It was, and still is, the Bailiff's duty to summon this "States of Deliberation," formerly at his own discretion, now at regular intervals. He does this by means of issuing a _Billet d'Etat_, in which he comments on the business to come before the States and in which he formulates certain resolutions. On these resolutions the States only vote _for_ or _against_. This Billet d'Etat is in French, still the official language--the only one used in the deliberations in former days. The whole takes us back in thought to Norman or early English times. Probably even the Norman patois of the modern rural deputies is the speech of the present time nearest to that in which our ancestors transacted their business. This legislative body represents the King's Council, in the same way that the supreme judicial body, still bearing the name of La Cour Royale, represents the King's Court. The decisions of the States are subject to the approval of the Privy Council, to whom there is a right of appeal. CHAPTER II THE SECURITY OF THE NOTES Guernsey, like other places, fell on evil days early in the nineteenth century, the period of history with which we have to deal; and the islanders suffered from the burden of a heavy debt and from the depression and want of employment which followed the close of the Napoleonic wars. Its condition at this time is graphically described in the following extracts taken from a document presented by the States to the Privy Council in 1829. "In this Island, eminently favoured by nature, antecedently to the new roads first projected by Sir John Doyle, Bart., nothing had been done by art or science towards the least improvement; nothing for the display or enjoyment of local beauties and advantages; not a road, not even an approach to Town, where a horse and cart could pass abreast; the deep roads only four feet six inches wide, with a footway of two to three feet, from which nothing but the steep banks on each side could be seen, appeared solely calculated for drains to the waters, which running over them rendered them every year deeper and narrower. Not a vehicle, hardly a horse kept for hire; no four-wheeled carriage existed of any kind, and the traveller landing in a town of lofty houses, confined and miserably paved streets, from which he could only penetrate into the country by worse roads, left the island in haste and under the most unfavourable impressions. "In 1813 the sea, which had in former times swallowed up large tracts, threatened, from the defective state of its banks, to overflow a great extent of land. The sum required to avert the danger was estimated at more than £10,000, which the adjoining parishes subject to this charge were not in a condition to raise. The state of the finance was not more consolatory with a debt of £19,137, and an annual charge for interest and ordinary expenses of £2,390, the revenue of £3,000 left only £600 for unforeseen expenses and improvements.