THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 473 



above that the treatment of slaves in the Bahamas was mild. If that is true 

 still there were cases of the most unwarranted cruelty on the part of masters, 

 and of illegal punishments, inflicted in an illegal manner. But the statement 

 that the slavery of the Bahamas was a mild form of that institution must be 

 taken as a relative statement, and to substantiate it, the number of instances of 

 cruelty there occurring, relatively to the number of slaves in the Colony, must 

 be compared with like returns from other colonies, or from the neighboring 

 States in the same time. As compared with the slavery of the States, it may be 

 said that the people of the Bahamas on several occasions deprecated the intro- 

 duction of slaves from the continent, for the reason that they feared that the 

 latter were so discontented, that they would be mutinous, owing to the 

 extremely severe treatment which it was presumed slaves always received in the 

 States. The same was true to a large extent in the case of slaves from all of 

 the island colonies, especially from San Domingo and the French colonies. 

 But, on the other hand, it is very easy to argue that the number of cases of 

 cruelty in this Colony would not have to be very large in order to make the 

 percentage high, for the slaves of the Bahamas numbered only 9000 to 10,000. 

 However this may be, the Bahamas were by no means free from cases of cruelty, 

 and Sir James Smyth was ever unremitting in his efforts to do away with it 

 altogether. He found the state of public opinion disappointingly low, accord- 

 ing to the standards of morality and social consideration to which he had been 

 accustomed. He set to work to try to educate the public mind to a higher 

 plane, but he did not wait until this was accomplished before trying to shield the 

 negroes from occasional barbarous treatment. It was part of his plan to teach 

 by example, as well as by precept, and to place before the Bahama public exam- 

 ples of justice tempered with mercy. 



Law Against Cruelty to Slaves not Enforced. 



In entering upon this line of conduct. Governor Smyth was making a break 

 with the precedence of a system that was perhaps as old as the Colony itself. 

 He was breaking with the interpretation, and with the application, of the 

 law that had grown up within the Colony. The Governor determined to prevent 

 further evasion of the slave laws. He was advised by the law officers of the 

 Crown at London that he could proceed against a slave master charged with 

 cruelty on ex-officio information. He then ordered the Attorney-General to 

 bring before the grand jury the three worst cases of alleged cruelty, ihat he 

 would have to take up by indictment, and through them to make a test of 



