THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 449 



all in the courts, or it received so little recognition that, as long as the state of 

 things existed, a slave could not secure a hearing before them, if the cause 

 were to the prejudice of a white person. It was out of the question for them 

 to exercise any control in the courts, and they were allowed little opportunity 

 to furnish the evidence they had in cases that came up for adjudication, in 

 order that justice might be done. 



In 1784 it was provided that the evidence of slaves should be admitted 

 against manumitted persons in all trials for capital or criminal offenses; but 

 by the same law only Christian slaves were allowed to testify at all, and iiey 

 only in suits for debt." Slave evidence was the first point in which the local 

 Assembly attempted to make concessions, in response to the ministerial de- 

 mand for the amelioration of the condition of the slaves. But the effort they 

 made to remove the restrictions on it would not argue strongly that they were 



r 



convinced of the expediency of granting full credit to the testimony of a 

 slave, when put on oath. The traditional prejudice of the whites against the 

 admission of the blacks to civil rights is well preserved. After 1833 free per- 

 sons of color who had been instructed in the Christian religion, and baptized, 

 and who had been free for a term of three years, were admitted to give evi- 

 dence in civil eases, the facts regarding which had occurred subsequently to 

 the liberation of the person testifying."" In 1834 this same privilege was 

 extended to all persons of color bom free in the Bahamas, and to others born 

 free outside the Colony, but who had been in the Bahamas for five years. But 

 it was still denied to manumitted persons in cases of treason and felony, and 

 offenses against the peace, committed previous to manumission, and in all 

 eases, the facts in which occurred previous to the passage of this statute." 

 Another change was made in 1839. All slaves, who were not native Africans, 

 who had been in the Colony for five years were admitted to testify in civil 

 cases, and in criminal trials by indictment, on presentation of a registered 

 certificate from an Anglican or Scotch clergyman that they could understand 

 the nature of an oath. This did not apply to cases of libel against a free per- 

 son, nor in cases which involved penalties on the defendants, unless the trial 

 were by jury. No slave could testify against a white person charged with a 

 capital offense, nor against his owner in any criminal prosecution, nor in any 

 case involving the right of a slaveholder to a slave, or regarding an alleged 



»24 Geo. Ill, 1. 

 "2 Geo. IV, 37. 

 "4 Geo. IV, 2. 

 29 



