Great Britain: The Other Eden

Jean-Paul Sartre cavils with Communism. Sheriff Jim Clark finds fault with democracy. But there is always a third alternative: feudalism, which still flourishes on the tiny (41 sq. mi.) Channel Island of Sark, ten miles from Normandy, ruled by Sibyl Mary Collings Beaumont Hathaway, 81, Dame of Sark and 21st holder of a hereditary fief first granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1565. Dame Sibyl’s 475 loyal vassals last week celebrated the 400th anniversary of the grant with three-legged and sack races, five skyrockets, and a solemn service of thanksgiving presided over by the Bishop of Winchester and Sir Charles Coleman, K.C.B., Lieutenant Governor of the nearby island of Guernsey. Sir Charles read a message from the current Elizabeth, thanking the Sarkese for their “steadfast loyalty.” Said the Queen: “I shall follow your progress with keen interest.” Tenant’s Tithes. Progress, indeed. Walled off from the world by 300-ft. cliffs that drop precipitously to the treacherous Channel tides, warmed to fertile abundance by the Gulf Stream, the haystack-dotted island plateau of Sark revels in its similarity to “this other Eden, demi-paradise,” that was the England of Shakespeare’s time. As lord and mistress of the seigneury, Dame Sibyl administers her estate through a seneschal (chief minister), one Willie Baker, but runs the 52-man Court of Pleas (Parliament) herself with an autocratic hand. From the 40 tenant families who hold their land in fee from her, she exacts a tithe on wheat harvested, lambs born, wool shorn, cider pressed, shipwrecks recovered and other developments, a tresieme (13th) of all real estate sales, and an annual poulage of one capon assessed for every chimney on every house. In turn, she renders her liege, Queen Elizabeth, the annual fee of 50 shillings ($7) specified under the charter awarded the first Seigneur of Sark, Sir Helier de Carteret, by good Queen Bess, in return for his promise to colonize the island, and end its use as a pirate lair. Her droits de seigneur also include the right to keep the only pigeons and bitches on the island. Steady Surplus. Sark’s farmers and fisherfolk enjoy the advantages of one mailbox, 31 tractors, 103 television sets, 180 telephones, and one electrified wheelchair (for Dame Sibyl, who has an arthritic hip), but by and large, Sarkese tend to regard recent innovations as superfluous. Sark has no automobiles, cinemas, tennis courts, airport or trade unions; no lawyers, income tax or divorce.-The speed limit, for horse-drawn carriages and tractors, is 5 m.p.h., and the island’s two policemen have a simple way of trapping speeders: they walk as fast as they can behind the suspect vehicle, and if it outpaces them, issue a summons. “The reason feudalism has lasted here is that it works so well,” explains Dame Sibyl. “So long as the island is prosperous, there is no reason to change.” There is, in fact, a very good reason not to: by its uniqueness Sark draws some 38,000 tourists a year who make the journey in a packet from Guernsey and stay at one of the island’s five inns. All pay a landing tax of 210 a head, and most buy liquor and cigarettes, which despite a small Sarkese import tax, are still far cheaper than in modern Britain. As a result the Sarkese budget, written painstakingly in longhand by Greffier (chief clerk) Hilary Carre, boasts a steady and handsome surplus—last year totaling $17,000 on revenues of $49,000. Instead of a national debt, there is an accumulated surplus of $220 for each vassal, serf and villein.

*Residents can take the one-hour boat ride to get a divorce on Guernsey, but rather than leave Sark, many seem to prefer domestic solutions. One woman native, when asked “Have you a husband?” replied: “Good gracious, no. A friend of mine has one. I don’t need one of my own.”