THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 535 



1840 and another was vacated by the death of the senior member, John Irving."' 

 There were two men in the House of Assembly whom Cockburn desired to have 

 in his Advisory Coimcil. These were Charles E. Nesbitt and George C. Ander- 

 son. They would have to resign their seats in the House if they should accept 

 seats in the Council. Cockburn applied to the Colonial Department for a 

 separation of the Councils, vesting the legislative functions in one body and the 

 executive functions in another, as had been done in other colonies.'" Under 

 this arrangement he could have the two members of the Assembly as advisors, 

 while they retained their seats in the House. Thus would he have in the 

 House men who Avere closely identified with the government, and that body 

 would be the more easily controlled.'" Instructions were accordingly sent 

 during the following year by which the executive functions of the Council were 

 vested in one body of men and the legislative in another. The maximum of 

 membership in each Council was fixed at nine members, three of whom could 

 transact business."' The members of the Council were appointed and were to 

 sit during the pleasure of the Crown. The senior member in each was made 

 the presiding officer, except when the Governor chose to preside in the Executive 

 Council. Seniority was left determinable by rules made by the Crown."' 



Cockburn Becomes Governor. 



When Blaney T. Balfour was placed in the government of the Bahamas 

 his commission constituted him a Lieutenant-Governor and the governor's 

 commission of his predecessor. Sir James Smyth, was continued. The latter, 

 however, exercised no authority over the Bahamas after his departure in 1833. 

 The authorities, in the Colonial Department at London at that time, had 

 planned to grant a governor's commission to a person who should reside in 

 some one of the West Indian colonies and exercise supervision over the gov- 



"1 Cockburn to Russell, No. 28. 



"^Cockburn to Russell, No. 28. 



^^^Loc. cit., No. 28. 



=" Council votes, 1840, pp. 285-6, Mss. Vol. The original document bearing this 

 instruction may be found in the office of the Register of Lands at Nassau. 



"= Council votes. Loc. cit. An additional instruction was sent out at this 

 time giving the names of the members of the Legislative Council. They were the 

 Chief Justice for the time being, the Bishop of Jamaica (a seat later taken by the 

 Archdeacon of the Bahamas), Patrick Brown, William Webb, Robert Sandilands, 

 John Good, William Hield, John Storr and William Hamlyn, ranking in seniority in 

 the order in which they were named in the instruction. In all other instances they 

 were to rank in the order of their appointment. A change was made in this order 

 soon after. 



