The Colony of Surinam. 245 
mulgated in the colony on the 3rd December of that 
year. All the former, and also the organization of 1828, 
were abrogated. The High Council (Hooge Raad) and 
the Gemeente-Bestuur were abolished and all their 
authority and attributes vested entirely in the Governor- 
General alone. With regard to his legislative authority, 
there was, in fa 61, no lessening from the autocratic 
element pervading the former organizations. It was, 
rather, extended and increased. A Colonial Council, 
Koloniale Raad was instituted to side the Governor- 
General in the administration of the affairs of the colony. 
It was a lamentable creation, a derision of the ancient 
fundamental law and privilege of 1682. The inhabitants 
remained deprived of any share in the management of 
the colony. 
Under the constitution of 1815, the members of the 
Court of Policy were chosen from the most moderate, 
intelligent, and wealthy of the inhabitants, being owners 
and proprietors of estates. In 1832, irrespective of any 
other qualification, " owners of estates residing in the 
H colony, or the agents of such proprietors inhabitants of 
" the colony, were alone eligible as members of the 
" Koloniale Raad." The evils of absenteeism were felt. 
The depressed condition of the colony and the financial 
distress of the owners of estates had, long before this 
period, thrown great numbers of estates into the hands 
of mortgagees and societies of share-holders who were 
represented in the colony by their agents and attornies. 
As long as the Koloniale Raad, as a so-called legislative 
body, remained in existence, — which was uncil the intro- 
duction of the free and liberal organization of the colonial 
government in 1865, — there was scarcely an owner or 
