SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 77 



of education, they are sometimes fatally deceived by design- 

 ing artitices and quibbles in law, which, by litigious charac- 

 ters, are considered as good posts of defence, or a fair channel 

 for offensive operations. From the sentence of this court, 

 there is, however, fortunately, an appeal to the mother country, 

 cither to their high mightinesses in Holland, or to the king in 

 council in England, to which ever sovereignty the colony 

 happens to owe its obedience. 



The commissary court has only three members, who meet 

 every month to decide on small causes, for debts not exceed- 

 ing six hundred guilders, or fifty pounds sterling, and for grant- 

 ing licenses to parties intending to marry. Those, who ap- 

 proach the altar of hymen, are principally people of color, 

 who, in conformity with the laws, are obliged to receive per- 

 mission from this ecclesiastical court, for which they pay the 

 extravagant fee of one hundred and ten guilders. They arc 

 also obliged to have the intended marriage advertized in the 

 colonial gazette. This form of marriage, though strictly bind- 

 ing under the colonial law, seldom or ever satisfies without 

 having recourse to a clergyman. An English gentleman, 

 who was on the eve of marrying a Dutch lady, attempted to 

 break through this law, and intended to be married according 

 to the established form of the church of England ; when the 

 vice-president of the court, fearing he should lose his fees, very 

 charitably informed him, that, if he deviated in the least 

 from the established rule, he would publish throughout the 



