THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 577 



blockade-running. He admitted, with the latter, that international comity did 

 not bind Great Britain to re|)ress the practice, but he warned him that blockade- 

 running was a breach of the belligerent's right of blockade, and that the power 

 sinned against could properly complain that the representative of the Crown 

 of Great Britain was speaking officially and encouragingly of a practice that was 

 injurious to its interests. It might sound well to the Bahama ear, but by 

 doing it the Governor laid himself open to the charge of conduct unfriendly to 

 a neighbor, thus impairing the position of the government he was serving. 

 The Governor attempted to justify himself on the ground that eminent jurists 

 and publicists admitted the right of running through the blockade of a belliger- 

 ent. But his attempted justifications failed to remove Newcastle's objections 

 to his speech. He was advised that whatever opinions he might hold, he was 

 not expected, without authority, to express them respecting the relations of 

 Great Britain and other powers; and that the spirit and tone of his address 

 could not but be injurious to the United States. The removal of Governor 

 Bayle}^ from the Bahamas took place before the end of the year. 



The new Governor, Eawson W. Eawson, reported that in the months of 

 January and February, 1865, twenty vessels reached Nassau from within the 

 blockade lines, and twelve others were run down by American cruisers. After 

 February, only three such vessels arrived. A very sudden conclusion to a large 

 trade. Some activity in commercial lines continued after the downfall of the 

 Confederacy, but trade relapsed quickly into ordinary channels, and a period 

 of stagnation followed. The great commerce was entirely due to the extraor- 

 dinary set of circumstances, as Nassau was not a port to attract a large per- 

 manent trade. 



State of Finances. 



The revenues of the Colony had grown great without the imposition of 

 any additional tax on imports or exports. Increases were made in the regular 

 expenditures, the debt of the Colony was paid off, and a surplus accumulated 

 in the treasury. These were extraordinary financial conditions. With the 

 falling off of commerce after the close of the war, the revenue inevitably failed 

 to keep up to the point which it had reached. Expenditures again overbalanced 

 revenues. Before this change took place, the Colonial Department at London, 

 noting the increase in revenue in the Colony, gave no.tice that it must 

 provide out of its own funds for the salary of the Governor. Such an instruc- 

 tion, however, could not have been based upon a study of the permanent 

 37 



