492 HISTORY 



explanations 'and admonitions to the ignorant Africans was most salutary,' 7 * 

 although disturbances at the Turks Islands required the sending of troops to 

 restore order. At Exuma and Eleuthera petty disorders were soon quieted. At 

 Nassau the whites took offense at the proclamation of the Lieutenant-Governor, 

 which intimated that it was possible for them to commit acts which would 

 deserve punishment, and fifteen out of sixteen copies of the proclamation, posted 

 about the city, were torn down within twenty-four hours. 274 The detachment of 

 the second West Indian regiment, which had long been stationed at Nassau, 

 was withdrawn during this summer, pending a change in the troops. Their 

 absence was an additional reason for apprehension to the people. 275 The delay 

 in the arrival of the special magistrates who were expected with the July mail 

 packet was an additional cause of apprehension; 276 but as the day of liberation 

 approached the people did not become more disorderly, and, as if they ap- 

 preciated the meaning of the great event that was taking place, they allowed 

 that day to pass quietly, and slavery in the Bahamas passed away forever. 



PERIOD OP THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM. 



A NEW KEGIME INSTITUTED. 



In undertaking the great movement for the emancipation of the slaves the 

 English people intended to improve the condition of the negroes. The labor- 

 ing classes in the English plantations had been in bondage throughout the 

 history of those communities. Political rights were denied them, they were 

 crowded to the bottom of the social scale, and the proceeds of their labor went 

 to nourish and strengthen their masters. From being mere bondsmen they 

 had been reduced to the condition of slaves, a very name from which men 

 would shrink. The order was now to be changed. A movement began in 

 the latter part of the eighteenth century which little by little gained the 

 strength necessary to remove these legal discriminations against the negro. 

 This movement first accomplished a denial of the right to carry on the traffic in 

 African men and women in English territory and waters and on the high seas ; 

 after that the amelioration of the condition of the slaves and free negroes in 

 the British possessions was undertaken. This latter object was pursued until 

 the British Parliament was led to the point of dealing decisively with the 



273 Balfour to Stanley, No. 113. 

 Loc. cit. 



275 Loc. cit., No. 115. This withdrawal proved to be only temporary. 

 % 276 I/oc. cit. 



