438 HISTORY 



business without any further reference to it.'' ITc assured the House that if it 

 desired to pass a bill embodying the sentiments wliieli lie had expressed, he 

 would have no hesitation in giving his assent to it." Accordingly the House 

 passed a bill, which became the first act of the Bahama Legislature in the reign 

 of the new Sovereign, declaring that neither the arrest of the iVttorney-General 

 under the warrant of the Speaker of the House, nor the bailments of the General 

 Court setting him at liberty, should be taken to have the authority of legal pre- 

 cedent, or to extend, or diminish, the rights and privileges of the House of 

 Assembly, or of the General Court."' 



But the House was not yet satisfied. This " Healing Act,"' as it has been 

 called, was passed only by the casting vote of the Speaker of this unconquer- 

 able body. Assurance that they had made no concessions must be made doubly 

 sure. By a vote of 17 to 8 the following resolution was passed: " The House 

 cannot consistently with its dignity, and never will, grant salaries to said 

 persons (William Wylly and the Justices of the General Court), or any of 

 them, either for past services since the commencement of the aforesaid dis- 

 putes, or for any future services." '° By a vote of 22 to 2 it was resolved that 

 the House would still claim the right to imprison whomsoever it chose for the 

 l)reach of the privileges of its members, and that it should remain the judge 

 of those privileges. It also reasserted its claim to superiority to the courts."" 

 On account of the persistently violent attitude of the House in all these matters, 



^''H. v., 1820, p. 28. Address of the Governor in reply to the message of the 

 House. The Governor said: " I am authorized to state that under all the various 

 circumstances attending the arrest and commitment of a certain public character, 

 while His Majesty, on the one hand, cannot sanction by a direct admission of 

 legality the proceedings against that individual. His Majesty, on the other hand, 

 does not require any acknowledgment from the Assembly that they have advanced 

 any novel or unconstitutional pretensions." 



'-' hoc. cit. 



'^^ 1 Geo. IV, 1. This statute is retained on the statute books of the Colony to 

 the present day. It declares in express terms that there has been no acknowledg- 

 ment that the House had advanced any novel or unconstitutional principles. The 

 citation to 1 Geo. IV, 1 refers to the statutes of the Bahamas. Thus all citations of 

 statutes will refer to the Bahama statutes unless otherwise noted. 



'^"H. v., 1820, p. 36. The original motion in this matter was to the effect that 

 the House ought not to be deemed to be pledged to grant these salaries after the 

 passage of the " Healing Act." As that was not strong enough to express their 

 feeling it was changed. 



<"> Loc. cit., p. 38. 



