THE HISTORY OF DEAL. THE INVASION BY JULIUS CÆSAR. It has been admitted by most historians of acknowledged authority, that the first conflict between the sea and land forces of Julius Cæsar and the natives of the Island of Britain took place on the beach or sandy soil on which stands the town of Deal. In ancient manuscript, Deal we find originally written both "Dola" and "Dale." In the Survey of Doomsday is "Addelam," taking its name from its situation-a low open plain upon the seashore. Cæsar, in his Commentaries, calls it "Dola." It is a town of some extent at this period-possessed of maritime advantages in having a Roadstead immediately in front, generally known as the Downs. A few miles distant from the shore are the dreaded Goodwin Sands, on which untold and unknown number of ships and crafts of all nations have been wrecked. It is a quicksand, in which a ship is, after a tide or two, engulphed and hid from sight. Sometimes, by the force of the wind and tide, a ship is broken up, and sinks into deep water. The Sands, together with the Downs, must have existed in Caesar's time, in all probability co-extensive 1 in point of date with the North and South Forelands, and the peculiarity of the tides in this locality are precisely the same now as they were when Cæsar effected his first landing. The Goodwin Sands are considered a natural breakwater, the absence of which would soon cause an inundation of the sea on the flat shore of Deal, submerging land of great extent. The sand is kept there by the action of the tides, which meet not far distant from Margate. Deal and the Downs are synonymous terms with all sea-going people, and as a Roadstead, is known by all the commercial nations throughout the world. Celebrated, therefore, as Deal is in these respects, it is quite as much so as being the place where Julius Cæsar ventured to land on his first and second attempts at subjugating the Island of Britain to his Sceptre. In history, Deal will always maintain a name, not only from the circumstance of Cæsar's landing there, but for its association with the many recorded battles with every nation-both Danes and Saxons in ancient, and with every European power in modern times. In these waters the first battle with the Roman Legions began. Cæsar having made up his mind to invade Britain, was not long in finding a pretext for doing so, his object being two-fold-first to conquer, and then to colonize it. Taking advantage of the circumstance of the Britons having sent some degree of succour to the Gauls, while he was engaged in war with them, as also for affording an asylum to the Belga, he resolved not only to hinder them from doing so, but to punish them in a manner as would inflict an indelible impression on the minds of the Chiefs of the Island. Acting up to the political maxims of the Roman nation, who always looked upon auxiliaries of their enemies as principals in the quarrel he attacked the Britains on the shore of Deal, without any declaration of war, which, in other cases, they were extremely formal and punctilious. Some historians suppose Cæsar's motive in invading Britain was avarice and hope of gain, and that he was influenced by an idea that pearls and precious stones were to be found therein. Others, more like truth, say that it was ambition and thirst for glory and renown, which seems to have been his constitutional disposition. Julius Cæsar was not only a consummate general, but an able statesman, every way equal to the government of the Roman Empire and all the dependencies which his successes in war had brought under the Roman yoke. In all Cæsar's enterprises he appears to be led by an inordinate desire of fame, and an habitual disregard of the opinions of others-his will being the supreme law. A proper regard for what others think, frequently incites to virtuous actions, and deter us from vicious ones, but Cæsar was swayed by none of these sentiments. Actuated by ambition and lust of power, he suffered no obstacles to exist in the attainment of his purpose. Excited with these innate idosyncracies of his nature, he pursued his victims with unrelenting fury; and when he had conquered, he enslaved them. Such dispositions as Cæsar's, when in possession of power, has always been the cause of many wars, and the great devastation of mankind. Cæsar has immortalized his name by his conquests, and is considered a great Emperor by many; but let one look for a moment at what he says of himself"I have destroyed and killed three millions of my enemies and one million of my friends." Can we cease on reflection, over the slain of this bloody man, to exclaim, "What a monster ?" Yet, out of all this evil, the All-Wise Ruler of the Universe has produced great good, for the subsequent conquest by the Romans of Britain advanced her step by step in civilization and order, which in so high a degree we enjoy at this day. In contemplating the picture of the untold hosts and myriads of killed and wounded Britons on the beach and soil of Deal by the 1-2 66 Roman Legions, one calls to mind the lines of Mr. Pope, from Homer's Iliad," so apt a description of what existed among the natives in these encounters with Caesar's forces: "His fiery coursers, as the chariot rolls, Tread down whole ranks, and crush out heroes' souls- Black bloody drops-the smoking chariot dye; Before narrating the descriptions and minute of Cæsar's expedition from Gaul to these shores of Deal, John Milton's quaint statement of the character and virtues of the ancient Britons will not be uninteresting: he says of them that, at the coming of Julius Cæsar, they resembled, as the writers of those times and their actions represent them-in courage and warlike readiness, to take advantage by ambush or sudden onset; not inferior to the Romans, nor Casibelan to Cæsar in weapons, arms, skill of encamping, embattling, and fortifying overmatched. Their weapons were a short spear and light target, a sword also by the side; their fight sometimes in chariots, fanged at the axle with iron scythes, and their bodies most part naked, only painted with woad in sundry figures, to seem terrible, as they thought; but if pinched by enemies -not nice of their painting-they would run into bogs up to their necks, and there stay many days, holding a certain morsel in their mouths not bigger than a bean to suffice hunger. Their towns and strongholds were spaces of ground, fenced about with a ditch, and green trees, felled over thwart with each other. Their buildings within were rude, and the outside thatched; and their houses answered for themselves and their cattle. In peace and quiet, the upland inhabitants, besides hunting, tended their flocks and herds, but with little skill in country affairsthe making of cheese they commonly knew not, clothing they had not, but skins of beasts afforded them, and that not always; yet gallantry they had and indomitable courage. Their diet consisted of milk and the flesh of such animals as they killed in hunting, and their common drink was water. On the coast the natives lived on fish; and as they had boats, although but very fragile and rickety-being but a sort of wicker work, covered over with the skins of animals-yet they could venture some distance from the main land, and even to cross over to the opposite coast of Belgæ. The inhabitants were originally Germans, who had passed the Rhine, and who taught them how to grow corn, and to manufacture not only bread, but intoxicating beverages also, chiefly from barley; spirituous liquors not being known to the world at all till the thirteenth century. Julius Cæsar and all ancient writers describe them to be a people naturally brave and warlike, yet free, easy, and generous their hospitality was unbounded, and all comers-strangers and foreigners alike-shared in what they had. Effeminacy and indolence they held in detestation. Open and candid in all their transactions, they were unprepared for the intrigue and chicanery which the art and cunning of the Roman people practised upon them, To this, in a great measure, may be attributed the conquest, which the Legions of Rome ultimately accomplished. Disdaining every species of deceit and flattery, and every subterfuge of low art and cunning themselves, they never suspected the mean and despicable snares and stratagems which their enemies adopted to secure a victory; possessing so much virtue and honesty as even to manifest itself when engaged in a drawn battle with the Romans that they would rather lose a battle than be guilty of treachery or deceit in winning it. It was their pride to rest the decision of a battle on their personal bravery and intrepidity alone. It was these maxims and customs that made them an unequal match with |