THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 471 



warrants for payments from the colonial treasury in an illegal manner/** The 

 Governor feared a coalition of the disaffected members for the purpose of out- 

 voting him. In order to prevent this, he seized the opportunity in the absence 

 of two of the members from New Providence, and the inability of one other to 

 attend, to call to the Council the Solicitor-General, the Eeceiver-General and 

 the Collector of the King's customs, all of whom were of the government party .''° 

 The two disaffected members remaining were chagrined at the next meeting 

 to find that they were outvoted. They gave vent to their feelings of dis- 

 appointment in such rough manners and intemperate language that they were 

 both dismissed.^'' By such measures the Governor disposed of the remnants of 

 opposition that were left in positions of authority. At a meeting of the 

 Council in the last quarter of 1833 he disclosed that the Colony was able to pay 

 all salaries — judicial, ecclesiastical, and civil — in full. No hindrance to the 

 course of public business occurring, the public confidence in the measures of the 

 government appeared to increase. The Governor purposed to put off as long 

 as possible the calling of a new legislature, in order that the public mind might 

 be given time to regain composure.^" 



Attempt to Educate the Africans. 



In the meantime, the Governor was making anxious endeavors to educate 

 some of the negroes. The colonists had regarded his activities in this sphere 

 with jealousy. The expense of what had been undertaken in this way had 

 fallen on the Crown funds, with the sanction of the Colonial Department. 

 Governor Smyth had desired to have placed at his disposal a quantity of school 

 supplies, that were in the hands of the board of education, in order that he 

 might use them in the African schools, which he had established. As Chan- 

 cellor of the Colony he forced the board to give up the supplies, but he received 

 from its members a discourteous note. He placed all of them in prison. All 



'"'' Smyth's Ds., No. 194. The Chief Justice in a meeting of the Council 

 remarked that it was useless to have the Council sign the warrants for the 

 quarterly payments from the treasury, as its consent was not necessary. The 

 Governor merely replied that he was doing it that way because he had been in- 

 structed to do so. The legal method was for warrants to be signed in the presence 

 of the Council. Loc. cit. 



"' Smyth's Ds., No. 200. He at once applied to the home government for a 

 ratification of his conduct. 



^^^ Loc. cit. 



^^' Loc. cit., No. 206. This was the third quarter for which the Governor-in- 

 Council had been able to provide support to public interests. 



