The Governor was assisted by a Council composed principally of official members, and General Sessions were held twice a year, each tribe sending six representatives and the common land twelve. In the case

of the General Assembly the Governor and Council were included, and the tribes sent four representatives and the common land eight. The Assembly was held once in two years, the first being in 1620, one year after a similar institution had been organised for the plantation in Virginia. The population seems to have grown very rapidly-from 2000 to 3000 in 1629 to 8000 in 1679, including slaves. Penal slavery is first mentioned in 1617, when a white man and also a negro were condemned to it as a punishment. Indian slaves were introduced in 1652. There were also some white bond-servants, who appear to have been political prisoners, both Irish and Scotch, who had been sent to the plantations to get them out of the way.

The struggle between King and Parliament produced to some slight extent similar political and religious discord in the islands; the Puritans were denied liberty of worship, every effort being made to maintain uniformity with the Established Church, and, notwithstanding the introduction of some modifications, the Independents seceded in 1643. In 1645 the Long Parliament established freedom of worship in the islands. After this, from 1660, a dead set was made against the Quakers, every effort being made to get rid of them. 'Bisse's History of the Quakers' gives an instance in 1670 of the frantic violence with which that provoking sect was opposed. Their fearless and often extravagant denunciation of what they disapproved ; their attitude of passive resistance; their repudiation of civil obligations and duties and external marks of respect, such as uncovering in Court; their singu larities of attire and phraseology aroused evil passions in that rough age which it is difficult now to quite

understand" ("Memorials of the Bermudas," Lefroy, vol. ii. p. 301). Several proclamations and Acts were passed against them, and they were prohibited from landing on the islands; they seem to have been entirely suppressed.

In order to obtain still further freedom in religious matters, an attempt was made by some of the Bernudians to establish a colony in Cigatio or Segatoo, one of the West Indian Islands, to which the name of Eleutheria or Eleuthera was given, the object set forth being that "every man might enjoy his own opinion or religion without control or question." This settlement appears to have turned out a failure.

The Turk's Islands, so called from the prevalence of a species of cactus (Melocactus comanerius), commonly called Turk's head in the West Indies, was at one time connected in a very special manner with Bermuda. The islands lie due north of St. Domingo, and their value for the production of salt is claimed to have been first discovered by the people of Bermuda, and they appear to have practically taken possession of them about 1673. Some of the Bermuda planters were in the habit of taking their slaves with them. to Turk's Islands every year to make salt, between 1678 and 1710 without any interference; but at the latter date the Spaniards attacked them and drove them away, being in their turn driven out by a privateering expedition sent from Bermuda. Warfare on a small scale was carried on between them for the next forty years. The French appeared on the scene in 1764; the houses and effects of the Bermuda planters were destroyed and the salt-makers carried off as prisoners. An indemnity was afterwards paid for this. Notwithstanding the protests of the Bermudians, the ownership of the Turk's Islands was claimed by the British Crown, and it was decided that they belonged to the Bahamas, the Government of

which taxed the salt supply. This was felt to be a grievance of vital importance to Bermuda for many years, but it has long ceased to have any commercial importance to the colony.

The manner in which the Bermuda planters were controlled by the company became at length so oppressive that numerous complaints were made; their produce was received at a fixed price by the company, and stores sent to the island were sold to them at any price the company chose to put upon them. Very naturally the planters under such circumstances desired the introduction of free trade, so that they might dispose of their produce in the most advantageous markets for their own benefit. Petitions were accordingly sent in, and eventually legal proceedings being taken, the charter of the company was abolished and Bermuda passed under the control of the Crown. There is but little to record after this in the political history of the islands but constant differences of opinion and struggles between the Governor and the Assembly.

Tobacco, which had been one of the most paying commodities raised in Bermuda, was soon beaten out of the field by the West Indian competition, and agriculture generally seems to have been for the most part abandoned by the colonists during the last century and the beginning of the nineteenth in favour of coasting trade between Newfoundland and the West Indies, including Turk's Islands; cod was brought down and salt taken back in exchange. There was also some considerable trade with American ports. The small sloops used for this purpose were built of cedar grown on Bermuda, and the islanders seem to have been very skilful in their use. They engaged in whale-fishing on their own coasts and also in distant seas, but the war between England and France put an end to the latter industry, and it is very seldom that a

whale is now seen near the island. The colony possessed a militia in which every adult, including slaves, was bound to serve, and in 1710, in their own armed . ships, drove away the Spaniards who attacked the salt manufacturers in the Turk's Islands as already mentioned. They also fitted out ships for the protection of their own coasts against French privateers. The Bermudians have always had close bonds of friendship with the American colonies; this was due partly to relationship; they found also in America a mart for their produce. When the War of Independence broke out, a large quantity of powder was stolen from the island and found its way into American hands.

The prosperity of the islands began to decline from this time, and notwithstanding occasional revivals, it never returned. In 1815 it became for a short space an entrepôt where West Indian produce could be shipped by vessels from the United States, but the introduction of free trade did away with even this source of profit.

The defence of the colony in its early days was entirely neglected by the Home authorities, neither gunpowder nor warlike stores of any kind being provided between the years 1701 and 1738. The “King's Independent Company" of fifty men, however, was raised in 1728. According to the St. George's parish records, traces of a Royal Garrison Battalion are found as early as 1779, and of Royal Artillery in 1783; the first British regiment was the 47th, seven companies of which landed from the Bahamas in 1797. The council continued to provide guns and gunpowder in 1782, and the colony possessed a sloop and gun-boat of its own in 1795.

Bishop Berkeley in 1725 was so much impressed with the accounts of Bermuda and its situation that he brought out a scheme for a missionary college, which he described as a "proposal for the better sup

plying of churches in our foreign plantations, and for converting the savage Americans to Christianity by a college to be erected in the Summer Islands, otherwise called the Isles of Bermuda."

The scheme failed through lack of funds; it was afterwards revived by the Rev. W. C. Dowding in 1853, and a small trust fund raised for the purpose.

Bermuda has enjoyed representative institutions almost from the date of its being first colonised; the executive being, however, appointed and controlled by the Home Government, is independent of the local legislature. The Governor appointed by the Crown is a general officer who also commands the garrison; he is assisted by a council of six, some of whom are ex officio members, the others being appointed by the Governor.

The Legislature consists of the Governor, the Legislative Council, and the House of Assembly; the former or upper house has three official and six unofficial members; the nine parishes return four members each to the House of Assembly, the electoral qualification being the possession of freehold property of not less than £60 value, which is raised to £240 for membership of the Assembly. members of both houses are paid two dollars a day whilst sitting; this is intended to cover expenses, as many of the members live at a distance. The elections for the Assembly are septennial.

The

The common law of England, supplemented by a number of local acts, is in force in Bermuda, and justice is administered by a chief-justice, two assistantjudges, and three police magistrates.

The seat of Government was originally situated at St. George's, at the north-east extremity of the island, but the interests of merchants and shipowners demanded a business centre farther to the westward, and in 1793 the town of Hamilton in Pembroke