authority which they had
long welded in his own hands. Too feeble
to make further resistance and too proud to
remain after their subjugation, they fed, with
their families and followers, to this island.
They took with them cattle and sheep, and
large herds and focks were soon reared upon
the rich and abundant pastures Of the extern
sive meadows. The island produced every
thing necessary to satisfy their needs Its
lakes and rivers abounded with various kinds
of fish; water fowl and game were plenty.
They imported horses constructed roads and
extended their facilities for intercommunica-
ton. At an early day they had established
considerable trade with the ports Of Europe
They founded q republican form Of govern
ment and literature. They recorded, with
Runic characters, the sagas of their ancestors
and gave form to the Morse religion. The
of Anglo-Saxon law gained new life from the
example of this lone, lonely, far-distant island
commonwealth. In this hardy, iberty-loving
people we discover that same independence
of spirit which resulted in the Magma Charta
and our common law 1t was great poet Of
lime Discourse" of Odin, and their great law
givers who first gave form to Morse jurispru-
dence.
It's peculiar climate lends to it special
interest. In summer the sun scarcely leaves
the heavens and the atmosphere becomes
surprisingly warm. Vegetation is of rapid
growth, and is in places extremely vigorous.
In winter the sun gives but little light and
less heat. Constant cold succeeds constant
warmth and the trembling hues Of the aurora
borealis and the weird brightness OF the moon
guide the footsteps of the traveller. 1t was
first discovered by Naddothr, Norwegian
Viking, in the year $50, although it is more
II T.. IL 1,o1
been there before. He saw it's lofty noun
tains covered with eternal snow, and called
it the snow land. Garthr, Swede, cir
cumnavigated it four years later, and
in 867 Flokki, surnamed the Raven, on account
of the birds he turned loose to guide his
called it Iceland. Then Ingolfr ana Hjorliefer
landed there in $40 and began its colonization.
This was at the time Harald the Fair Haired
was prosecuting the Jarls. The great migra-
ton then began. On the I'd Of August, 874,
the colonists assembled themselves together
and founded the Republic-the first Of Northern
Europe-whose descendants celebrate this year
their thousandth anniversary.
They have gone through those thousand
years without material change. Their Ian
guage is unchanged, their laws are intact,
and, except in their warlike disposition, their
habits scarcely differ. From warriors, who
titled the soil and caught fish and captured
game in the intervals of their more hardy pur-
suits, they have. gradually become pas
toral people, educated, hospitable and kind.
They have sometimes changed their rela-
tons with the country of their origin, but
neither their customs nor their character.
Although practically free Republic from the
first they were not wholly free from depend.
ence upon Norway No formal recognition
of any real allegiance was, however, made
until 1861, which was by decree Of Alsling
or general parliament of the people, when
Hakon was the Norwegian King. But no
tribute was exacted, and the Icelanders were
allowed to hold civil Offices and acquire hon.
ors in the parent country. In 1880
the Crown of Norway was annexed to Dem
mark, and from that time to the present the
silken bond which had held Iceland to Norway
has still held it to Denmark. The Danish
King now grants them an absolutely free con-
stitution, which absolves them from their fee
BILE allegiance, and on their millennial day, on
the same lava beds of Thingvalla where the
| Athing met annually for near thousand
years, from the Lagberg, or law mount, it will
be proclaimed as part of the celebration that
the Republic of Iceland is wholly free now,
as it was in the beginning
1t will be singular and unprecedented
spectacle government celebrating it's thou
sandth anniversary. To us, as republicans, it
is of peculiar interest There is an air of
romance in the very act which will excite the
attention of the whole world. Thousands of
curious people will flock there, and millions
who have thought Of Iceland only as land
of hleaknass and barren hills will be snr=