THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 541 



in the ColonY."'' The visits of the bishop were so infrequent that attempts 

 Avere made to secure an administrative officer of the chnrch to reside in the 

 Bahamas. This part of the work fell on already overworked clergy- 

 men/" The application resulted in the raising of the Bahamas to the rank 

 of an archdeaconate. An incumbent of the place was seated in 1843. 



The Dissexters. 



The dissenters were more active than the established church in meeting 

 the religious needs of the people. They had long been working in the Colony, 

 but their influence among the lower classes was regarded as a dangerous 

 leaven, and restrictions were placed upon them to check their progress. Some 

 of these restrictions were removed during the agitation over the slavery ques- 

 tion, but some of them remained until long after that time. Dissenting min- 

 isters were not allowed to perform funeral ceremonies in certain of the 

 public l)urying-gi'ounds. Even more harrowing restrictions as to marriages 

 were retained until 1836.^'' By these regulations a dissenting minister could 

 not legally perform a marriage ceremony in a community where there was an 

 Anglican clergyman. In 1830 a number of marriages that had been cele- 

 brated by dissenters at the Turks Islands were legalized by a special act of 

 the legislatui'e.'"" 



'^i'lie Scotcli Clnircli was recognized l)y the government and was aided by 

 the pulilic funds, hut it made no attempts to carry on extensive work among the 

 negroes. The Wesleyans and Baptists were most active. These two bodies 

 sent ca|)able lenders to the Bahamas. The Wesleyans seemed to pursue the 

 policy of locating where the estal)lished church was already planted.'" The 

 Baptists struck out into new lields in addition to those wliich others had occu- 

 pied. These sectarians were evangelists, not catechists. The old restrictions 

 on the ])reaching of ignorant persons had been removed, and negroes now 

 entered the lists of ministers."'" Francis Cockburn, himself a churchman 

 almost to the point of ' bigotry, saw in this the most dire consequences threat- 

 ening the Colony. He desired the strict licensing of all preachers and teach- 

 ers of religion, and inquired of Lord Glenelg as to the expediency of thus 



=^'' Cockburn to Russell, No. 44. 



^'' Cockburn to Stanley, No. 22. 



=^^ See account of difficulty in regard to this in H. V., 1835-6, pp. 43-45 and 64. 



'"'■ H. v.. 1835-36, p. 64. 



*'" Cockburn to Russell, No. 44. 



^^* Cockburn to Glenelg, No. 105. 



