Star.
London, England, 1830-10-09 00:00:00

BAHAMA ISLANDS.

By his Excellency Sir James Carmichael Smyth. Baronet, Major-
General of hisla*ty's Forces, Governor and Commander-in.
Chief in and over the said Islands, and the garrisons there, or
that may be sent thither, Chancellor, Vice-Admiral, and Ordinary
of the same.

• ritomaixattoir.
Whereas the Hon. John Lees, a Member of his Majesty's Council.
and an assistant Judge in these islands, is also Agent and Attorney for
the Right Hon. Lord Rolle, and in which letter capacity he has the
management and controul of between three and four hundred slaves
saidtlto Lord Rolle ! And whereas forty-four of the slaves of the
l Rolle left Exuma, in a boat belonging to his lordship,
and, having been met with at sea, were chased into this harbour, by a
boat from Harbour Island, and are now detained here ; and whereas the
said Hon. John Lees, as agent to Lord Rollo, waited upon me to assure
me that the forty-four slaves, who had thus seised Lord Rolle's boat.
and left the island of hxunra, had no cause of complaint ; and whereas
I then informed the'Hon. John Lees, that I would not hear any thing
upon the subject from him privately, but that I would wait to form my
opinion, until the business was legally investigated, and come regularly
before me ; and whereas, notwithstanding these my sentiments, with
which he was thus made acquainted, the Hon. John Lees has thought
proper to proceed with these slaves in a summary way, (as runaway
slaves) and to bring them before the Police Magistrate, who, sedated by
two other Magistrates, sentenced five of them to be publicly flogged
with fifty lathes each, and a boy and eight women to receive thirty-trine
lashes each, in the workhouse; and whereas the said sentences have
been tarried Into execution, and, to the disgrace of humanity, vett
women have been thus fogged I and whereas, by the 106th chum of
the Consolidated Slave Law, a Court of Justice has no power in an act
of felony ; and whereas the stealing of Lord Rolle's boat was an act df
felony, and for which the slaves ought to have been tried hefoto the Ge-
neral Court, which would have given me an opportunity of reading
the evidence, and of remitting the sentence, according as the eir.
cumstanees of the case might appear to me to require; and whereas,
the Hon. John Lees, in his capacity of one of his Majesty's Council,
could not but have been well aware of the determination of his Ma-
jesty Govertnnent to abolish corporal punishment ; and whereas, it the
present instance, the Hon. John Lees has contrary to the spirit, in-
tent, and letter of his Majesty's orders and instructions, as repeatedly
communicated and made known in that colony, I, by virtue of the poetry
and authority vested in me by his Akijesty, and in compliance with the
ninth article of my instructions, under the royal signature, do hereby
suspend the said Hon. John Lees from his situation, as a member
of his Majesty's Council, until his Majesty's pleasure is known : and
the Hon. John Lees is hereby suspended accordingly. And whereas I
have every reason to be displeased and dissatisfied with Robert Generate,
Esq. the Police Magistrate, for his conduct in this disgraceful hosiery,
I do hereby remove Robert Duneome, Req. from the situation of Po.
lice Magistrate, and he is hereby removed accordingly r and I no.ainare
and appoint Charles R. Nesbitt, Esq. one of the Justices of the Piece
fur these Wands, to the situation of sitting or acting ilagistratt ,
commonly called the Police Magistrate for the town of Nassau.
Given under my hand and seal, this fourth day of May, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred'
and thirty, at the Government
House, at Nassau, in New Providence.

J. CARMICHAEL BIIIYTH.
BAHAMA ISLANDS.—By his Excellency Sir JAN Carmichael Smyth,
Bart. Major-General of his Majesty's Forces, Governor acd CoM.
mander.in.Chier over the said !viands, and of the garrisons there,
or that may be sent thither, Chancellor, Vice-Admiral, and Or.
dinary of the same.