THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 487 



they allowed the Crown to select the members of them, 245 and by all means in 

 his power to bring back the colonial government to the " sound constitutional 

 principle of having the responsible servants of the government nominated by 

 the Crown." He was even more jealous of the prerogative than Sir James 

 Smyth had been. 



When Sir James Smyth came into the government, the House, through its 

 control of the salary list, held practical control of the Council which was made 

 up almost entirely of salaried officials, and of men who themselves favored the 

 popular view of the slavery question. We have seen how this influence was used 

 for a time and how Governor Smyth relieved the fears of the officials on 

 account of their salaries, and reconstructed his Council, introducing men who 

 were better disposed to the government. The Council was thus brought to 

 favor the policy of the government. But the House on its part was unwilling 

 to see these things pass from its control. Long exercise of the executive func- 

 tions by its appointed commissioners had caused its members to look on this 

 as the legitimate order of things in a British colony. The Council was looked 

 upon as a body which had no right to reject measures sent up by the House. 

 It was only to ratify bills passed by the House and ought not to resist a demand 

 of the people as embodied in a House bill. It claimed the rights, for which it 

 contended, as fully recognized. 248 The House was jealous of the Executive, and 

 had frequently protested against fancied encroachments of the latter upon 

 its rights. Since the agitation of the slavery question had begun, ignorance of 

 the real intentions of the home government had made the colonists, inside and 

 outside of the House, suspicious of every step the government undertook. 

 They feared schemes for aggrandizement and for the destruction of colonial 

 rights; a snare was seen in every civility of the head of the government, and 

 in " every proposal was an attempt at some unavowed advantage," which 

 illusion only perseverance in "open unoffensive conduct could dispel." 5 Bal- 

 four attempted to invite confidence in himself, to explain his intentions, and 

 to be frank and open in everything, but without avail. There was no leader 

 to whom he could appeal, no party to whom he could address himself, no definite 

 policy to be followed. Much time was spent in purposeless speech -making, 

 without any attempt to carry on business. " Any new violent expression of 



245 Balfour to Stanley, No. 61. H. V., 1833, p. 46. 



244 H. V., 1833, p. 300, resolves of the House on the rejection of the market bill 

 by the Council. 



M7 Balfour to Stanley, No. 61; see also votes of the House for this session. 



