THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 477 



The conduct of a prominent local official, Assistant Justice Lees of the General 

 Court, was no encouragement to others to abide by the law. He tricked the 

 Governor into granting a license, in an irregular manner, for the removal of 

 a gang of slaves from Exuma to Cat Island. When the slaves were about to 

 be removed they fled to Nassau to complain to the Governor. Lees took pos- 

 session of them, brought them to trial, and threw them into the workhouse, 

 where they were severely flogged as runaways. 201 



These regulations interfered with the use of slave mariners, many of whom 

 were employed in the shipping of the Colony. Formerly a master could go to 

 sea with his slaves at his own convenience, without any reference to the 

 authorities in the government. The necessity of going to Nassau, in order to 

 obtain a permission for each trip, in great measure deprived the masters 

 of the value of these slaves. 802 Unless such slaves had been registered, before 

 setting out from one island or port for another, they were liable to seizure on 

 arrival at a port, to which the customs establishment had extended. They 

 could then be prosecuted, as slaves brought into the island without the war- 

 rant of the Governor, the penalty of which was forfeiture. 203 The legislature 

 protested against this regulation in the winter of 1831-1832 on the arrest of 

 five mariners, who had been seized under it. Their protest produced no effect 

 on those who were responsible for the regulation, although the Governor did, 

 in the case referred to, restore the slaves to their owner. 204 



201 Smyth's Ds., Nos. 63 and 64. Both the Governor and Lees were at fault in 

 this affair. The former had not required the latter, as agent for Lord Rolle, to 

 obtain the license from the Public Secretary in the regular way. The latter did 

 not tell the whole truth as to the purpose of the removal until after the signature 

 of the Governor had been secured to the paper bearing the license. The Governor 

 protested against it, but to no purpose. As an officer of the law the Assistant 

 Justice might have been more careful to comply with the letter of the law, which 

 he certainly understood, as an example to the community. (Ds., S. St., 1831, No. 5.) 

 Lees seemed to have had a private understanding that if he obtained the license 

 for the removal, he would receive a portion of the profits of the cultivation of the 

 land of another man than Lord Rolle. (Smyth's Ds., No. 63.) Another feature 

 of this affair was that no record of the trial of the slaves at Nassau was kept. 



202 See H. V., 1831, p. 73. 



203 Loc. cit. 



204 H. V., 1831, p. 73. See also loc. cit., appendix. The vessel, which was thus 

 taken possession of, was on a wrecking tour. It had put into Crooked Island, 

 where there was a collector of the port, who had never made known the fact of his 

 presence. There had been no separate notice given out that this regulation would 

 apply to the mariner slaves. The Crown law officer took the view that the slaves 

 should be forfeited according to the provisions of the law. The Governor decided, 

 and acted, on the merits of the case, and restored them to their owners. Loc. cit., 

 1831, p. 95. 



