I have the honour of sending to your lordship, with this, a paper containing samples of cloves received by me from Mr. Buée some months ago: Numbers 1 and 2, mentioned by him p. 19, (381.), are mixed: No. 3, his best sort, are separate. Your lordship may, if you think fit, order a com parison to be made, by some dealers in spice, between these and the cloves we usually receive from the Dutch: I shall only add, that when I applied for information on the same subject to an eminent wholesale dealer in that article, the only answer I obtained was, that he thought me grieviously deceived in supposing the cloves to be the produce of the West Indies, he being absolutely certain they came from the East.

I have the honour to be,

With infinite regard and esteem,

Your lordship's obedient humble servant,
JOSEPH BANKS.

Earl of Liverpool.

Colonial Establishments.-Of the Captain General or Chief Governor; his powers and privileges.-Some reflections on the usual choice of persons for this high office.-Lieutenant General, Lieutenant Governor, and President. Of the Council, their Office and Functions. -Origin of their claim to a share in the Legislature.Its necessity, propriety, and legality considered.-Some corrections in the constitution of this body proposed.

HE British establishments in the West Indies

TH

are commonly termed king's governments, in contradistinction to the proprietary and charter governments which were known in North America; and, from what has been stated in some preceding parts of this work, the reader must have observed, how very nearly their internal constitutions conform

to that of the mother-country. Their different orders of judicature are exactly like those of England; and their legislatures, in general, respectively consist of three distinct branches, (i. e.) a governor representing the crown, a council or upper house, and a body of delegates representing the people at large. The two first are necessarily imperfect, because they are not independent; but the members of the last are more fairly and equally chosen by their constituents, than those of the British House of Commons by the people of Great Britain. Of the powers and privileges claimed and exercised by these several branches respectively, in their own little system, and whence derived, I shall now briefly treat. And first of the

GOVERNOR.

Every chief governor in the British West Indies is appointed by letters patent under the great seal of Great Britain. He receives through courtesy the title of excellency, and is vested with the following powers:

First, as captain-general and commander in chief, he has the actual command of all the land forces within his government, (except only when a general officer is employed on the staff), and he commissions all officers of the militia. He appoints the judges of all the different courts of common law, and even these gentlemen, in all the islands

I believe, (Jamaica excepted*), hold their seats during the governors's good pleasure. He nominates, and supersedes at will, the custodes of the several parishes, justices of the peace, and other subordinate civil officers; and although in respect to some of the above appointments and dismissions, he is directed to ask the advice of his council, this direction is of little avail, inasmuch as the members of this body are themselves liable to be suspended by the governor, on the most frivolous pretences, or even without any cause assigned; a circumstance, by the way, which not unfrequently happens; and having thus reduced the board under a number limited by his instructions, he can fill up the vacancies instanter, with such persons as will be properly obedient. He has authority, with the advice of his council, to summon general assemblies; he appoints the place of their meeting, and when met, he possesses a negative voice in the legislature, for without his consent, no bill passes into a law; and he may, from time to time, as he alone shall judge needful, adjourn, prorogue, and dissolve all such general assemblies. He has the

* By an act passed in Jamaica in 1781, intituled "An act to make the places of the judges, &c. more permanent and respectable," it is declared, that no judges hall be removed but by the king's pleasure, signified under his majesty's sign manual. It is provided, however, that the governor, with the consent of five of his council, may sus pend until the king's pleasure be known, accounting to his majesty for, and delivering to the party suspended a copy of his reasons in writing, for such suspension. This proviso seems to me to render this act in a great measure nugatory.

disposal of all such civil employments as the crown does not dispose of; and with respect to such offices as are usually filled up by the British govern ment, if vacancies happen, the governor appoints pro tempore, and the persons so appointed are entitled to all the emoluments, until they are superseded at home, and until the persons nominated to supersede them, arrive in the colony. The governor claims the privilege also, in extraordinary cases, and has been known frequently to exercise it, of suspending such civil officers even as act immediately under the king's authority, or by commission. from the boards of treasury and admiralty, in high and lucrative employments, as the attorney and advocate-general, the collectors of the customs, &c. and of nominating other persons to act in their room, until the king's pleasure shall be known therein. To all which is added authority, when he shall judge any offender in criminal matters a fit object of mercy, to extend the king's gracious pardon towards him, except only in cases of murder and high treason; and even in these cases, the governor is permitted to reprieve until the signification of the royal pleasure.

Secondly: The governor has the custody of the great seal, and, in most of the colonies, presides solely in the high court of chancery. Indeed, in some of the Windward Islands, as we have seen, the council sit as judges in the court of chancery with the governor: Process however is issued by the governor alone, and tested in his name; and in