Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies

Document Text

Whereas divers Persons are holden in Slavery within divers of his Majesty’s Colonies, and it is just and expedient that all such Persons should be manumitted and set free, and that a reasonable compensation should be made to the persons hitherto entitled to the services of such Slaves for the loss which they will incur by being deprived of their right to such services: And whereas it is also expedient that provision should be made for promoting the industry and securing the good conduct of the persons so to be manumitted, for a limited period after such their Manumission: And whereas it is necessary that the laws now in force in the said several Colonies should forthwith be adapted to the new state and relations of society therein, which will follow upon such general manumission as aforesaid of the said Slaves; and that in order to afford the necessary time for such adaptation of the said laws, a short interval should elapse before such Manumission should take effect: Be it therefore enacted—That from and after the First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, all Persons who in conformity with the laws now in force in the said Colonies respectively shall on or before the first Day August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four have been duly registered as slaves in any such colony, and who on the said First day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty four shall be actually within any such Colony, and who shall by such registries appear to be on the said First Day of August One thousand eight hundred thirty-four of the full age of six Years or upwards, shall by force and virtue of this act, and without the previous execution of any Indenture of Apprenticeship, or other deed or instrument for that purposes aforesaid, every Slave engaged in his ordinary Occupation on the Seas shall be deemed and taken to be within the Colony to which such Slave shall belong.

II. And be it further enacted, That during the Continuance of the Apprenticeship of any such apprenticed Labourer, such person or persons shall be entitled to the services of such apprenticed Labourer as would, for the time being, have been entitled to his or her services as a Slave if this Act had not been made.

III. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That all Slaves who may at any time previous to the pausing of this Act have been brought with the consent of their possessors, and all apprenticed Labourers who may hereafter with the like consent be brought, into any part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, shall from and after the passing of this Act be absolutely and entirely free to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

IV. And whereas it is expedient that all such apprenticed Labourers should, for the purposes herein-after mentioned, be divided into Three districts Classes, the First of such Classes consisting of prædial apprenticed Labourers attached to the soil, and comprising all persons who in their state of Slavery were usually employed in Agriculture, or in the Manufacture of Colonial produce or otherwise, upon lands belonging to their owners; the Second of such Classes consisting of prædial apprenticed Labourers not attached to the soil, and comprising all persons who in their state of Slavery were usually employed in Agriculture, or in the Manufacture of Colonial Produce or otherwise upon lands not belonging to their owners; and the Third of such Classes consisting of non-prædial apprenticed Labourers, and comprising all apprenticed Labourers not included within either of the Two preceding Classes: Be it therefore enacted, That such Division as aforesaid of the said apprenticed Labourers into such Classes as aforesaid shall be carried into effected in such manner and forms, and subject to such Rules and Regulations, as shall for that purpose be established under such Authority, and in and by such Acts of Assembly, Ordinance or Orders in Council, as herein-after mentioned: Provided always, that no persons of the Age of Twelve Years and upwards shall by or by virtue of any such Act of Assembly, Ordinance, or Order in Council, be included in either of the said Two Classes of prædial apprenticed Labourers, unless such person shall for Twelve Calendar Months at the least next before the passing of this present Act have been habitually employed in Agriculture, or in the Manufacture of Colonial Produce.

V. And be it further enacted, That no person who by virtue of this Act, or of any such Act of Assembly, or Order in Council as aforesaid, shall become a prædial apprenticed Labourer, whether attached or not attached to the soil, shall continue in such Apprenticeship beyond the First Day of August One Thousand Eight hundred and Forty; and that during such his or her Apprenticeship no such prædial apprenticed Labourer, whether attached or not to the soil, shall be bound or liable, by virtue of such Apprenticeship, to perform any labour in the service of his or her Employer, or Employers, for more than forty-five Hours in the whole in the whole in any One Week.

VI. And be it further enacted, That no Person who by virtue of this Act or of any such Act of Assembly, Ordinance, or Order in Council as aforesaid, shall become a non-prædial apprenticed labourer, shall continue in such Apprenticeship beyond the First Day of August One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty-Eight.

VII. And be it further enacted, That if, before any such Apprenticeship shall have expired, the Person or persons entitled for and during the reminder of any such term to the services of such apprenticed Labourer shall be desirous to discharge him or her from such Apprenticeship, it shall be lawful for such person or persons so to do by any deed or instrument to be by him, her, or them for that purpose made and executed; which deed or instrument shall be in such form, and shall be executed and recorded in such manner and with such solemnities, as shall for that purpose be prescribed under such authority, and in and by such Acts of Assembly, Ordinances, or Orders in Council, as herein-after mentioned: Provided nevertheless, that if any Person so discharged from any such Apprenticeship by any such voluntary act as aforesaid, shall at that time be of the age of fifty years or upwards, or shall be then labouring under any such disease or mental or bodily infirmity, as may render him or her incapable of earning his or her Subsistence, then and in every such case the Person or Persons so discharging any such apprenticed labourer, as aforesaid, shall continue and be liable to provide for the maintenance of such apprenticed Labourer during the remaining term of such apprenticed Labourer had not been discharged therefrom.

VIII. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any such apprenticed Labourer to purchase his or her discharge from such Apprenticeship, even without the consent, or in opposition, if necessary, to the will of the Person or Persons entitled to his or her Services, upon payment to such Person or Persons of the appraised values of such services; which Appraisement shall be effected, and which purchase money shall be paid and applied, and which discharge shall be given and executed; in such manner and form, and upon, under, and subject to such conditions, as shall be prescribed under such Authority, and by such Acts of Assembly, Ordinances, or Orders in Council, as are herein-after mentioned.

IX. And be it further enacted, That no apprenticed Labourer shall be subject or liable to be removed from the Colony to which he or she may belong; and that no prædial apprenticed Labourer, who may in manner aforesaid become attached to the soil shall be subject or liable to perform any Labour in the service of his or her employer or employers, except upon or in or about the Works and Business of the Plantations or Estates to which such prædial apprenticed Labourer shall have been attached, or on which he or she shall have been usually employed on or previously to the First Day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four: Provided nevertheless, that, with the consent in writing of any Two or more Justices of the Peace holding such special commission as herein-after mentioned, it shall be lawful for the Person or Persons, entitled to the services of any such attached prædial apprenticed Labourer or Labourers, to transfer his or their services to any other Estate or Plantation within the same Colony, to such person or persons belonging; which written consent shall in no case be given, or be of any validity, unless any such Justices of the Peace shall first have ascertained, that such transfer would not have the effect of separating any such attached prædial apprenticed Labourer from his or her wife or Husband, Parent or Child, or from any person or persons reputed to bear any such relation to him or her, and that such transfer would not probably be injurious to the health or welfare of such attached prædial apprenticed Labourer; and such written consent to any such removal shall be expressed in such terms, and shall be in each case given, attested, and recorded in such manner, as shall for that purpose be prescribed under such Authority, and by such Acts of Assembly, Ordinances, and Orders in Council, as herein-after mentioned.

X. And be it further enacted and declared, That the Right or Interest of any Employer, or Employers, to and in the services of any such apprenticed Labourers as aforesaid shall pass and be transferable by Bargain and Sale, Contract, Deed, Conveyance, Will, or Descent, according to such rules and in such manner as shall for that purpose be provided by any such Acts of Assembly, Ordinances, or Orders in Council as herein-after mentioned; provided that no such apprenticed Labourer shall, by virtue of any such Bargain and Sale, Contract, Deed, Conveyance, Will, or Descent, be subject or liable to be separated from his Wife or Husband, Parent or Child, or from any person or persons reputed to bear any such relation to him or her.

XI. And be it further enacted, That during the continuance of any such Apprenticeship, as aforesaid, the Person or Persons for the time being entitled to the services of every such apprenticed Labourer shall be, and is and are, hereby required to supply him or her with such Food, Clothing, Lodging, Medicine, Medical Attendance, and such other Maintenance and Allowances, as by any law now in force in the Colony to which such apprenticed Labourer may belong, an owner is required to apply to and for any Slave being of the same Age and Sex as such apprenticed Labourer shall be; and in cases in which the Food of any such prædial apprenticed Labourer shall be supplied, not by the delivery to him or her of Provisions, but by the Cultivation by such prædial apprenticed Labourer of Ground set apart for the Growth of Provisions, the person or persons entitled to his or her services shall and is or are hereby required to provide such prædial apprenticed Labourer with Ground adequate, both in Quantity and Quality, for his or her support, and within a reasonable distance of his or her usual place of abode, and to allow to such prædial apprenticed Labourer, from and out of the annual time during which he or she may be required to labour, after the rate of Forty-five Hours per week as aforesaid, in the service of such of his Employer or Employers, such a Portion of Time as shall be adequate for the proper Cultivation of such Ground, and for the raising and securing the Crops thereon grown; the actual extent of which Ground, and the Distance thereof from the place of residence of the prædial apprenticed Labourer for whose use it may be so allotted, and the length of time to be deducted for the Cultivation of the said Ground from the said annual Time, shall and may, in each of the Colonies aforesaid, be regulated under such Authorities, and by such Acts of Assembly, Ordinances, or Orders in Council as herein-after mentioned.

XII. And be it further enacted, That, subject to the obligations imposed by this Act, or to be imposed by any such Act of General Assembly, Ordinance, or Order in Council as herein-after mentioned, upon such apprenticed Labourers as aforesaid, all and every the Persons who on the said First Day of August One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Four shall be holden in Slavery within any such British Colony as aforesaid shall, upon and from and after the said First Day of August One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Four, become and be to all intents and purposes free and discharged of and from all manner of Slavery, and shall be absolutely and forever manumitted; and that the Children thereafter to be born to any such persons, and the Offspring of such Children, shall in like manner be free from their Birth: and that from and after the First Day of August One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Four Slavery shall be, and is hereby utterly and for ever abolished and declared unlawful, throughout the British Colonies, Plantations, and Possessions Abroad.

XIII. Children below the Age of Six, on 1st of August, 1834, or born after that time to any Female Apprentice, if destitute, may be bound out by any Special Magistrate as an Apprentice to the Person entitled to the Services of the said Mother; but at the Date of such Indentures the Apprentice must be under 12 Years of Age. Indentures to continue in force until the Child has completed his or her 21st Year and no longer.

XIV. His Majesty, or any Governor by his Authority, may appoint Justices of the Peace by Special Commission, to give effect to this Act and to all Colonial Laws to be made in pursuance of this Act; and no other qualification necessary. Such Justices may also be included in the General Commission of the Peace.

XV. His Majesty may grant Salaries to Special Justices. Lists of such Persons to be laid before Parliament.

XVI. Recital of various Regulations necessary for giving Effect to this Act. This Act not to prevent the Enactment, by Colonial Assemblies or by His Majesty in Council, of the Laws necessary for establishing such Regulations. Provisions repugnant to this Act contained in any such Colonial Law void.

XVII. Such Colonial Acts may not authorize the Whipping or other Punishment of the Labourer by the Employer’s Authority.

XVIII. Colonial Acts or Orders in Council not to authorize any Justices, except those having Special Commissions, to act in execution thereof.

XIX. Justices having Special Commissions to exercise exclusive Jurisdiction between apprenticed Labourers and their Employers. Jurisdiction of Supreme Courts preserved.

XX. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That no apprenticed Labourer shall, by any such Act of Assembly, Ordinance, or Order in Council as aforesaid, be declared or rendered liable for and in respect of any offence by him or her committed, or for any cause or upon any ground or pretext whatsoever, except as hereafter is mentioned, to any Prolongation of his or her Term of Apprenticeship, or to any new or additional Apprenticeship, or to any such additional Labour as shall impose upon any such apprenticed Labourer the Obligation of working in the Service, or for the Benefit, of the Person or Persons entitled to his or her Services, for more than fifteen extra Hours in the whole in any One Week, but every such Enactment, Regulation, Provision, Rule or Order shall be and is hereby declared null and void and of no effect: Provided nevertheless, that any such Act of Assembly, Ordinance, or Order in Council as aforesaid may contain Provisions for compelling any apprenticed Labourer who shall, during his or her Apprenticeship, wilfully absent himself or herself from the Service of his or her Employer, either to serve his or her Employer after the expiration of his or her Apprenticeship, for so long a time as he or she shall have so absented himself or herself from such Service, or to make satisfaction to his or her Employer for the Loss sustained by such Absence (except so far as he or she shall have made Satisfaction for such Absence, either out of such extra Hours as aforesaid, or otherwise), but nevertheless so that such extra Service or Compensation shall not be compellable, after the Expiration of Seven Years next after the Termination of the Apprenticeship of each Apprentice.

XXI. Provided always, and be it hereby further enacted, That neither under the Provisions of this Act, nor under the obligations imposed by this Act, or to be imposed by any Act of any General Assembly, Ordinance, or Order in Council, shall any apprenticed Labourer be compelled or compellable to labour on Sundays, except in Works of Necessity or in Domestic Services, or in the Protection of Property, or in tending of Cattle, nor shall any apprenticed Labourer be liable to be hindered or prevented from attending anywhere on Sundays for Religions Worship, at his or her free Will or Pleasure, but shall be at full liberty so to do without any Let, Denial, or Interruption whatsoever.

XXII. Nothing herein to interfere with any Colonial laws, by which apprenticed Labourers may be exempted from, or disqualified for, certain Military or Civil Services and Franchises.

XXIII. Acts passed by Local Legislatures with similar but improved Enactments to this Act to supersede this Act on being confirmed by His Majesty in Council.

XXIV. And whereas, towards compensating the Persons at present entitled to the Services of the Slaves, to be manumitted and set free by virtue of this Act, for the Loss of such Services, His Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal Subjects the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, have resolved to give and grant to His Majesty the Sum of Twenty Millions Pounds Sterling, &c. [with the usual provisions for raising it by Government Annuities, Sec. XXV., XXVI., XXVII., and XXVIII.]

XXIX. Monies raised to be paid to an Account at the Bank, called the West India Compensation Account.

XXIX., XXXI., XXXII., Further Provisions as to the Government Annuities.

XXXIII. And for the Distribution of the said Compensation Fund, and for the Apportionment thereof amongst the several Persons who may prefer Claims thereon, be it enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for His Majesty from time to time, by a Commission under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to constitute and appoint such Persons, not being less than Five, as to His Majesty shall seem meet, to be Commissioners of Arbitration for inquiring into and deciding upon the Claims to Compensation which may be preferred to them under this Act.

XXXIV. Commissioners to be sworn.

XXXV. Meetings of the Commissioners, and appointment of the subordinate Officers. Officers to be sworn.

XXXVI. Any three Commissioners to be a Quorum.

XXXVII. And be it further enacted, That no Remuneration shall be given for and in respect of the Execution of the said Commission to such of the said Commissioners as shall be Members of either House of Parliament, nor to say Number exceeding Three of the said Commissioners.

XXXVIII. And whereas it may be necessary that Assistant Commissioners should be appointed, to act in aid of and under the Directions of the Commissioners appointed by this Act in the said several Colonies; be it therefore enacted, That the Governor and the Attorney General or other chief Law Adviser of the Government of the said Colonies respectively shall, with any Two or more resident Inhabitants for each of such Colonies, to be nominated during pleasure by the Governor thereof, be Commissioners for the Colony to which they respectively belong, to act in aid of the Commissioners under this Act in all such Cases and in relation to all Matters and Things which shall be referred to them by the said Commissioners, and for all such Purposes shall have and use and exercise all the Powers and Authorities of the said Commissioners; and such Assistant Commissioners shall take an Oath, to be administered to the Governor by the Chief Justice or any Judge of the said Colonies respectively, and to the other Assistant Commissioners by the Governor thereof, that they will well and truly and impartially execute the Powers and Authorities given to them as such Assistant Commissioners, in the several Matters and Things which shall be referred or submitted to them under the Provisions of this Act; and the said Assistant Commissioners shall, in all Matters which shall be referred to them by the Commissioners, transmit to the said Commissioners a full Statement of the several Matters which shall have been given in evidence before them, and true Copies of such written Evidence as shall have been received by them, and thereupon the said Commissioners shall proceed to adjudicate upon the same, and upon such other Evidence, if any, as may be laid before them.

XXXIX. Issue of Money for Payment of the Expense of the Commission.

XL. Commissioners may compel the Attendance and Examination of Witnesses.

XLI. and XLII. Commissioners authorized to take Examinations on Oath.

XLIII. Exemption from Postage of Letters on the Business of the Commission.

XLIV. No part of the Compensation to be applicable to any Colony unless His Majesty, by Order in Council, shall have first declared that adequate Provision has been made by the Legislature thereof. Such Orders to be published, and laid before Parliament.

XLV. And be it further enacted, That the said Commissioners shall proceed to apportion the said Sum into Nineteen different Shares, which shall be respectively assigned to the several British Colonies or Possessions herein-after mentioned (that is to say,) the Bermuda Islands, the Bahama Islands, Jamaica, Honduras, the Virgin Islands, Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, Saint Christopher’s, Dominica, Barbadoes, Grenada, Saint Vincent’s Tobago, Saint Lucia, Trinadad, British Guiana, the Cape of Good Hope, and Mauritius; and in making such Apportionment of the said Funds between the said several Colonies the said Commissioners shall, and are hereby required to have regard to the number of Slaves, belonging to or settled in each of such Colonies, as the same may appear and are stated according to the latest Returns made in the Office of the Registrar of Slaves in England, appointed in pursuance and under the Authority of an Act passed in the Fifty-ninth Year of his late Majesty King George the Third, intituled An Act for establishing a Registry of Colonial Slaves in Great Britain, and for making further Provision with respect to the Removal of Slaves from the British Colonie; and the said Commissioners shall and they are hereby further required, in making such Apportionment as aforesaid, to have regard to the Prices for which, on an average of Eight Years ending on the Thirty-first Day of December One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty, Slaves have been sold in each of the Colonies aforesaid respectively, excluding from consideration any such sales in which they shall have sufficient reason to suppose that such slaves were sold or purchased under any Reservation, or subject to any express or tacit Condition affecting the Price thereof; and the said Commissioners shall then proceed to ascertain, in reference to each Colony, what Amount of Sterling Money will represent the average Value of a slave therein for the Period of Eight Years: and the total Number of the Slaves in each Colony being multiplied into the Amount of Sterling Money so representing such average Value as aforesaid of a Slave therein, the Product of such Multiplication shall be ascertained for each Colony separately; and the said Twenty Millions of Pounds Sterling shall then be assigned to, and apportioned amongst the said several Colonies rateably, and in proportion to the product so ascertained for each respectively.

XLVI. No Compensation to be allowed for Persons illegally held in Slavery.

XLVII. And whereas it is necessary that Provision should be made for the Apportionment amongst the Proprietors of the Slaves to be manumitted by virtue of this Act, in each of the said Colonies respectively of that part of the said compensation fund which shall be so assigned as aforesaid to each of the respective Colonies: And whereas the necessary Rules for that Purpose cannot be properly or safely established until after full inquiry shall have been made, into the several Circumstances which ought to be taken into consideration in making such Apportionment; be it therefore enacted, That it shall be the duty of the said Commissioners, and they are hereby authorized and required to institute a full and exact inquiry into all the circumstances connected with each of the said several Colonies which in the judgment of the said Commissioners ought, in Justice and Equity, to regulate or affect the Apportionment within the same of that part of the said general Compensation Fund, which shall in manner aforesaid be assigned to each of the said Colonies respectively; and especially such Commissioners shall have regard to the relative value of prædial Slaves, and of unattached Slaves, in every such Colony: and such Commissioners shall distinguish such Slaves, whether prædial or unattached, into as many distinct Classes as, regard being had to the circumstances of each Colony shall appear just; and such Commissioners shall with all practicable precision, ascertain and fix the average Value of a Slave in each of the Classes into which the Slaves in any such Colony shall be so divided; and the said Commissioners shall also proceed to inquire and consider of the Principles according to which the Compensation to be allotted in respect to any Slave or Body of Slaves ought, according to the Rules of Law and Equity, to be distributed amongst Persons who, as Owners or Creditors, Legatees or Annuitants, may have any joint or common Interest in any such Slave or Slaves, or may be entitled to, or interested in such Slave or Slaves, either in Possession, Remainder, Reversion, or Expectancy; and the said Commissioners shall also proceed to inquire and consider of the Principles upon which, and the Manner in which, Provision might be most effectually made for the Protection of any Interest in any such Compensation Money which may belong to or be vested in any married Women, Infants, Lunatics, or Persons of insane or unsound Mind, or Persons beyond the Seas, or labouring under any other legal or natural Disability or Incapacity, and according to what Rules, and in what Manner, and under what Authority Trustees should, when necessary, be appointed for the safe Custody, for the Benefit of any Person or Persons, of any such Compensation Fund or any Part thereof, and for regulating the Duties of such Trustees, and providing them with a fair and reasonable Indemnity; and the said Commissioners shall also inquire and consider upon what Principles, according to the established Rules of Law and Equity in similar Cases, the Succession to such Funds should be regulated upon the Death of any Person entitled thereto who may die intestate; and the said Commissioners shall and they are also authorised and required to consider of any other question which it may be necessary to investigate in order to establish just and equitable Rules for the Apportionment of such Compensation Money amongst the Persons seised of, or entitled to, or having any Mortgage, Charge, Incumbrance, Judgment, or Lien upon, or any Claim to, or Right or Interest in, any Slave or Slaves so to be manumitted as aforesaid, at the Time of such their Manumission; and having made all such Inquiries, and having taken all such Matters and Things as aforesaid into their Consideration, the said Commissioners shall and are hereby required to proceed to draw up and frame all such general Rules, regard being had to the Laws and Usages in force in each Colony respectively, as to them may seem best adapted in each Colony respectively, for securing the just and equitable Distribution of the said Funds amongst or for the Benefit of such several Persons as aforesaid, and for the Protection of such Funds, and for the Appointment and Indemnification of such Trustees as aforesaid; and such general rules when so framed, and when agreed Upon by the said Commissioners, shall by them be subscribed with their respective Hands and Seals, and transmitted to the Lord President of His Majesty’s Council, to be by him laid before His Majesty in Council; and so from Time to Time as often as any further general Rules should be so framed and agreed to for the Purposes aforesaid or any of them.

XLVIII. Rules to be published in the London Gazette, with a Notice that Appeals will be received against their Establishment.

XLIX. His Majesty in Council may hear such Appeals, and thereupon confirm or disallow any general Rule so appealed against.

L. In absence of Appeal, His Majesty in Council may confirm, rescind, or amend such Rules.

LI. Rules when confirmed by His Majesty shall be recited in the confirmatory Order in Council, and enrolled in Chancery.

LII. Rules so enrolled may be removed or amended.

LIII. Rules when confirmed and enrolled shall be of the same validity as if enacted by Parliament.

LIV. Rules so enrolled shall be observed by the Commissioners in making their Awards.

LV. Persons interested in any Slaves manumitted by this Act may prefer Claims before the Commissioners, who are to make rules for the Conduct of all Proceedings under the Commission.

LVI. Commissioners to adjudicate on all Claims preferred to them. Appeal may be made against adjudication. His Majesty in Council may make Rules for the Regulation of such Appeals. In adverse Claims, any Claimant interested in the Adjudication may undertake its defence.

And be it further enacted, That the said Commissioners shall proceed in the Manner to be prescribed by any such general Rules as last aforesaid, to inquire into and adjudicate upon any such Claims as may be so preferred to them, and shall upon each such Claim make their Adjudication and Award in such Manner and Form as shall be prescribed by any such last-mentioned general Rules; and if any Person interested in, or affected by, any such Adjudication or Award shall be dissatisfied therewith, it shall be lawful for such Person to appeal therefrom to His Majesty in Council, and Notice of any such Appeal shall be served upon the said Commissioners, who shall thereupon undertake the Defence thereof; and it shall be competent to His Majesty in Council to make and establish all such Rules and Regulations as to his Majesty shall seem meet, respecting the time and manner of preferring and proceeding upon such appeals, and respecting the Course to be observed in defending the same, which Rules shall be so framed as to promote, as far as may be consistent with Justice, all practicable Economy and Dispatch in the proceedings upon the decision thereof; and in cases in which any Two or more Persons shall have preferred before the said Commissioners adverse or opposing Claims, and in which any or either of such Persons shall be interested to sustain the adjudications or award of such Commissioners thereupon, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for any Person or Persons so interested, to undertake the defence of any such appeal in lieu and instead of the said Commissioners.

LVII. His Majesty in Council may confirm or disallow, or alter or remit, Adjudications appealed against.

LVIII. Failing any Appeal, the Award of the Commissioners final.

LIX. And be it further enacted, That the Lord High Treasurer, or the Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury, or any Three or more of them, for the time being, may order and direct to be issued and paid out of the said Sum of Twenty Millions of Pounds Sterling any Sum or Sums of Money for the Payment of Salaries to Commissioners, Officers, Clerks, and other Persons acting in relation to such Compensation in the Execution of this Act, and for discharging such incidental Expences as shall necessarily attend the same, in such manner as the Lord High Treasurer, or Commissioners of the Treasury, or any Three or more of them, shall from time to time think fit and reasonable; and an Account of such Expense shall be annually laid before Parliament.

LX. And be it enacted, That a Certificate containing a List of the Names and Designations of the several Persons in whose favour any Sum or Sums of Money shall be awarded front time to time under the Provision of this Act by the Commissioners, as herein-before mentioned, shall be signed by Three or more of the said Commissioners, who shall forthwith transmit the same to His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State then having Charge of the Affairs of the said Colonies, for his Approbation and Signature, who shall, when he shall have signed the same, transmit it to the Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury; and the said Commissioners of the Treasury, or any Three of such Commissioners, shall thereupon, by Warrant under their Hands, authorize the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt to pay the said Sums, out of the Monies standing upon their Account in the Books of the said Bank under the Title of “The West India Compensation Account,” to the Persons named in such Certificate; and the said Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, or the Comptroller General or Assistant Comptroller General acting under the said Commissioners, are hereby required to pay all such Sums of Money to the Persons named therein, under such Forms and Regulations as the said Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt shall think fit to adopt for that Purpose.

LXI. And whereas in some of the Colonies aforesaid a certain Statute, made in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Years of King Charles the Second, intituled “An Act for preventing the Mischiefs and Dangers that may arise by certain Persons called Quakers and others refusing to take lawful Oaths”; and a certain other Statute made in the Seventeenth Year of King Charles the Second, intituled “An Act for restraining Nonconformists from inhabiting in Corporations”; and a certain other Statute, made in the Twenty-second Year of King Charles the Second, intituled “An Act to prevent and suppress seditious Conventicles”; and a certain other Statute, made in the First and Second Year of King William and Queen Mary, intituled “An Act for exempting Their Majesty’s Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of certain Laws”; and a certain other Statute, made in the Tenth Year of Queen Anne, intituled “An Act for preserving the Protestant Religion by better securing the Church of England as by Law established; and for confirming the Toleration granted to Protestant Dissenters by an Act intituled ‘An Act for exempting Their Majesty’s Protestant Subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of certain Laws,’ and for supplying the Defects thereof; and for the further securing the Protestant Succession, by requiring the Practisers of the Law in North Britain to take the Oaths and subscribe the Declaration therein Mentioned”; or some one of those Statutes, or some Parts thereof or of some of them, have and hath been adopted, and are or is in force; be it further enacted, That in such of the Colonies aforesaid in which the said several Statutes or any of them, or any Parts thereof or any of them, have or hath been adopted and are or is in force, a certain Statute made in the Fifty-second Year of His late Majesty King George the Third, intituled “An Act to repeal certain Acts and amend other acts relating to Religious Worship and Assemblies, and Persons teaching or preaching therein,” shall be and is hereby declared to be in force, as fully and effectually as if such Colonies had been expressly named and enumerated for that Purpose in such last-recited Statute: Provided nevertheless, that in the said several Colonies, to which the said Act of His late Majesty King George the Third is so extended and declared applicable as aforesaid, any Two or more Justices of the Peace holding any such Special Commission as aforesaid shall have, exercise, and enjoy all and every the Jurisdiction, Powers, and Authorities whatsoever, which by force and virtue of the said Act are within the Realm of England had, exercised, and enjoyed by the several Justices of the Peace, and, by the General and Quarter Sessions therein mentioned.

LXII. His Majesty in Council may make all necessary Laws for giving effect to this Act in the Settlement of Honduras.

LXIII And be it further enacted, that within the Meaning and for the Purposes of this Act every Person who for the Time being shall be in the lawful Administration of the Government of any of the said Colonies shall be taken to be the Governor thereof.

LXIV. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act contained doth or shall extend to any of the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company, or to the Island of Ceylon, or to the Island of Saint Helena.

LXV. And be it further enacted, That in the Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Mauritius the several Parts of this Act shall take effect and come into operation, or shall cease to operate and to be in force, as the case may be, at Periods more remote than the respective Periods herein-before for such Purposes limited by the following Intervals of Time; videlicet, by Four Calendar Months in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and by Six Calendar Months in the Colony of the Mauritius.

LXVI. And be it further enacted and declared, That within the Meaning and for the Purposes of this Act all Islands and Territories dependent upon any of the Colonies aforesaid, and constituting Parts of the same Colonial Government, shall respectively be taken to be Parts of such respective Colonies.