INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE COMPUtation of a Table of the Deviations of SOUTH AMERICAN LIGHTS, corrected to 1851. THAMES RIVER TO THE MEDITERRANEAN, additions to 1850 1 2 0 0 1 90306 3 GIGHA ISLAND AND SOUND (Scotland W. Coast) Capt. Robinson, R.N., 1850. i IRELAND SOUTH-EAST COAST, KNOCKMAHON TO WEXFORD, Com. G. A. Frazer, R.N., 1850. ANTIGONISH HARBOUR, Capt. H. W. Bayfield, R.Ñ., 1846 ORONTES ROAD, POSIDIUM BAY, AND RUAD ISLAND, Mr. B. J. Hooper, 2 0 1 6 2 0 EDWARD DUNSTERVILLE, Master R.N. Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, May 22nd, 1851. WANGARI HARBOUR, NEW ZEALAND, Capt. Stokes, R.Ñ., 1849. METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER. Kept at Croom's Hill, Greenwich, by Mr. Rogerson, of the Royal Observatory. From the 21st of April, to the 20th of May, 1851. ON JULIUS CESAR'S EXPEDITION, in relation to his point of departure from Gaul, and the localities of his first and second descent upon the opposite shore of England. THIS subject has been repeatedly investigated by men of keen and practical minds, whose fondness for antiquarian research has induced them to analyze the opinions of others, to compare them with every historical record within their reach, examining with minute criticism Cæsar's own Commentaries, and submitting them to the test of Roman Historians cotemporary with that great man; then, following through in detail, the testimony of succeeding writers, in the Saxon era, backed as they were by traditions (in their day) comparatively recent, and countenanced by the discoveries made also (in their day) of the decisive progress and route of the Roman Legions through Kantium, a country thickly strewed with the bones of the slain, and identified by the coins found among the fragments of armour, even from the sea board itself, among the marine exuviæ, to the barrows or places of burial in the interior. Again in more modern researches where geological changes have converted the anchorage of navies into pasture land, the cuttings of the agriculturist or engineer, have laid bare quays, and jetties, the materials of which afforded positive evidence of the preference which had been given by Cæsar's descendants, to the self same line of operations, which had been selected by him as the first invader; and the route to and from which was marked by the Pharos at Dover, Kingsdown, Richborough, Rutupiæ, and other unmistakable ruins, such as do not exist upon NO. 7.-VOL. XX. 2 x any other line or route. These taken in connexion with ancient traditions, induced antiquarians to coincide in their opinions through many centuries, that the first landing of Cæsar was upon the shore under the shelter of the South Foreland, with an autumnal southerly breeze in smooth water, near to Richborough, where the sand-hills upon a low shore, have been for time immemorial called Cæsar's Fleet, by the lower orders, and have been considered by the more learned, as mounds thrown up by the Roman Legions forming between each the causeways into which they drew up their ships, and constructed their naval encampment, as recorded by their own historians; and we shall hereafter be prepared to shew that these sand-hills were (previous to the filling up of the estuary) the line and margin of the sea; and probably the most accessible for disembarkation of any point of our coast. If the traditions of our ancestors were in opposition to long received historical data, and inconsistent with the extraordinary changes which during a lapse of two thousand years, have completely altered the features of our coast line, they would not be worthy our attention. But I think it is presumptuous to disbelieve every thing, which will not admit of positive proof, for how little would scepticism leave us, upon which we could rely, historically, religiously, or politically, if we cast aside all the traditions which are the handmaids of history, and only receive for our belief, those circumstances, and things, which we could prove to demonstration. We read that Paul landed among barbarians upon an island called Melita, now Malta, accompanied by a Roman guard, and it is also written that a similar succession of ages has elapsed since Roman Legions landed in another certain island called England. Nobody doubts the locality at Malta, called St. Paul's Bay, where the viper was shaken from the Apostle's hand into the fire; and we think it is equally to be credited, that Caesar's descent was where history and tradition have almost universally assigned its locality. I am led into these reflections by a very interesting paper, in the March number of the Athenæum, by A. B. G. The author acknowledges, "That it has been very generally considered as established, that Julius Cæsar landed somewhere in the neighbourhood of Walmer or Deal, and that he himself, had accepted Dr. Halley's solution of this interesting question as perfectly satisfactory;" more recent investigations however, on his part, had originated certain doubts, to which he has given expression in the Athenæum, and by an attentive perusal of them, I think any reader will come to the conclusion, that they are put forth, most courteously to elicit replies, from all, or any, who are pleased to enter the lists, in an investigation which must confer intellectual pleasure, through the medium of scientific and literary research. The arguments in this paper are ingenious, but they have to contend with long received opinions, and what is more, it will be difficult, to explain away the premises upon which those opinions are based; such as the derivations of names of places having reference to occurrences which bear the Stamp of authenticity. We are reminded of the elaborate geological works which affect to despise the records of a universal deluge, although the traditions of all nations point through the mist of departed ages to such a catastrophe; but in this their denial they find it impossible to account satisfactorily for the foot-marks of a disrupted creation, while those who admit the fact, unmask without difficulty, every feature and development of the organic changes, which have taken place around them. In like manner, to form an estimate of the actors in the expedition of Cæsar, we must first contemplate the stage upon which the dramatis persona, were engaged. The scenery since then has been shaken by tempest, inundation, and tremora. Promontories have receded before the ever-wasting surge; hills have decreased in altitude.* Havens have been silted up by their detritus, and piers buried beneath the waters, leaving no trace but the names expressive of their derivation, and now only known as the rocks and shoals, which mark their former site.† In reviewing then this interesting paper of A. B. G., these facts must be especially alluded to, as the subject matter requires it for the sake of elucidation. Investigations such as these have been very cleverly handled by several members of the Cinque Ports, who had all the classical acquirements necessary to the task, combined with a long residence in the locality, and the inspection of the best museums and collection of Roman and British coins, fibula, and other relics, continually exhumed in their respective localities, such as originated the history of Sandwich in 1792, by William Boys, Esq., F.S.A., and the history of Dover in 1814, by the Rev. John Lyon, a gentleman within my personal recollection and knowledge, and who was assisted in his researches by the most eminent men of the day, who were making the antiquities of the Cinque Ports, their especial study. These gentlemer. appear to have reasoned upon general evidences as to history; and it is fair to suppose that Dr. Halley who wrote exactly a century before them, might be supported in his conclusions by records which had in the intervening period gone to decay, for we know that Mr. Lyon found a most shameful neglect existing at Dover, as to the records of that ancient port. This was much to be lamented, as every excavation in that old town proved the existence of the features of its original haven as perpetuated from generation to generation, by oral tradition. The first doubt expressed in the Athenæum paper, related to the port of departure in Gaul, and as the Portus Iccius of the Roman navigators has always been conceded to Boulogne, let us at once examine the objection in detail. Boulogne was in the country of the Morini, and it is said that Cæsar had not then subjugated the Morini. Admitting that to be the fact, there is no reason why they should not have been passive allies, nay, it is probable that they assisted him with pilots for the opposite coast in his expedition. History is not silent as to the manœuvres of political expedience on the part of the Romans, and to which in a great measure they were indebted for their extended dominion! The conciliating some • Shakespeare's Cliff Dover. † See Nautical Magazine, "Oral Traditions" The records of all the ports were originally kept in a room in the keep or tower of Dover Castle. tribes, exciting the jealousies and espousing quarrels of others, and this they soon effected to the prejudice of Cassibelanus, in favour of Mandubratius, immediately after they had obtained a footing in Britain. Now, the Morini and the Kantii were continually in view of each other! We know that some of the headlands on either side of the Straits have a prodigious and perpetual waste, ours in many projections on either side of the North Foreland, not less than two feet upon an annual average. It has been computed agreeably with the geological formation that not only has the recession been very great, but, also the loss of altitude upon many points, such as that magnificent Shakspeare's cliff at Dover. How often have I stood upon that eminence gazing at the opposite shores of France, when with a summer's evening refraction it appeared merely a narrow pass, and the white tents of Napoleon's army full in view! and seventy thousand bayonets flashing against the rays of the evening sun, as their columns moved to and fro upon the brow of the hill on parade! Such a scene may yet again be presented to our view. If so, may similar battalie see between them and their promised prey, that iron arm again extended, which has always proved England's best security in time of peril! "Britains best bulwarks are are her wooden walls!" But to return to the Morini. Two thousand years ago, they (from so close a proximity) must have been intimately acquainted with every thing relating to the Kantii. A people acknowledged by Cæsar to be far more advanced in civilisation than the other tribes, and as a proof of their intercourse with the Morini,—who but them, the Morini could have acquainted the Britons with Cæsar's preparations for invading their country; and that he was about to employ the very fleet which he had equipped in the preceding year for the chastisement of themselves, these self-same Morini? Would they not relate to them his extraordinary progress even to the Rhine! where he had thrown over a bridge for the passage of his army? Accordingly we read "The Britons alarmed at his preparations, sent ambassadors with offers of submission, but Cæsar though he received them with kindness, did not abandon his intended scheme of an invasion. It is here worthy of remark, that it must have been a regularly organized society which could depute ambasssadors thus accredited, and an inference also is produced that a British vessel conveyed them, and that the havens of England were consequently places of commercial intercourse, consistently with the barter and traffic of those early times. The painted bodies, and promiscuous intercourse of the Britons have always been considered exaggerations. Roman historians speak very respectfully of their arms, sword, lance, shield, and chariots armed with scythes! together with cavalry which came forth to combat, and the conduct of Cassibelanus in the management of his forces, was anything but that of a rude barbarian. When resistance was ineffectual from the distracted state of the country, and the divisions among the native tribes, he disbanded an army which he could not trust, still reserving four thousand war chariots, with which he harrassed the Romans, &c. From all this it would appear that the Britons were not the contemptible Fairholm's geology. |