THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 435 



resolutions. People feared an uprising of the slaves, and there was such ex- 

 citement that few local men could have spoken calmly of the situation. 38 



The next meeting of the local Assembly occurred in September of 1817. 

 In the interval the people and the representatives, whom they had returned 

 to the new Assembly, had not forgotten their grievances. It could scarcely 

 have been expected that this body would have proceeded to business without 

 any reference to the difficulties of the preceding winter; still it was hoped that 

 an interval would serve to bring about a calmer state of feeling. But the new 

 House was of no better disposition than the old one had been. After learning 

 from the Governor that the home government had disapproved their un- 

 authorized assumption of the power of imprisonment, 3 * they adopted the same 

 line of conduct that their predecessors had followed. The membership of 

 this House was almost the same as that of the former, and their opinions had 

 not altered a jot. Absolute supremacy within the Colony was their claim; 

 they held that they were the sole judges of their own privileges, 40 and still con- 

 fidently expected to be justified by the Prince Eegent. They persisted in their 

 endeavors to humble the Attorney-General, but without avail. Bills were 

 ordered reversing the judgments in the Wylly case; 41 but the very same official 

 personages, against whose action these measures were directed, also held seats 

 in the Council which had a share in legislating. As judges of their own cause, 

 they naturally threw out these bills. 42 The Provost Marshal who had assisted 

 in the arrest of the Attorney-General was arraigned before the bar of the House 

 to make an apology for his conduct in that affair which he had made public. 43 

 A bill for the registration of the slaves was passed, but it was intentionally 

 framed so that neither the Council, Governor, nor home government would accept 

 it. 44 Not least of these attempts to shift to the Council the responsibility for 

 the lack of legislation was the passage of an appropriation bill omitting pro- 

 vision for the salaries of the Attorney-General and the Justices of the General 

 Court. 45 They resolved not to pass any legislation at all, except for the pur- 

 pose of preserving the public credit, and for the reestablishment of their own 



38 Royal Gazette, IV (1817), No. 337. 

 89 H. V., 1817, pp. 17-18. 



40 Loc. cit., p. 20. 



41 Loc. cit., pp. 34-36. 

 "Loc. cit., p. 309. 



43 Loc. cit., p. 38. 



44 H. V., 1817, p. 109. 



45 H. V., 1817, p. 128, address to the Prince Regent. The salaries of these 

 officials were rarely granted for longer than one year. 



