Bahama Bill

“ I thought of cruising round the Bahamas, but a man I talked to last night, who'd just come from Nassau, tells me these caymen and cinch blowers are beginning to roll in fat surfeit, thanks to American prohibition. Their only worry is lest the eighteenth amendment be repealed with the next administration. It's brought a swarm of spenders who save up in the United States and pour millions into the West Indies.”
But the following day Jim had reason to reconsider his statement that no financial support was required by the gay and glittering frequenters of Palm Beach. ”

“ We find these Acts of the English Parliament to oppose the freedom, safety, and well-being of this island. We, the present inhabitants of Barbados, with great danger to our persons, and with great charge and trouble, have settled this island in its condition and inhabited the same, and shall we therefore be subjected to the will and command of those that stay at home? Shall we be bound to the government and lordship of a Parliament in which we have no Representatives or persons chosen by us? ”

“ On 27 May 1873 he was made governor of the Bahamas, came home on leave on 22 June 1874, and never returned.
In 1875 he received the more important government of the Windward Islands, the seat of which at that time was Barbados. In January 1876 he laid before the legislature his first proposals for an amended administration, tending in the direction of ‘federation’ of the Windward Islands. The Barbadians, always fearful of any tampering with their ancient constitution, formed the Barbados Defence Association, and the planters were soon avowedly hostile to Pope-Hennessy. ”

“ The Bahamas is a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism alone accounts for more than 60% of GDP and directly or indirectly employs half of the archipelago's labor force. Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels, resorts, and residences had led to solid GDP growth in recent years, but the slowdown in the US economy and the attacks of 11 September 2001 held back growth in these sectors in 2001-03. ”

“ Careful scrutiny of the hearings which were the basis for eliminating from the Lands Act the treatment of artificial islands as vessels convinces us that the motivation for this change, together with the adoption of state law as surrogate federal law, was the view that maritime law was inapposite to these fixed structures. See generally Hearings before the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 83d Cong., 1st Sess., on S. 1901 (1953) (hereafter Hearings) . One theme running throughout the hearings was the close relationship between the workers on the island and the adjoining States. ”

“ In 1710 the British were expelled by the Spaniards, but they returned and the salt trade (largely with the American colonies) continued to be carried on by the Bermudians despite attacks by Spaniards and French, and counter-claims to the islands by the British authorities at the Bahamas, who about 1765 made good their claim. In 1799 the islands were given representation in the Bahamas Assembly, and they remained part of that colony until 1848, when on the petition of the inhabitants they were made a separate colony under the supervision of the governor of Jamaica. ”

“ And so the matter providentially comes to pass, and "enterprises of great pith and moment" oftenest get no further than the Bahamas.
Nassau produces neither hay nor corn,—these, together with butter, flour, and tea, being brought chiefly from the United States. Politics, of course, it has none. As to laws, the colonial system certainly needs propping up,—for under its action a man may lead so shameless a life of immorality as to compel his wife to leave him, and yet not be held responsible for her support and that of the children she has borne him. ”

“ Financial services constitute the second-most important sector of the Bahamian economy, accounting for about 15% of GDP. However, since December 2000, when the government enacted new regulations on the financial sector, many international businesses have left The Bahamas. Manufacturing and agriculture together contribute approximately a tenth of GDP and show little growth, despite government incentives aimed at those sectors. ”

“ Then followed a century or so when it was a counter for diplomatists, and buccaneers settled down into wreckers, scraping together hard-earned living from the hurricanes' leavings, and filling up the dull months between the stormy seasons with a little fruit raising and sponge fishing. Thus ingloriously had it faded into the obscurest of colonial capitals, with a population of some 3000 or 4000 souls. There lived and ruled the Governor of the Bahamas, and there lived the Chief Justice and the Bishop ”

“ Justice Baldwin and Judge Hopkinson that an indictment on the same section was not sustained by proof of stealing in a landlocked harbor of one of the Bahama islands, the court saying: 'The open sea, the high sea, the ocean, is that which is the common highway of nations, the common domain within the body of no country, and under the particular right or jurisdiction of no sovereign, but open, free, and common to all alike, as a common and equal right.' 13 Amer. ”

“ The meeting unanimously adopted resolutions condemning the action of the Queen, and authorizing a committee to take into further consideration whatever was necessary to protect the public safety.
The committee issued a proclamation to the Hawaiian people, formed itself into a provisional government, took possession of the national property, and sent commissioners to the United States inviting this republic to annex the islands. The United States did not respond, but continued the old relation of friendly guarantor. ”

“ The public debt of Hawaii, not to exceed $4,000,000, is assumed, Chinese immigration is prohibited, all treaties with other powers are declared null, and it is provided that until Congress shall provide for the government of the islands all civil, judicial and military powers now exercised by the officers of the existing government shall be exercised in such manner as the President shall direct, and he is given power to appoint persons to put in effect a provisional government for the islands. ”

“ In these circumstances, the Seas Act-which provides an action in admiralty-clearly would not apply under conventional admiralty principles and, since the Lands Act provides an alternative federal remedy through adopted state law, there is no reason to assume that Congress intended to extent those principles to create an admiralty remedy here. And if the Congress had made the 1920 Seas Act applicable, ousting inconsistent state law, the artificial island worker would be entitled to far less comprehensive remedies in many cases than he is now. ”

“ Alabama and Rhode Island deny that Congress has any power to dispose of the national interest in the ocean or its uncaptured resources. These States assert that whatever power the United States has over the ocean is an inseparable part of national sovereignty which cannot be irrevocably parcelled out or delegated to states, individuals or private business groups. Admitting the power of Congress to control and regulate the use of the ocean and the capturing of its assets, Alabama and Rhode Island deny that any part of this sovereign national control can be vested in any state. ”

“ We must continue to deepen our ties to the Americas and the Caribbean, our common work to educate children, fight drugs, strengthen democracy, and increase trade.
In this hemisphere, every government but one is freely chosen by its people. We are determined that Cuba, too, will know the blessings of liberty.
The American people have opened their hearts and their arms to our Central American and Caribbean neighbors who have been so devastated by the recent hurricanes. Working with Congress, I am committed to help them rebuild. ”

“ The House of Commons would destroy the protection of island produce, and interfere in English politics in the island legislation: so they hastened to make the best of their position, and accepted the bill.
These considerations, I doubt not, had their weight; the interest of trade, the interest of the revenue, and, moreover, the good fame of the action. It was inevitable that men should feel these motives. But they do not appear to have had an excessive or unreasonable weight. ”

“ The Abaco and Exuma groups and Long Island each support populations exceeding 3000, and there are smaller populations on Grand Bahama, the Crooked Islands, Inagua, Mayaguana, Watling, Rum Cay and the Biminis, though these last, which are two very small north-western islands, are relatively densely populated with 545 persons. ”

“ There cannot be any form of involuntary servitude imposed upon any American citizen without a violation of this fundamental law. Hence it is that the administration is forced to deny citizenship to the inhabitants of the Island and to assert the claim that the President and Congress may govern the inhabitants of territories acquired by purchase, as in the case of the Philippine Islands, or by conquest, as in the case of Porto Rico, as they might be governed if the Constitution did not exist. ”

“ Each island retains its own institutions, and they have neither legislature, laws, revenue nor tariff in common. There is, however, a common court of appeal for the group as well as for Barbados, composed of the chief justices of the respective islands, and there is also a common audit system, while the islands unite in maintaining certain institutions of general utility. ”

“ To amend Public Law 93–435 with respect to the Northern Mariana Islands, providing parity with Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
Section 1. Amendment (a) In general– The first section and section 2 of Public Law 93–435 (48 U.S.C. 1705, 1706) are amended by inserting “the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” after “Guam,” each place it appears. ”

“ Art. 8. As it is necessary to assign a fixed epoch for the restitutions and evacuations to be made by each of the high contracting parties, it is agreed, that the King of Great Britain shall cause East Florida to be evacuated three months after the ratification of the definitive Treaty, or sooner if it can be done. The King of Great Britain shall likewise enter again into possession of the Bahama Islands without exception, in the space of three months after the ratification of the definitive Treaty. ”

“ The right to govern, may be the inevitable consequence of the right to acquire territory. Whichever may be the source, whence the power is derived, the possession of it is unquestioned. In execution of it, Congress, in 1822, passed 'an Act for the establishment of a territorial government in Florida;' and, on the 3d of March 1823, passed another Act to amend the Act of 1822. Under this Act, the territorial legislature enacted the law now under consideration. ”

“ The public feeling is now so strong that it deprives me of power (especially as all British troops are withdrawn) to stop expeditions against the Spaniard, though I am doing my best to allay it and to be strictly neutral. Indeed, in the interest of the peace and well-being of the Bahamas, I have had to write to Lord Kimberley, asking him to use his influence in getting some law-abiding government substituted in Cuba for the present lawless rule of the volunteers. Your article will do much to support H.M. Government in a decided course now. ”

“ Accepting, as I think we should, the desire of Congress to have the ancient boundaries of these Gulf States determined on the basis of their long-unchallenged claims, rather than by the use of subtle and refined legal inferences, I am led to the conclusion that the other Gulf States, as well as Texas, are entitled to prevail over the Government here. It is admitted that prior to 1937 the United States never claimed any title to, or exercised any possession over, any part of these marginal lands, either within or without three-mile limits, except under grants from the States. ”

“ At the commencement of the late war, the citizens of the Bahamas were excepted from the general regulations and orders prescribed to our privateers. It is very possible to be at war with a nation, and yet at peace with a certain portion of its territory. We find, by the papers on our table, that France says her privateers have transgressed their authority, and that they have now determined that no commissions shall be issued, except by their agents. ”

“ It is in fact impossible, except where tact and goodwill and friendly feeling exist in an unusual degree, for the government of a country to be carried on when those who are responsible for it are in a permanent minority in the Legislature. I decline to allow the Jamaica Government to remain in that position any longer, not merely because it is unfair to them, but also because, recognizing the ultimate responsibility of Her Majesty's Government for the solvency of the Colony, I must ensure that the measures which they may consider necessary are carried out. ”

“ If Jamaica was still to be considered as a conquered island, the King had a right to levy taxes upon the inhabitants; but if it was to be considered in the same light as the other colonies, no tax could be imposed on the inhabitants but by an assembly of the island, or by an Act of Parliament. ”

“ The resolution reads: “The United States hereby disclaims any disposition to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island to its people.” Up to the present time we certainly have not broken that pledge in letter or in spirit. What does it require of us in the future? First, the “pacification of the island,” for which purpose we avow our intention to “exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, and control.” ”