Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/254

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. vi. SEPT. u, 1012.


  • ' The great Pro -Consul." It was decided

at a public meeting held in February, 1804, to erect a Town Hall for the convenience of the settlement, and "for the reception of the statues of the Marquess Wellesley and the Marquess Cornwallis." The Wellesley statue, however, was apparently never placed in the Hall.

Other statues are on the staircase of the India Office (Weekes) ; and in a niche of the Inner Court of the India Office (Protat).

James Wilson. The Right Hon. James .Wilson, P.C., M.P., &c. (1805-60), first Finance Member of the Supreme Council of India 1859-60. White marble. In the Dalhousie Institute. By Sir John Steell, U.S.A. During his short tenure of office he created a Government paper currency and imposed an income-tax. Uncle of Sir W. W. Hunter the historian. It is the last of the marble memorials remaining in the Institute, an edifice designed in the sixties for the reception of statues, busts, &c., of notable Anglo - Indians of the Victorian era. Its former associated memorials have been removed to the Victoria Hall collection, now in the Indian Museum, Chowringhee, pending the completion of the Hall on the maidan.

Sir John Woodburn. Sir John Woodburn (1843-1902, born at Barrackpore), Lieu- tenant-Go vernor of Bengal 1898-1902. Bronze. Equestrian. By Sir George Framp- ton, R.A. To the centre of the north side of Dalhousie Square Park. Unveiled by Lord Minto 22 March, 1907. He died in office at Belvedere, and his grave in the Circular Road Cemetery, Calcutta, is marked by a suitable monument of elaborate design.

WlLMOT CORFIELD.


REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN THE COLONIES. If it be the case that the monument erected at Halifax, Nova Scotia, to commemorate the grant to that colony, in 1758, of representative government, bears an inscription stating that " the Nova Scotia Assembly was the first Legis- lative body of the present Colonial Empire," then one can only apply to the erroneous statement Pope's lines regarding the inscrip- tion upon the Monument in London.

Not to mention Bermuda, with which Virginia alone might vie, several islands in the West Indies enjoyed representative government long before 1758. As in the


case of Virginia, and also of the Scottish Parliament, the two Houses the Council and the Assembly would sometimes sit together as a General Assembly. At other times the chambers sat separately. It is on record that a General Assembly met in Barbados so early as 1627 or 1628.

On p. 399 of the ' Calendar of State Papers (Colonial) ' it is stated that, in 1652, the colonists of Barbados had

" already constituted a kind of Parliamentary power, chosen themselves a Speaker, and so clipped the Governor's power that he has not a fifth part of that which all former Governors have had."

The tendency was to make Barbados " a Free State," and to have " free Trade with all Nations."

The member of Assembly then chosen to be Speaker was Sir Thomas Modyford, a cousin of General Monck, and a leading planter in the island. He subsequently became Governor of Jamaica, and, with other planters from Barbados, established the sugar industry there. He even antici- pated Mr. Borden's proposal for a share in the Imperial counsels. Writing to John Bradshaw on 16 Feb., 1652, Sir Thomas proposed, although it " might seem im- modest," that "two Representatives should be chosen by the Island to sit and vote in the English Parliament." By a treaty entered into in 1652, between Admiral Sir George Ayscue on behalf of the Common- wealth, and certain commissioners appointed by Francis, Lord Willoughby of Parham, as Governor for King Charles II., the con- stitution of Barbados was confirmed to the inhabitants. This was subsequently ap- proved formally by the House of Commons.

By order of the Assembly of Barbados the laws of the island were printed and published in London in 1655. An imperfect copy of this collection is preserved in the British Museum. Several copies are pre- served in the United States, one perfect copy being in the possession of the Penn- sylvania Library Company of Philadelphia. N. DARNELL DAVIS.

CHURCHYARD INSCRIPTIONS : LIST OF TRANSCRIPTIONS. It may be useful to some of your readers to know that I have made copies of inscriptions in various churchyards in different counties. In some cases a full transcription, including epitaphs, has been made of all gravestones bearing a date earlier than 1836; whilst the modern inscriptions are abbreviated, but give all the essential particulars needed. In other