444 HISTOKY 



x4.TTITUDE OF THE BAHAMAS. 



Against the whole program the colonists brought a great many argu- 

 ments — some worthy of attention, others not. It was objected to these 

 measures, just as to the registration, that they were ill-adapted to local con- 

 ditions; '^ that the advocates of them had never visited the colonies and did 

 not know anything about what would be suitable for regulating the institution 

 of slavery. As for what they had already conceded, they would consider that 

 as no sort of pledge, that they would enact any further measures of the same 

 character. Their practicability had first to be demonstrated, and for this 

 reason the Bahama House at one time refused to proceed any further with the 

 program.'* The Ministry had desired to proceed too rapidly to please the 

 colonists. The holders of this property considered it dangerous at any time 

 to meddle with the slave institution in a way that would give any little encour- 

 agement to the slaves to rise up against the authority of their masters. Insur- 

 rections had occurred in some of the larger colonies, and the horrors of the 

 insurrections in the neighboring island of San Domingo were still fresh in the 

 minds of Bahamians. The Order-in-council gave the right of complaint in 

 some matters to the slaves, which would truly have curtailed the almost 

 absolute authority of the masters.'" They pleaded for non-interference with 

 their cherished institution. They argued that the existing slaves Avere the 

 progeny of the slave property of their ancestors, who had first settled in- the Col- 

 ony on condition that the lands should be cultivated by negro slave labor, and 

 that those slaves had been guaranteed to the planters by the English law for- 

 ever; that if the English government took any measures that would lessen the 

 value of, or tend to loosen their hold on, their slave property, it would be a 

 breach of the promise made to the early settlers. They held it unlawful to 

 deprive them of their property, or of the value of it, without indemnification. 

 If by any act of the home government their slave property were caused to 

 depreciate in value, the owners of it ought to be compensated for the whole loss. 

 If involuntary labor, as it existed in the colonies, was a crime, it was the crime 

 in this instance of the mother cbuntry and she ought to bear the penalty of it.^" 



The people of this small island community had never had to bear with 

 any considerable interference from the outside. The House of Assembly had 

 been allowed to assume control of almost everything in the Colony. The in- 



"H. v., 1824, p. 89. 



"H. v., 1823, p. 71, and 1824, p. 89. 



'»H. v., 1824, pp. 89-95. 



'°H. v., 1825-26, p. 124, resolutions passed on January 24, 1824. 



