242 TlMEHRl. 
nies was the leading principle and the object of the 
Crown ; each colony under a separate and distinct local 
administration, but all under one general government, 
centred in Surinam. 
By a Royal Rescript of the 18th October, 1S27, a Royal 
General-Commissioner was appointed. He arrived in 
the colony in the beginning of the following year. In 
accordance with the powers conferred on him all the 
West Indian colonies were centralized under one general 
government, at the head of which was the Governor- 
General, residing in Surinam, with the title of Governor- 
General of the Dutch W.I. possessions. He had, under 
his orders, the Administrators (Gezagvoerdersj of the 
other colonies and was the Commander-in-Chief of all 
the naval and military forces in the Dutch West 
Indies. 
The first legislative act of the Royal Commissioner 
was the promulgation of a fundamental law, regulating 
the administration of all the Dutch colonies in the West 
Indies, and a special fundamental law, regulating the 
government, and the administration of justice, in Surinam, 
and its commerce and navigation. The Court of Policy 
and Criminal Justice of 1815 was abolished. A Supreme 
or High Court for the Dutch West Indian possessions and 
their dependencies was constituted under the name of 
de Hooge Raad der N. W.I. Bezittingen. Members were 
the Governor-General, President ; the Fiscal, the Comp- 
troller of Finances, the Administrator of the Domanial 
and Crown lands, and the Commissioner superintending 
the poor laws and matters educational and ecclesiastical. 
The Government Secretary was the secretary of the 
High Court. The court or council, thus constituted, was 
