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HISTORY OF THE [book vi. 
disposal of all such civil employments as the crown 
does not dispose of; and with respect to such of¬ 
fices as are usually filled up by the British govern¬ 
ment, if vacancies happen, the governor appoints 
pro tempore, and the persons so appointed are enti¬ 
tled to all the emoluments, until they are super¬ 
seded at home, and until the persons nominated to 
supersede them, arrive in the colony. The govern¬ 
or claims the privilege also, in extraordinary cases, 
and has been known frequently to exercise it, of 
suspending such civil officers even as act immedi¬ 
ately under the king’s authority, or by commission 
from the boards of treasury and admiralty, in high 
and lucrative employments, as the attorney and ad-< 
vocate-general, the collectors of the customs, &c. 
and of nominating other persons to act in their 
room, until the king’s pleasure shall be known 
therein. To all which is added authority, when he 
shall judge any offender in criminal matters a fit 
object of mercy, to extend the king’s gracious par¬ 
don towards him, except only in cases of murder 
and high treason ; and even in these cases, the go¬ 
vernor is permitted to reprieve until the signification 
of the royal pleasure. 
Secondly: The governor has the custody of the 
great seal, and, in most of the colonies, presides 
solely in the high court of chancery. Indeed, in 
some of the Windward Islands, as we have seen, 
the council sit as judges in the court of chancery 
with the governor: Process however is issued by 
the governor alone, and tested in his name ; and in 
