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 BAHAMA

204

BAHAMA

sometime after 1625. Bagshaw was at St. Jolin's College, Cambridge, in 1566, was graduated B. A. at Balliol, Oxford, 1572, and probably became a Fellow of that college in the same year. As a Fellow he was a party to the expulsion from the college of the afterwards famous Jesuit, Father Parsons.

At proceeding M. A. in 1575, Bagshaw was still a zealous Protestant. His administration as Principal of Gloucester Hall (1579) was unpopular and brief. In 1582. in France, he became a Catholic and was ordained a priest. Going to Rome with the permis- sion of Cardinal Allen, lie entered the English College. It is said by BuUen, that he was expelled by Cardi- nal Boncompagni for his quarrelsome temper and unpopularity. Foley's list of students of the Enghsh College does not contain his name. Later, at Paris he proceeded doctor of divinity and doctor of the Sorbonne, though afterwards he was dubbed by his Jesuit opponents doctor erraticus, doctor per saltum. On his return to England he was imprisoned (1587) in the Tower of London, under the statute of 27th uf Elizabeth, an act against Jesuits and Seminarists. (The text of this law is in Hardy and Gee.) With a number of other priests out of the more than 400 labouring in England, he was imprisoned in Wisbeach Castle, 1593.

There now came to a head a factional division among the labourers on the English mission. There were two original sources of difference: the existence of a Spanish faction, headed by the Jesuits, and the Jesuits' control of the English College at Rome (Cf. Dodd and Tierney; Lingard). The partisan feel- ings aroused foimd vent in two controversies in which Bagshaw was prominent, if not first, on the side opposed to tlie Jesuits and their friends. The earlier <lispute, arbitrated after nine months, arose from the vigorous opposition of Bagshaw and the elder clergy to the introduction of a religious rule among the thirtj'-three priests in Wisbeach Castle. Later, when, partly for the purpose of consolidating English Catholic sentiment in favour of a Catholic successor to Elizabeth, Cardinal Cajetan placed at the head of the English Mission, as archpriest. Father George Blackwell, with instructions to consult the Jesuit provincial on matters of importance (Lingard VHI, vii), Bagshaw headed a party of protest, which, on being disciplined, appealed, with the secret aid of Elizabeth's government, to Rome. Their appeal was in part successful, though the appointment was con- firmed.

Bagshaw, after his liberation, resided abroad, and is described in Daniel Featley's "Transubstantia- tion Exploded" as having been Rector of Ave Maria ( 'olU'gc. This work was published in 1638, and con- tained notes of a public disputation with Bagshaw. His death and burial, at Paris, occurred after 1625. He may have written in part "A true Relation of the Faction begun at Wisbich by Father Edmonds, alias Weston, a Jesuit, 1595, and continued since by Father Walley, alias Garnet, the Provincial of the Jesuits in England, and by Father Parsons in Rome" (1601); "Relatio Compendiosa Turbarum quas Jesuitie Angli una cum D. Georgio Blackwello, .\rclnpresbytero, Sacerdotibus Seminariorum, Popu- loque Catholico concivere", etc. (Rouen, 1601).

HuLi.EN in Diet, of Nat. Biog., II. 400; Gillow, BiM. Did. Eng. Cath., I, 100; Lingard, History of England; Foley. Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus. I. 42, 481; 11.239,244; VI. 724.725; Dodo, ed. Tierney, TAurr/i History of England, III, 40 and appendix.

J. V. Crowne. Bahama Islands, The, or Lucayos, the most northerly group of the West Indies, are a chain of coral islands lying between 21° 42' and 27° 34' N. lat., and 72° 40' and 79° 5' W. long., composed of twenty- five permanently inhabited islands and an immense number of cays and rocks. The group lies to the east of Southern Florida, and is separated from it

by the Gulf Stream; and to the north of Cuba, from which it is separated by the Old Bahama Channel. As to the name, nothing definite seems to be known of the origin of Bahama. It is undoubtably of aboriginal origin, while Lucayos is evidently the Spanish Los Cai/os, the Cays. The following are the principal islands and their area, and their population according to the census of 1901: —

Name

Area: Sq. Miles

Pop. Census 1901

.\baco and Cays

776

3,314

Andros

1,600

5,347

Berry Islands

4

215

Bimini

8

566

Cat Island

160

4,658

Eleuthera

164

8,733

Exuma and Cays

110

3,086

Grand Bahama

430

1,780

Inagua

530

1,453

Long Cay, i Acklins, and >

204

1,565

Crooked Island )

Long Island

130

3,562

Mayaguana

96

335

New Providence

85

12,534

Rum Cay

29

529

Ragged Island

5

348

Watlings Island

60

667

Total

4,500

55,000

Of the total population, about 80 per cent are of African negro descent; less than ten per cent are whites, mostly of English and Scotch descent through Loyalists from the American Colonies; and the rest are coloured or mixed. Slavery was abolished, 1 Au- gust, 1834; the number of slaves was 10,086 and the owners received compensation at the rate of £12.14.4 per head. New Providence, on which Nassau, the capital, is situated, the only island having a safe harbour, with eighteen feet of water, is the principal island. Owing to its salubrious climate, Nassau is a favourite winter resort for Amer- ican tourists. The average temperature for the four winter months is 71° F.

Political Status and Exports. — Politically the Ba- hamas are a British Colony, being governed by a Governor and an E.xecutive Council of eight members, a Legislative Council of nine members appointed by the Crown, and an elective legislative assembly of twenty-nine members. The islands arc of coral formation, thus differing completely in their geo- logical structure from the other West India Islands as well as from the adjacent mainland of Florida. Soil and vegetation are sparse. The chief e.xports are sponge, tortoise shell, ambergris, pink pearls, and shells gathered in the shallow waters of the Bahama Banks. Sisal fibre, pine-apples, grape- fruit, oranges, and various other tropical fruits,