THE

POLITICAL REGISTER

For FEBRUARY, 1770.

NUMBER XXXV.

For the POLITICAL REGISTER.

Some Remarks on the first Part of a Paper intitled, "The Report of the Right Honourable the LORDS " COMMISSIONERS for TRADE and PLANTATIONS, "To the King's moft excellent MAJESTY," dated Whitehall, March 4, 1768; and figned "CLARE, "SOAME JENYNS, WILLIAM FITZHERBERT, ED. "ELIOT, JOHN ROBERTS, THOMAS ROBINSON," against Seven of the Laws then lately paffed in the Inland of GRENADA.

The INTRODUCTION and PREAMBLE to the above-mentioned REPORT, as follows.

"To the King's Moft Excellent MAJESTY."

"May it please Your MAJESTY."

HE Earl of Hilfborough, one of Your Majefty's principal Secretarys of ftate, having tranfmitted to Us a "printed Collection, properly attefted, of fuch Laws as have "been lately paffed in Your Majefty's Ifland of Grenada, and having at the fame time fignified to Us Your Majesty's VOL. VI.

Com

Commands, that we fhould, with all convenient difpatch, report to Your Majefty in Your Privy-Council, our Opinion of "fuch of thefe Laws as relate to the establishment of Legislature, "the appointment of a Treasurer, and the impofing Duties and

Taxes: We have accordingly taken fuch of them as fall with"in this Defcription into our Confideration, together with fome "other that appear to Us, to establish those fundamental Conftitutions, by which the Government of this Ifland is for the future to be adminiftred; and having examined thefe Laws with all the "Attention due to fo important a Subject; We humbly beg leave to lay them before Your Majefty, accompanied with fuch Obfervations as have occured to Us thereupon.

GENERAL REMARK.

The People of Grenada are entitled to the Benefit of the Laws of the Realm of England, and of confequence to all the Rights, Liberties and Privileges, which thofe Laws can poffibly give them, in all cafes whatever, where their situation and circumstances will admit thofe Laws to be applied; and by virtue of the King's Proclamation, dated at St. James's, the Seventh day of October, in the Third year of His reign, they were affured of his Royal protection for the enjoyment of the benefit of those laws, and of the rights, privileges, benefits and immunities which they conveyed For proof whereof, I beg leave to refer to the proclamation itfelf; copies of which were diftributed all over his Majefty's dominions, and by Order of the then Miniftry ftuck up in different parts of the island of Grenada, to evince the early care of Government for the liberties and properties of the King's fubjects, in his newly acquired dominions.

The PARAGRAPH of the Proclamation which I mean, is in the following Words.

"AND WHEREAS, it will greatly contribute to the speedy fettling our faid new government, that our loving fubjects should be informed of our paternal care for the fecurity of the liberties and properties of those who are, and fhall become Inhabitants thereof, we thought fit to publish and declare by this our Proclamation, that We have in the Letters Patent, under our Great Seal of Great-Britain, by which the faid Governments [EaftFlorida, Weft-Florida, Canada and Grenada,] are conftituted, given exprefs powers and directions to our Governors of our faid colonies refpectively, that fo foon as the state and circumstances of the faid colonies will admit thereof, they fhall, with the advice and confent of our Council fummon and call General Affemblies within the faid Governments refpectively, in fuch manner and form as is ufed and directed in thofe provinces in America, which are under our immediate Government. And We have alfo given power to the faid Governors with the confent of our faid Councils and the Representatives of the people, fo to be fummoned as aforesaid, to make, conftitute and ordain Laws, Statutes and Ordinances for the public Peace, Welfare, and good Government of our faid Colonies, and of the People and Inhabitants

thereof,

thereof as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, and under fuch regulations and restrictions as are used in our other Colonies: And in the mean time, and until fuch Affemblies can be called as aforefaid, all Perfons inhabiting or reforting to our Colonies may confide in our Royal Protection for the Enjoyment of the Benefit of the Laws of our Realm of England. For which Purpose we have given Power under our Great Seal to the Governors of our faid Colonies refpectively, to erect and conflitute Courts of Judicature and Public Justice within our faid Colonies, for the hearing and determining all Caufes as well Criminal as Civil, according to Law and Equity and as near as may be to the Laws of England, with Liberty to all Perfons who may think themfelves aggrieved by the Sentence of fuch Courts in all Civil Cafes, to appeal under the ufual Limitations and Restrictions to Us in our Privy-Council." As great a Benefit as this at firft appears to be, if one Part of the Coronation Oath be confidered and attended to, it fhould feem to be no more than the Inhabitants of Grenada had a Right to expect. The Part of the Oath I mean is as follows: Archbishop or Bifhop fays, "Will you folemnly promife and fwear to govern the People of this Kingdom of England, and the Dominions thereto belonging, according to the Statutes in Parliament agreed on, and the Laws and Cuftoms of the fame?" King or Queen fays, "I folemnly fwear fo to do." The plain import however of the Proclamation is,-That the Inhabitants were to enjoy the Benefit of the Laws of England untill a General Affembly should be called, as far as thofe Laws could be adapted to the Situation and Circumstances of the Country, and then the Governor, Council and Affembly were to make and ordain Laws adapted to the Circumftances of the Country, as near as may be agreeable to the Laws of England, and in all Cafes where no Law was made by them applicable thereto, the Laws of England were still to govern, guide and direct, and accordingly they do govern, guide and direct, and all judicial Proceedings and Determinations are had and made agreeably thereto. And fo careful was his Majefty to preferve to the Inhabitants their Liberties and Properties, that in his Commiffion to the Governor in Chief, it is expressly provided that the Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances fo to be paffed by the faid Governor, Council and Affembly, should not be repugnant, but as near as may be agreeable to the Laws and Statutes of his Majefty's Kingdom of Great-Britain.

Thus it was, that the Laws and Statutes of Great-Britain became the Inheritance of the British Subjects fettled in the Colony of Grenada. It was upon the Royal Faith and Affurance thus pledged to them, that thofe that were there remained in, and others reforted to that Ifland. His Majefty's Right, whatever. the Obligation might have been, to give them the Benefit of thofe Laws must be admitted, according to the general Doctrine laid down by all the Writers upon this Subject, and when once the People were in Poffeffion of that Benefit, it is apprehended they could not be abridged of any Part of it without their own

I 2

Confent,

confent, fignified by their Reprefentatives. Under these Laws, they have fubmitted loyally and dutifully to every Impofition that has been laid on them. Senfible of the Protection they enjoyed from the Mother Country, they were willing to yield Obedience to it. Affected by the paternal Care of their Sovereign, they were willing to prove their Submiffion to his Royal Will; witness their patient Refignation under the Letters Patent, impofing the Four and a Half per Cent. Duty, and containing the Capitation-Tax, by virtue of the Prerogative Royal, and the never to be forgotten Act of the British Parliament, fo well known by the Name of the STAMP ACT.

Having mentioned his Majefty's Commiffion to the Governor in Chief, it may not be now improper to make fome Extracts from it, there may be Occafion in the Course of these Obfervȧtions to refer to them; and it must be allowed that they are at leaft Expreffive of the Royal Intention at the Time the Commiffion was figned.

This Commiffion, as it ftands recorded in the Treasury Chamber at Whitehall, and in the Secretary's Office of Grenada, bears Date the 9th Day of April 1764, (fix Months after the Proclamation before mentioned) by which the Benefit of the Laws of England had been affured to the People of Grenada.

The First EXTRACT I fhall make is as follows. "AND We do hereby require and command You to do and execute all Things in due Manner that shall belong to Your faid Command, and the Truft We have repofed in You, according to the feveral Powers and Directions granted or appointed You by this prefent Commiffion, and the Inftructions and Authorities herewith given to You, or by fuch further Powers, Inftructions, and Authorities, as fhall at any Time hereafter be granted or appointed You under our Signet or Sign Manual, or by our Order in our Privy-Council, and according to fuch reasonable Laws and Statutes as fhall hereafter be made and agreed upon by You, with the Advice and Confent of the Council and Assembly of the Islands and Plantations under Your Government, in fuch Manner and Form as herein after expressed."

SECOND EXTRACT.

"You fhall Yourself adminifter unto each of our Members of our faid Council, and alfo to our Lieutenant-General and the Lieutenant-Governors of each of our faid Iflands refpectively, the faid Oath mentioned in the faid Act, intitled, An ACT for the further Security of his Majefty's Perfon and Government, and the Succeffion of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess Sophia, being Proteftants, and for extinguishing the Hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales, and his open and fecret Abettors; and alfo caufe them to make and fubfcribe the aforementioned Declaration, [mentioned in an Act of Parliament made in the 25th Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, entitled, "An ACT for preventing Dangers which may happen from Popish Recufants."] N. B. This is the Test against Tranfubftantiation.

THIRD

THIRD EXTRACT.

"And we do hereby give and grant unto you the said Robert Melvill full power and authority with the advice and consent of our faid council, to be appointed as aforefaid, fo foon as the fituation and circumftances of our Ilands under your government will admit thereof, and when, and as often, as need fhall require, to fummon and call general affemblies of the Freeholders and Planters, jointly or feverally within any of the Iflands under your government in fuch manner as you in your difcretion fhall judge moft proper, &c. &c. And our will and pleasure is, that the perfons thereunto duly elected by the major part of the Freeholders of the parishes or precincts, and fo returned, fhall before their fitting, take the oaths mentioned in the faid act, entitled An act for the further fecurity of his Majefty's Perfon and Government, &c. &c And alfo make and Subfcribe the aforementioned Declaration, &c. &c. And until thefame fhall be fo taken and fubfcribed, no person shall be capable of fitting although elected. And that you the faid Robert Melvill, with the advice and confent of our faid council and affembly, or affemblies, or the major part of them, fhall have full power and authority to make conftitute, and ordain Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances for the public peace, welfare and good government of our faid Islands, jointly or feverally, and of the People and Inhabitants thereof, and fuch others as fhall refort thereunto, and for the benefit of our heirs and fucceffors, which faid Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances are not to be repugnant but as near as may be agreeable to the Laws and Statutes of this our Kingdom of Great Britain."

The ufe to be made of the foregoing extracts will presently follow, premifing however, that there is the fame direction as to taking the State oaths and fubfcribing the teft for judges, juftices of Oyer and Terminer, fheriffs, and other neceffary officers and minifters in all and every the faid iflands (of the government,) for the better administration of justice, and putting the Laws in execution.

Now to proceed to their Lordships Report. And the firft, and in truth the most important of the Laws which their Lordships fingled out for their Vengeance is,

"AN ACT for regulating the Election of the General Affembly of Grenada and the Grenadines, and for the better Af"certaining the Qualifications of the Electors and the Elected." Their Lordships Reafons are thefe.

T

HE power of fummoning and calling affemblies of the Freeholders of your Majefty's island of Grenada at such time and in fuch manner as fhall be thought proper and expedient, is by your Majefty's commiffion under the great feal vested in your Governor of that ifland, and the fixing the number of Reprefentatives the places for which they fhall be chofen-the qualifications under which they shall fit and voteaud the duration

of