The
Pre-Columbian Period
When the
first English settlers arrived in Anguilla in 1650, there is no mention of
Amerindians being met on the island.
These early inhabitants had long since died out. There is plenty of evidence that they once
occupied the island. Fragments of their
pottery are found at sites around the island.
Middens, ancient rubbish heaps of broken conch shells, pottery and other
discarded objects, are occasionally revealed on or near the beach, as at Sandy
Ground, Rendezvous Bay, Shoal Bay and Island Harbour. The three oldest wells on the island, at The
Valley, the Quarter and Statia Valley, date from the time of the
Amerindians. The Valley well was used for
drawing water until recently. During
much of the twentieth century, an electrically operated pump brought the water
to the surface and distributed it through the government's main supply system. The Amerindians that lived at Sandy Ground
made use of the spring under North Hill, and their artifacts have been
recovered from that area.
The Amerindians called the island Malliouhana, the meaning of
which is lost. Some thought it might mean "arrow", a reference to the
long, narrow shape of the island.[1] My preferred theory is based on Jill
Tattersall's analysis of the word lists and dictionaries of aboriginal
languages prepared by the early missionaries. The name more likely means The Ritual
Strengthening Place of the Men of my Tribe.
This might be a reference to be important ceremonial function of the
Fountain Cavern at Shoal Bay. This
ritual cavern is far too elaborate to have served only the inhabitants of the
island. It was probably a ceremonial
site for the puberty ritual of the young men from several of the islands
around.
Their crops consisted of maize and bulbous plants such as
potatoes and cassava. They cultivated tobacco and smoked it in pipes, becoming
quite intoxicated from smoking the dried leaves by inserting forked pipes
through their nostrils. They also grew
cotton, weaving it into 'hamacas' to sleep in, nets, and small aprons or loin
cloths. Some of them went naked or
clothed themselves with leaves. They
protected their bodies from the sun by staining their skins with the dye they
called ‘roucou’. Their shelters were
mere huts thatched with palm leaves. The
chieftains, or 'Caciques', wore head-dresses of feathers, occasionally
decorated with little pieces of gold and bands of coloured beads and bones. Their religion was a form of nature-worship
and their gods, called 'zemis', were represented in the form of heads of
lizards, snakes or bats made from chalk or baked earth or carved on rocks. They built large canoes of the silk cotton
tree and cedar, capable of holding up to one hundred men.
West Indian school children have traditionally[2]
been taught that the Arawaks occupied the islands of the Greater Antilles:
Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico.
The Caribs were said to have been far less civilized than the Arawaks,
and they lived on the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles. The Arawaks were supposedly docile farmers
and fishermen. The Caribs were
supposedly more warlike and cannibalistic. A form of ritual cannibalism did exist among
the Amerindians of the West Indies. This
ritual involved chopping up a dead or dying enemy and eating cooked parts of
him. The process was intended to be an insult to the dead enemy. They believed it prevented his spirit from
taking any kind of revenge once he was dead. If the eyes, tongue, or muscles from the arms
and legs were chewed up, the spirit of the dead man would be handicapped from
ever seeing, talking and shooting again. It was a waste to simply kill a captured enemy
outright. If he were tortured to death
and his dying screams of pain, his last breath, inhaled by the victors, the
strength of his spirit could be absorbed and used to strengthen the victors’
own spirits. The greater the torture,
and the more painful the death, the greater the strength of the spirit that
could be inhaled and absorbed. Hence,
their reputation for sitting around their tortured male victims, apparently
enjoying watching them die. There was no
similar advantage in torturing women or children, and there are no accounts of
this activity. That was part of their
religion.[3]
By the time of the arrival of the English on Anguilla, the
Amerindians had all died out. The
cruelty of the Spanish Roman Catholic Conquistadors towards the aboriginal
Amerindians, as an explanation for their rapid disappearance from the islands,
is an Anglo-Saxon Protestant myth. The
real reason is now known to have been their fatal susceptibility to such minor
common European diseases as small pox, measles, and the common cold. They had no inherited immunity to these
foreign diseases. Far more of them died
from these infections than from the guns and swords of the Spaniards.
Settlement
The modern history of Anguilla begins in the
year 1650. The first group of English
settlers arrived from St Kitts. It was
an unauthorised colony. There was no
official encouragement. By contrast, the
settlement of St Christopher in 1623, Nevis in 1628, Antigua in 1632, and
Montserrat in 1633, had all been covered by commissions from either the King or
the Governor-in-Chief. But, not
Anguilla. It was unauthorized, and it
remained an unwanted step-child for most of its history, right up to just a few
years ago.
The early colony was
considered by the Governors-in-Chief to be an unmitigated nuisance. It never served any useful imperial
purpose. It exported no crops or other
primary product to Britain to contribute to the metropole’s economy. It did not serve any strategic purpose. It was from the earliest times a forsaken
place. The names of the first settlers
are lost. They were probably time-out indentured
servants, runaway slaves and black freedmen, pirates and buccaneers settling
down under one of the many Acts of Amnesty of the period, and desperate
small-farmers from other islands, all hungry for land of any sort.
First
Invasion
Despite the poverty of the islanders, the
French in St Martin mounted the first invasion in the year 1666. The Sieur Des Roses with 300 men took the
island and carried back to St Martin prisoners and canon.[4] The island’s defences were built back up and
a few cannon supplied, but the poverty of the island precluded any real effort
on the part of the colonial authorities to protect the islanders from any
future attack.
Abraham
Howell
The following year, 1667, the Anguillians took
matters into their own hands. They elected
a local settler, Abraham Howell, as their deputy governor. Unlike in the other islands, neither he nor
any other later deputy governor of Anguilla was ever given any patent or
official document of appointment. The
Anguillians were uniquely permitted to nominate their own deputy governor right
up to the day in 1825 when the island was absorbed into St Kitts. All of Anguilla’s governors, until the first
British Governor was appointed in 1982, were “unofficial” lieutenant-governors.
Lack of
Proper Government.
The failure of the colonial authorities to
provide for the proper government of Anguilla was not a matter for
self-congratulation. It is evidence of
the poverty of, and lack of official interest in, the island. Its settlers were considered of little
account. Antigua was the centre of
government for the Leeward Islands.
London was the centre of government of the metropolitan power. Neither was bothered to make any arrangement
during the period of nearly 175 years for its proper administration. The consequence has been a simmering sense in
Anguilla of abandonment by all outside authorities. There exists in the people a deep-seated
awareness of the need for self-reliance.
This is a characteristic of the Anguillian political psyche to this
day. Evidence of Anguilla’s abandonment
by the authorities abounds in the records.
Henry Lord Willoughby and
his son and successor William governed the West Indies from Barbados before the
Leeward Islands got its own governor.
Neither ever visited Anguilla. This
was a trend that was to be followed by successive Governors-in-Chief for the
next 200 years. Governor Willoughby knew
about Anguilla. In the year 1668, he
reported back to London on the state of the island. He described it as being occupied “by some two
or three hundred people who had fled there in time of war”. At that period the people, he reported, made
only tobacco, and were very poor. He
opined that, “T’is not worth keeping.” [5]
Leeward
Islands Government
In 1670, shortly after the Treaty of Breda, the
Leeward Islands government was separated from Barbados. The Leeward Islands became a separate colony
with its own Governor. This
constitutional change was not to be of any benefit or advantage to the
Anguillians. Once war returned to the
West Indies in 1672, the government of the Leeward Islands decided that the
island was not worth defending. The few
cannon placed on Anguilla for defence in 1666 were removed to St Kitts. The island was once more left without the
means to defend itself. In 1688, the
French landed a party of Wild Irish on Anguilla, who “treated the defenceless inhabitants more barbarously than any of the
French pirates who had attacked them before”.[6] If the Anguillians had been left their
cannon, we can be sure that the Wild Irish would have had a hot reception. But then we would have been deprived of many
of the good folk of Island Harbour: the
Ruans, Harrigans, and Bryans.
Throughout the Seventeenth
Century, Anguilla merits very few dispatches or reports of her own from the Governor-in-Chief
back to London. She crops up more often
as a mere footnote in a report on conditions in the Leeward Islands
generally. A typical example is found in
a 1676 report when the deputy governor of Antigua describes Anguilla in the
terse words, “a barren, rocky island,
ill-settled by the English, and of small consequence . . .”[7]
That same year, the
Governor-in-Chief advised London that while Anguilla had never been surveyed,
there was no need to. It was so small
and the land so poor, he said, that it would always be incapable either of
holding many people or of defending itself.
He recommended that it was fitter for raising livestock than for
planting any of the cash crops of the islands at the time.
Four years later, he
expressed the usual exasperation at Anguilla’s failure to honour the Navigation
Acts and to support British Trade. He
wrote that, “It were to be wished that .
. . Anguilla were as much under water as above it.”[8] In 1683, he wrote disparagingly again of
Anguilla, dismissing it with the words, “T’is
fit for little but goats.”[9]
In 1688, the Spaniards
from Puerto Rico attacked Anguilla in force.
Deputy governor Howell described the outcome.[10] On the night of 21 December, the Spaniards
landed some 250 men accompanied by some English and Irish renegades. At about 8:00 AM the following morning,
Howell with a band of his militia ambushed them and put them to flight. They left so precipitously that they
abandoned all their Anguillian prisoners and 10 Frenchmen obtained from other
islands. Howell’s only request of the
Governor in Antigua was for a barrel of gunpowder for his guns. This, he said, he needed to be able to give
the Spanish a better welcome if they visited again. But, there is no indication
that he ever received so simple and basic a government supply. Anguilla was so poor and insignificant to the
Colonial authorities that it simply did not count in preparing for the defence
of the Leeward Islands.
The following year, 1689,
the first and last evacuation of the island took place. The Governor-in-Chief dispatched a fleet of
sloops to bring all the inhabitants to Antigua.
His hope was that the Anguillians would remain in Antigua where he
planned to let them have sufficient land to cultivate not only for their own
benefit, but to increase the King’s revenue.
His plan for the future disposition of the Anguillians were frustrated,
for most of them returned to Anguilla.
Poor as the land was, and arid as the climate was, the Anguillians
persisted in clinging to every inch of it, then as they do now.
By 1701, the little colony
was over 50 years old. The second
generation of Anguillians had come of age.
Yet, the authorities showed no greater concern than they had earlier for
the protection of the inhabitants. The
Governor-in-Chief in Antigua made a military evaluation of each of the
islands. Anguilla, he said, “hath so few inhabitants, and most of them
so poor, that whosoever hath, or will have it, will be very little the better
for it.”[11] Later that year, the Governor-in-Chief went a
step farther when he referred to the propensity for smuggling that even then
characterized the most enterprising of Anguilla’s sons, and remarked that, “The men of Anguilla are perfect outlaws.”
A few years later, in 1708,
an English historian wrote how the lives of the Anguillians had not improved
from the earliest days of settlement. Of
the early settlers he wrote,[12]
Their business . . . was to plant corn, and
breed tame cattle, for which purpose they brought stock with them. They were poor and continue so to this day,
being perhaps the laziest creatures in the world. Some people have gone from Barbados, and the
other English Charibbee Islands, thither, and there they live like the first
race of men, without government or religion, having no minister nor governor,
no magistrates, no law, and no property worth keeping. If a French author is to be believed . . .
’The island is not thought worth the trouble of defending or cultivating it’. In which perhaps the Frenchman is out, for
the soil being good, if an industrious people were in possession of it, they
would soon make it worth defending.
To recapitulate, a
principal reason for the virtual abandonment of Anguilla by the colonial
authorities from the earliest days of settlement was that the island
contributed nothing to the colonial coffers.
The result was that the Governors-in-Chief throughout the Seventeenth
Century continually maligned the island and its people.
In a dispatch of 1709, the
Governor-in-Chief described conditions in Anguilla. The life he described was one of extreme
poverty and hardship. There was, he
said, a deputy governor, but he had no authority:
The
people lived there like savages, without order or government. They had neither lawyer nor parson among
them. They gave themselves in marriage
to each other. They only thought
themselves Christians because they were descended from Christians.
The life he described was hardly to improve for
the next 250 years.
First
Council
A Governor-in-Chief first visited Anguilla in
1724. He claimed that he found it to be
a poor and barren place. The inhabitants
bore all the signs of poverty in the quality of their houses, clothing and
food. He did not see any chance of
improvement in their condition. He had
made enquiry how such a miserable island came to be settled. He had found two principal sources for the
original settlers:
First, there were those that had fled Barbados and others of the
bigger islands to escape prosecution for debts or crimes. In addition to these fugitives, there were
also pirates who had been amnestied under various enactments passed by the
Leeward Islands Assembly. They had
married into the local community and had settled down. There, they and their progeny lived in
ignorance of the rest of the world. They
scratched the ground for a miserable subsistence.
And, yet, he was astonished to find among them
such a fierce contention over property.
As they had no formal system for settling disputes, he had appointed one
of them a Justice of the Peace, to sit on the local Council with the deputy
governor. He also appointed a Secretary
to the Council to keep records, and a Provost Marshal to enforce its orders.
If later
Governors-in-Chief had shown half as much interest in the welfare of the
Anguillians, the development of the island might well have progressed
differently to the way it in fact did.
But, no other Governor-in-Chief was to visit the island again in the
period before the American Revolution of 1776.
In the absence of a
legislature to enact laws for good government as in the other islands, a deputy
governor of Anguilla was obliged to rely for his authority on his personal
standing in the community, not to mention his physical prowess. As the Governor-in-Chief said of the governor
of Anguilla in his 1724 dispatch, “If his
cudgel happens to be one whit less than a sturdy subject’s, good night,
governor!” Anguillians lived, worked
and died here during the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries
without any legal system. This was only
altered in 1825 when Anguilla became a part of St Kitts and Anguilla had the
laws of St Kitts extended to her. Before
that date, laws made by other islands did not apply to Anguilla. With no laws of her own, and none from
anywhere else, Anguilla remained a lawless frontier settlement well into the
eighteenth century.[13] The Executive Council of Anguilla, when it
was eventually established in the Eighteenth Century, acted as legislature,
executive, and judiciary, a situation to the advantage of the most powerful
planters and merchants and no one else.
In the 1730s, Anguilla’s
reputation was at its lowest point. In
1734, the Governor-in-Chief remarked on the lack of law and a properly
constituted method for its enforcement in Anguilla. He complained that he did not know what to do
with the inhabitants. They lived, he
said, “like so many bandits, in open
defiance of the laws of God and men.”
The Anguillians of the
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries reciprocated the abandonment the
authorities extended to them. They
countered by ignoring the laws and regulations of other countries. From the earliest days of settlement,
Anguillians depended on inter-island trading in their sloops and schooners, a
little salt picking and growing of tobacco and cotton, and the growing and export
of vegetables and small-stock to St Kitts and other near-by islands as cash
crops. They moved freely between the
Dutch, French and Danish territories as if they were mere extensions of
Anguilla. Anguillian sloops connected
Anguilla with St Martin and St Croix where so many of the local families had
family and business connections. In the
beginning, her sloops brought valuable dye woods and building timbers from the
forests of Crab Island and St Croix to the merchants of the Leewards. Later in the Eighteenth Century, they
ventured as far as New York and London.
Anguillian sloops traded from one island to the other, regardless of the
Navigation Acts and customs duties. The
Anguillians made their own laws and elected their own governors. They were polite enough, but they did not
blindly obey the instructions of a distant governor. When those instructions ran contrary to their
vital interests, they ignored them without hesitation. These early settlers built the foundation of
the present tradition of complete irreverence for all national boundaries and
customs barriers that characterize the best Anguillian merchants of today.
Sugar
By 1725, sugarcane agriculture had come to
Anguilla. The sugar industry of Anguilla
was short-lived, lasting only until the American Revolution of 1776, a mere 50
years. The industry was never as
successful as it was in the wetter, more prosperous islands. The absence of windmills bear testimony to
the lack of capital invested in the industry.
The animal-round was the normal source of power for crushing the
canes. The boiling houses and curing
houses were small, and few of their ruins remain at this time.
Slavery
From the earliest days of settlement there were
slaves present on the island. The system
of slavery existed in Anguilla in all its gory detail until its final abolition
throughout the Empire in 1839. Many
examples of the brutality of the system, and of the times, can be found in the
records. It is a sentimental myth that
slavery in Anguilla was never as savage as in the other plantation
islands. The unique point about it is
that the sugar industry which brought out the worse characteristics of slavery
was short-lived.
Collapse
of the Economy
The American Revolution of 1776 brought an end
to any hope of prosperity for Anguilla.
The Revolution resulted in war in the West Indies. The Royal Navy blockaded all trade between
the loyal southern colonies of the Caribbean and the rebelling northern
colonies. Then as now, Anguilla survived
by trade. Anguilla’s economy was
devastated by the blockade. While before
1776 law suits for hundreds of pounds local currency were common, after that
date the records show mainly debts of a few shillings being squabbled over in
court. Most of the planters
emigrated. Anguilla could no longer maintain
a pretence of a Council.
In 1820, Anguilla was
devastated by a hurricane and this was followed by famine. The Secretary of State suggested to the
Governor-in-Chief that Anguilla should be allowed to send one representative to
sit on the St Kitts Assembly, which would then make laws for Anguilla. St Kitts was not interested. The Lieutenant Governor of that island
replied that instead Anguilla would be better ruled direct from London.
Absorption
by St Kitts
Under pressure from both London and the
Governor-in-Chief, in 1825 the inhabitants of Anguilla consented to the
abolition of their Council. They agreed
to be absorbed by St Kitts and for the Assembly of St Kitts to make laws to
apply in Anguilla. The motive of the
Secretary of State for pressing this development was simple. The tide in Britain in favour of “the great enterprise” of the abolition
of slavery was rising unmistakeably. Any
colonial law reform would not be effective in Anguilla unless there was a
law-making institution governing the island.
Union with St Kitts would allow abolition to extend to Anguilla without
the need to create another expensive colonial apparatus.
The Anguilla Act of
1825 of the St Kitts Assembly gave the freeholders of Anguilla the right to
send up a representative. The colony was
now known as St Christopher and Anguilla. No law affecting Anguilla could be passed
except in the presence of the Anguilla representative. We gave up the right to our own deputy
governor. Our officials were to be
appointed from St Kitts from then on.
The St Kitts Assembly took on responsibility for Anguilla very
reluctantly and only under pressure from the Colonial authorities. They made it clear to the Governor-in-Chief
in repeated resolutions that no part of the cost of administering Anguilla
would be borne by the St Kitts population.
First
Petition for Separation
It did not take long for the people of Anguilla
to become dissatisfied with government from St Kitts. On 10 March 1825, they sent an address to the
Governor-in-Chief complaining about an Act of the St Kitts Assembly that had
reduced the power of the Vestry. They
wrote:
Can we
indulge a hope that laws enacted for this community, can and will be made with
much regard to its interests; when they
are passed by a body of men living in a distinct and remote island, possessing
no property of any kind here and having no connection or relation whatever?
This time they were not ignored. They got back the Vestry in 1827.
Second
Petition
In 1871, the Leeward Islands were
federated. Anguillians realised that
they would be combined in the Presidency of St Christopher and Anguilla. They submitted a memorandum opposing the
plan. They complained among other things
that:
We watch
with the greatest apprehension what appears to be the imminent decadence of an
Island which for many years past has held a prominent position among the
Islands of this Government for prosperity, good order and self-reliance . . .
They proposed that:
. . . we
may be allowed to revert to our former system namely a lieutenant governor . .
. with an Administrative Committee, a form of government that gave satisfaction
to all classes of the community, and
under which we enjoyed the greatest amount of prosperity.
There is no indication in the records that the
Anguillians ever received any response to this petition. Certainly no attention was paid to their
concerns, as Anguilla duly entered the new Federation attached to St Kitts.
Third
Petition
The Anguillians continued to complain about the
remoteness of, and unsatisfactory nature of government from, St Kitts. On 23 August 1872 they petitioned the
Colonial Office:
The
interest of Anguilla, its resources and capabilities of development are not
understood . . . by the legislative body of St Christopher who are utter
strangers to us, ignorant of the community, careless of their wants, and
therefore unequal to discharge . . . the important duties of legislation for us
. . . This legislative dependence on St Kitts can in no sense be called a
legislative union, it has operated and continues to operate most injuriously
against us, and is mutually disliked.
By 1882 the economy of
Nevis had disintegrated. Its Council was
dissolved and the island was merged with St Kitts and Anguilla. The Presidency was now known as St
Christopher and Nevis. The name of
Anguilla was dropped from the name of the enlarged Presidency. The Anguilla Vestry was abolished, and the
Magistrate was appointed to oversee the day-to-day running of the island. Local government in Anguilla had disappeared.
Fourth
Petition
The situation remained unaltered throughout the
first half of the Twentieth Century. In
1958 the Anguillians continued to suffer under a very low standard of
living. Discontent with government from
St Kitts peaked again. The result was
another petition to the Governor of the Leeward Islands requesting him to,
. . .
make every exertion which lies in your power to bring about the dissolution of
the present political and administrative association of Anguilla with St Kitts.
They warned,
A people
cannot live without hope for long without erupting socially; and it is because the people of Anguilla
prefer petition to eruption that we now implore Your Excellency to use your
best endeavours with the Secretary of State for the Colonies . . . to have
Anguilla created a grant-aided colony, emancipated from the dead hand of the
political leaders of St Kitts . . . We
know that Anguilla must have at least an economic horizon to bolster a petition
of this sort, but paradoxically such a horizon can never, never appear unless
the island is free of St Kitts politics whose avowed intent it is to withhold
from Anguilla even the ordinary amenities of modern civilised life.”
Associated
Statehood
The independence of India in 1947 brought an
end to the Empire. The King ceased to
call himself “Emperor”. Britain began to
shed her no longer profitable colonies.
The islands of the West Indies were ushered into a pre-independence
state as the West Indies Federation.
This was short-lived. With its dissolution
in 1962, the islands reverted to colonial status for a short period. Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados went into
independence as separate states. Britain
kept the pressure up on the smaller islands to go into independence. She agreed with the Leeward and Windward
Islands to the creation of Statehood in Association with Britain, envisaged as
a first step to independence. This
relationship gave the Associated States full internal self-government, with
Britain reserving only defence and external affairs.
During 1966, a new
Constitution for the creation of the Associated State of St Kitts, Nevis and
Anguilla was discussed in London.
Against the background of Anguilla’s persistent demand for a break from
St Kitts, one of the proposals discussed was the establishment of local
government in Anguilla. It agreed that
the 1967 Constitution should contain a provision for Anguilla, and Nevis, to
enjoy a degree of local government. The
experiment was not to succeed. The St
Kitts government never had any intention of permitting the Anguillians any real
degree of internal self-government. This
failure led to the mounting of a campaign against Statehood. It was led by such men as Ronald Webster,
Atlin Harrigan, and John Rogers.
Anguilla
Revolution
Despite the objections of the Anguillians, on
26 February 1967 St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla became an Associated State. On 27 February 1967, the Constitution of the
Associated State came into effect.
Anguilla refused to go into this status, and the Anguilla Revolution of
1967 commenced. On 8 March the
Government House was burned to the ground and the Warden fled to St Kitts the
next day. On 29 May at a meeting in the
Park, the crowd voted by a show of hands to expel the St Kitts policemen from
the island. The crowd left the Park in
procession and marched to Police Headquarters where they ordered the police to
leave Anguilla by 10:00 am the following day.
The following morning the policemen were advised that a plane was ready
to take them to St Kitts, and by noon they were all disarmed and expelled from
Anguilla.
The
Peace-keeping Committee
On 31 May 1967, a Peace-keeping Committee[14]
was established to manage the island’s affairs.
The same day, a delegation[15] was sent to St Kitts to search for a peaceful
solution. They presented a memorandum to
the Governor which read in part:
Anguillians
do not want to be a part of the State of St Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla. The time when they might have accepted this
is past. What they now want is
separation from St Kitts. They want a
process set in motion now which will give them separation and
self-determination within twelve months.
By the end of this time they want to be a State in Association with
Britain.
Attack on
St Kitts
The response of the St Kitts government was immediate. A state of emergency was declared and
regional governments were requested to send military assistance to put down the
rebellion. The Anguilla Revolution
was well under way. The Anguillians took
the view that the best form of defence was attack. In the early hours of the morning of 10 June,
a party of armed Anguillians[16]
landed in St Kitts and attacked the Police Headquarters, the Defence Force
Headquarters, and the power station. The
attack was a failure due to the small size of the Anguillian force, and the
non-occurrence of the promised uprising by Kittitians against their own
government. Nonetheless, the attack
served Anguilla well in that the St Kitts Defence Forces concentrated on the
defence of St Kitts, and never mounted an attack on Anguilla in response.
Referendum
on Secession
The St Kitts government insisted that the
Anguilla Revolution had no legitimacy and was not supported by the majority of
residents. The response of the
Peace-keeping Committee was to hold a referendum on secession from St Kitts on
11 July 1967. The result was an
overwhelming vote (1,813 to 5) in favour of secession.
First Anguilla
Constitution
A further step towards legitimising the
Revolution was the preparation of a Constitution. Dr Roger Fisher, a professor of law at
Harvard University, agreed to help. He
drafted an eleven-section Constitution which provided for the creation of an
Anguilla Council with full legislative and executive powers. There were to be five elected and two
nominated members.
First
Anguilla Council
The Fisher Constitution appointed the first
members of the Council who were to hold office until elections could be held
not later than July 1968. They were
Ronald Webster, Rev Leonard Carty, John Webster, John Rogers, Peter Adams,
Walter Hodge, Emile Gumbs, and John Hodge.
Second
Anguilla Council
While the Caribbean governments fussed and
disagreed among themselves on the best way to resolve the Anguilla crisis, the
Anguillians went about preparing for the first elections under their new Constitution. The Beacon Newspaper[17]
of 7 October 1967 published a notice advising the electorate that nomination
day was fixed for 17 October and that elections were scheduled for 25
October. All Anguillians holding foreign
passports were specifically allowed to vote, and civil servants were allowed to
contest a seat. When nominations closed
on 17 October, five of Ronald Webster’s candidates stood unopposed. Camile Connor and Charles Fleming withdrew
from the contest. The five remaining
candidates were declared to be duly elected Councilors. They were Ronald Webster, Wallace Rey, Hugo
Rey, Collins Hodge, and John Hodge.
When the new Council met
on 21 October, Ronald Webster was elected Chairman and Campbell Fleming and
John Rogers were named as Nominated Members.
At a meeting at the Park the following day, Mr Webster told the crowd
that Anguilla was looking for some sort of associated status with Britain or
some other Commonwealth country. He
emphasised that, “Total independence is
only a last resort if all negotiations fail.”
United
Nations
The Anguillian leaders were also interested in
some form of relationship with the United Nations. Professor Fisher wrote a letter of 24 October
to the Secretary General appealing for an administrator, an expert in telecommunications,
and a financial adviser for Anguilla.
His letter was followed up with a meeting between him and Jeremiah Gumbs
and the UN Special Committee on Colonialism.
The British Government took the view that the Committee of Twenty-four
was incompetent to discuss the affairs of an Associated State and refused to
participate in the discussions. The
Committee decided to send a mission to Anguilla to investigate, but it was
unable to visit because the British Government withheld consent.
Senior
British Official
On 8 January 1968, direct participation of
Britain in the administration of Anguilla began with the consent of the St
Kitts Government and the Anguilla Council with the arrival of Mr Tony Lee as
the Senior British Official in Anguilla.
This was intended to be for what was described as the Interim Period
of twelve months.
Advisory
Board
In March the Anguilla Council set up an
Advisory Board of fourteen members to assist with the running of the island’s
affairs.[18]
Third Anguilla
Council
On 30 July 1968 new elections were held. There were seven candidates, although the
Constitution provided for only five.[19] Negotiations continued between the Anguilla
Council and the British and St Kitts governments. They all failed to resolve the crisis because
the Anguillians were adamant that they would accept nothing short of complete
separation from St Kitts. The British
government insisted that under the West Indies Act 1967 they could not change
the status of any part of an Associated State without the request and consent
of the State legislature.
End of
Interim Period.
As the end of the Interim Period approached,
the Anguilla leaders were split. One
faction led by Atlin Harrigan favoured retaining an association with
Britain. Another led by Ronald Webster
and Wallace Rey favoured a unilateral declaration of independence. The Anguilla Council appealed to the British
to extend the Interim Period, but the British refused and on 9 January 1969 Mr
Lee departed. The St Kitts government
responded to the intransigence of the Anguillians by suspending air and postal
services and banning all trade save for food-stuffs and drugs.
Unilateral
Declaration of Independence
In the perceived face of rejection by the
British Government, the Anguilla Council prepared to hold a referendum on
independence. Jack Holcomb, a CIA agent
and something of a con-man, stationed at the time in Anguilla and advising the
Council, came up with a new constitution.
It was duly approved by the Council and put to the people on 6 February
1969. The result was 1,739 votes in
favour of independence and 4 against.
Second Anguilla
Constitution
Jack Holcomb’s Republican Constitution provided
for the island to be divided into three constituencies each of which would
elect two candidates, and five candidates at large. The President and Vice-President were to be
elected in a national election.
Elections for the Legislature were to be held on 25 March 1969, while
those for the President and Vice President were to be on 3 April.
Republic
of Anguilla
When nominations closed on 21 February, Ronald
Webster was unopposed and was declared President of the Republic of Anguilla. He chose as his Vice-President Mr Campbell
Fleming. Webster’s Cabinet was to
include John Webster (a former Secretary of Defence) as Secretary of State for
Domestic Affairs and Jeremiah Gumbs as Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs. On nomination day only six
candidates were nominated and they were similarly declared elected unopposed.[20]
William
Whitlock’s Expulsion
On 11 March 1969, a British envoy, Mr William
Whitlock, arrived in Anguilla with proposals for a solution to the Anguilla
crisis. His visit was spurred by a
resolution passed in Trinidad at the just concluded Fifth Conference of Heads
of Government of the Commonwealth Caribbean Countries. This called on Britain to take all necessary
steps to confirm the territorial integrity of St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. The British proposal brought by Whitlock was
that Anguilla should be administered by Tony Lee as Commissioner to serve for
so long as the present difficult situation continued. He would appoint an Advisory Committee to
assist him in his capacity as Her Majesty’s Commissioner. These proposals were unacceptable to the
Anguillian leaders, and Whitlock was expelled from the island.
British
Invasion
During the early hours of 19 March 1969 some
three hundred British paratroopers landed, followed by Royal Engineers and
London bobbies. The local defence force
had handed in their arms the evening before as it had been realised that
resistance would be futile and would lead to unnecessary loss of blood. The rebellion was crushed without either side
firing a shot. The invading forces
distributed a leaflet that contained the fateful line, “It is not our purpose to force you to return to an Administration you
do not want.”
Third Anguilla
Constitution
Tony Lee was appointed the first Commissioner,
and Britain’s direct administration of the island began. He was appointed under an Order in Council of
18 March which authorised him to make by regulation provision for securing and
maintaining public safety and public order in Anguilla as part of the
Associated State. It gave him sweeping
powers to amend, suspend or revoke any law in Anguilla other than the
Constitution or the Courts Order. This
1969 Order was the first British Constitutional document that related
specifically to Anguilla since the first day of settlement in 1650. It was Anguilla’s third modern constitution.
Caradon
Declaration
Tony Lee’s administration was not without opposition. There were several large demonstrations on
the island demanding the withdrawal of British forces. Webster and the other leaders refused to
cooperate with Lee. Representations were
made to the United Nations. In an effort
to defuse a highly explosive situation, the British Government dispatched its
Ambassador to the United Nations, Lord Caradon,[21]
to Anguilla to work out an arrangement with the Anguilla Council. The result was the Caradon Declaration which
was agreed upon by the Council. It provided
for the administration of the island to be conducted by the Commissioner in
full consultation and co-operation with the representatives of the people of
Anguilla. The results of the 1969
elections were abandoned. The members of
the 1968 Third Anguilla Council were recognised as the elected representatives
and were to serve as members of the Council.
The Declaration repeated that it was no part of the purpose of the
British Government to put the Anguillians under an Administration under which
they did not want to live. After initial
difficulties with establishing working relationships, Tony Lee left Anguilla on
20 April to be replaced by John Cumber who took the important step of
recognising Ronald Webster as the leader of the Council.
Wooding
Commission
On 18 December 1969 the British Government
appointed a Commission of Inquiry under the chairmanship of Sir Hugh Wooding,
Chief Justice of Trinidad and Tobago, to make recommendations for a
satisfactory and durable solution to the Anguilla Crisis. By its terms of reference, The Commission was
expressly required to find a solution that would “preserve the integrity of the
State and prevent further fragmentation of the Caribbean”. Not surprisingly, the Commission’s Report
concluded that while reversion to colonial status was out of the question,
independence for such a small community was equally unrealistic. The only solution that could be recommended
was the preservation of the State under an arrangement which gave the
Anguillians a large measure of control over their own affairs. The Anguilla Council immediately passed a
resolution rejecting the Report. They
would accept nothing less than a complete break with St Kitts.
Godber
Proposals
With a change in government in London in 1971,
the British Government gradually became more sympathetic to the Anguillian
cause, and the Wooding Report became a dead letter. In July 1971, Joseph Godber, the new Minister
of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, put to the St Kitts Government a
proposal that the State Government delegate to HMG powers which would enable
the Commissioner to administer the island for a period of years. The St Kitts Government insisted that the
Anguillians were rebels and the British must force them back into the fold of
St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. Gun-boats
should be sent to do this and measures should be taken to starve the islanders
into submission. On the other hand, the
Anguillians were prepared to accept nothing short of complete separation from
the Associated State. The British were
forced to act unilaterally. Their
proposals for an interim settlement were accepted by the Anguilla Council. In the words of Ronald Webster, “Anguillians have just accepted Britain to
be their partner to work together from now onwards . . . let us move forward
together to develop Anguilla.”
Reversion
to British Administration
Purporting to act under the authority of the West
Indies Act 1967, the British Parliament passed the Anguilla Act 1971
to allow it to administer Anguilla. The
Act took effect on 27 July 1971. It
permitted the Queen in Council to make detailed provision for the
administration of Anguilla. HMG was to
appoint a Commissioner in Anguilla. The
island would cease to be a part of the Associated State in the event of the
introduction into the State’s legislature of a Bill for a law terminating the
status of association with the UK. The
St Kitts Government never accepted that this was a legitimate use of section 3
of the West Indies Act.
The decision of the
British Government to proceed unilaterally in this way met with strong
condemnation from Caribbean Governments and newspapers. Their reaction prompted the leader of the
Anguilla Council, Ronald Webster, to publish a letter in The Times
urging the “Commonwealth Caribbean
countries not to interfere in a situation which does not concern them and
towards the solution of which they have made no worthwhile contribution.”
Fourth Anguilla
Constitution
Anguilla’s fourth modern Constitution was the Anguilla
(Administration) Order 1971. It made
provision for the Commissioner to work in consultation with the Anguilla
Council. This was to consist of seven
elected members and up to six nominated members. The role of the Council was not spelled out
in the Order, and the Commissioner was vested with complete legal control of
the island. Mr Godber gave the
Anguillians the assurance that the constitutional arrangements would be
reviewed after three years. Anguillians
accepted the Order as a temporary settlement even though it was within the framework
of the Associated State. They recognised
that it was setting the stage for the eventual separation of Anguilla from the
rest of the State.
The
Anguilla Council of 1972
The first general elections under the
Administration Order took place on 24 July 1972. The result was the election of the fourth and
last Anguilla Council.[22] Their complete lack of power caused them to
go on strike against the Commissioner.
The situation was diffused by introducing a committee system whereby
certain members of the Council became chairmen of departmental committees. However, when after three years the promised
constitutional review did not take place, the Council went on strike again (for
a period of fourteen months). Only when
the British Government agreed to constitutional concessions did the Council
resume work.
Fifth Anguilla
Constitution
In 1976 Anguilla was given a new
Constitution. It had been negotiated by
the Anguilla Council with representatives of the British Government during the
“strike” of the previous year. It came
into effect on 10 February 1976, and was Anguilla’s fifth Constitution of the
modern era. It provided for the first
time for a Ministerial form of government.
The Executive Council comprised a Chief Minister and two other ministers
and two ex-officio members, the Attorney-General and the Financial Secretary.
It was chaired by the Commissioner.
There was provision for a Legislative Assembly comprising the
Commissioner as Speaker, three ex-officio members, namely the Chief Secretary,
the Financial Secretary, and the Attorney-General, and not less than seven
elected and two nominated members. The
Commissioner was to consult with Executive Council in the formulation of policy
and the exercise of all powers conferred upon him by the Constitution. However, he was not obliged to consult with
respect to external affairs or internal security, nor on matters relating to
the public service. This system extended
to the local representatives some of the forms of power while ensuring that the
British official retained the substance of power. As Petty puts it in his Where There’s a
Will There’s a Way, “The Anguillians
had fought for direct British Colonialism and they got it in heavy doses.” The 1976 Constitution recognised Anguilla to
be still a part of the Associated State of St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla. However, it was to be separately administered
by Britain until such time as the constitutional crisis between Anguilla and
the rest of the State could be resolved.
General elections under
the 1976 Constitution were held on 15 March 1976.[23] Mr Webster was named Chief Minister, with
Emile Gumbs and Albena Lake-Hodge his two ministers. Hubert Hughes was the lone opposition
member. By early 1977 Mr Webster had
lost the confidence of his government, and when at a 1 February 1977 meeting of
the Legislative Assembly Mr Hughes introduced a motion of no confidence only Mr
Webster did not support it. The
Commissioner revoked Mr Webster’s appointment.
Due to the short period that had passed since the previous elections,
and because the majority of the Assembly supported the appointment of Emile
Gumbs, the Commissioner did not call new elections, but instead appointed Emile
Gumbs to be the new Chief Minister. This
government lasted until the general elections of 28 May 1980 when Mr Webster
and his supporters won six of the seven seats, only Emile Gumbs of the previous
administration retaining his seat.[24]
The
Anguilla Act 1980
In February 1980 the St Kitts Labour Party
administration of Premier Lee Moore was defeated at the polls by the People’s
Action Movement. The new premier, Dr
Kennedy Simmonds, made it clear that his administration would put no obstacle
in the way of change in Anguilla and the Anguillians should be free to decide
their own constitutional future. The
result was the Anguilla Act 1980 which empowered Her Majesty to separate
Anguilla from the State on a day appointed by Order in Council. The Anguilla (Appointed Day) Order
duly appointed 19 December 1980 as the day on which Anguilla ceased to be a
part of the territory of the Associated State of St Christopher, Nevis and
Anguilla.
Mr Webster’s government of
May 1980 lasted for barely a year before internal dissension brought it
down. After a short period of political
instability, he advised the Commissioner to dissolve the Assembly and to hold
general elections on 22 June 1981.[25] Mr Webster won his seat and had the support
of four of the newly elected representatives.
The Commissioner asked him to form the new government. One of the objectives of the new government
was to negotiate with the British Government for constitutional advance. Mr Webster was particularly concerned to
ensure that the Constitution said that in the event of another vote of no confidence
the Commissioner could not appoint a new Chief Minister but must call general
elections.
The possibility of
constitutional advance was limited in view of the position of the British
Government that if a territory aspired to autonomy it must call for
independence and set a timetable. It was
made clear that Associated Statehood was out of the question, and that any
aspiration to such a status would be considered only in the framework of a call
for independence.
Sixth Anguilla
Constitution
There was no public consultation on revising
the 1976 Constitution. The new
Constitution came into effect on 1 April 1982 shortly after it was first seen
by the public. It is Anguilla’s sixth
modern Constitution. By one view it
contains only minor changes to the 1976 Constitution. Others criticize it as the abandonment of
full internal self-government and a craven submission, without consultation
with the Anguillian public, to naked colonial administration. The position of Commissioner was renamed
“Governor” and the Legislative Assembly now became the “House of
Assembly”. Additionally, the
Commissioner (Governor) ceased to sit as a member of the House of Assembly, and
the Speaker of the House was chosen by the House and not by the Governor.
The 1982 Constitution left
the Governor’s reserved powers virtually intact, though he was now required to
consult the Chief Minster on matters relating to internal security and the
public service. The Governor also had
reserve power to legislate and to administer in case public order has broken
down and a state of emergency exists.
Anguilla
Constitution (Amendment) Order 1990
In line with local demands for increased
autonomy, and after the new 1982 Constitution had been working for only three
years, on 2 August 1985 the House of Assembly passed a motion for the Governor
to set up a Constitution Review Committee.
This Committee was appointed by the Governor in October 1985.[26] The result was the Anguilla Constitution
(Amendment) Order 1990. These included
new provisions for the creation of the office of Leader of the Opposition and
alteration of the definition of Belonger Status. This is the Constitution under which Anguilla
is governed to this day.
Anguillians are by and
large satisfied that the 1982 Constitution gives them what they want: a large degree of autonomy, with external
forces at hand (in the form of a British warship) for the defence of the
island, and its representation overseas by the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office. The utility of a British
passport to facilitate international travel, study, and work is generally
appreciated. Interest in discussing
reform is limited to politicians, lawyers and a few others who take a special
interest in these matters.
Partnership
for Progress
In 1992, the new Labour administration in
London set about making new proposals for the relationship with the Overseas
Territories. In March 1999, the British
Government published its Partnership for Progress Report. This was a major policy document that set out
the parameters of the relationship. The
Secretary of State reiterated the four principles that underlie the partnership
as:
First,
our partnership must be founded on self-determination . . .
Second,
the partnership creates responsibilities on both sides . . .
Third,
the people of the Overseas Territories must exercise the greatest possible
control over their own lives . . .
Fourth,
Britain will continue to provide help to the Overseas Territories that need it
. . .
One of the principal outcomes of the Report was
the replacement of BDT citizenship with full British citizenship. The Territories were renamed British
Overseas Territories. The Report
makes it clear that Britain’s links to the Territories should be based on a
partnership, with obligations and responsibilities on both sides.
Chapter 2 of the
Partnership for Progress Report sets out the rationale for constitutional
review at this time:
The
governance of the territories must have a firm basis. Democracy, human rights and the rule of law
are all as relevant in the Overseas Territories as elsewhere. The principles which should underlie modern
constitutions are clear. There must be a
balance of obligations and expectations, and both should be clearly and
explicitly set out.
In March of 2000, there
were general elections in Anguilla. The
party that came to power was the United Front.
In its manifesto it had made a number of promises that involved
constitutional reform. These included
abolishing the nominated members, increasing the number of ministers, reviewing
the provisions for the exercise of responsible government and ministerial
authority by elected members, reviewing the policy and law relating to
“belongership”, developing codes of conduct for politicians, ministers and
members of the Assembly, creating the office of Ombudsman, etc. All these matters involved some sort of
constitutional review.
Conclusion
In January 2006, a Constitutional and
Electoral Reform Commission was set up by the Governor in Council. The Commission produced a Report in August
recommending a number of changes and modernizations to the Constitution. That Report is presently being considered by
the members of the Executive Council and the House of Assembly. As always in Anguilla, exciting times lie
ahead.
A presentation to the
Anguilla National Youth Council on 2 February 2007 based in large part on the
Introduction to the Report of the Constitutional and Electoral Reform
Commission, 2006.
[1] Burdon,
A Handbook of St Kitts-Nevis, quoting Pere Breton.
[2] See for example:
Daniel, West Indian Histories, Vol. 1, p. 35; Parry and Sherlock, Short History of the
West Indies, p. 3; Garcia, History of the West Indies, p. 18; Blume,
The Caribbean Islands, p. 55.
[3] Anthropologists
call the practice of contemptuously eating a part of the enemy
“exo-cannibalism”. It is to be compared with “endo-cannibalism”. The latter
occurs when the fat or some other part of the body of the deceased is lovingly
consumed by the grieving relatives. This
is believed to preserve the spiritual essence of the loved one within the tribe
and family. That is particularly
important in the case of a great chief or other dignitary. The belief is not limited to the South
American Amerindians. It has been a
recurring concept through human civilization. We see traces of it in the
Christian ritual of the Eucharist.
[4]
Pere du Tertre.
[5] Governor
Willoughby, CO1/23, No 103, folio 212.
[6] Capt
Thomas Southey, A Chronological History of the West Indies, Vol 2, p.
145.
[7] CO.153/2,
folio 76: Philip Warner to the Council: Account of the Caribbee Islands.
[8] CO
153/2: William Stapleton to the Council.
[9] CO
1/51: William Stapleton to the Council.
[10] CO
152/37: Abraham Howell to Nathaniel Johnson
[11] CO
152/4: Fox to the Council
[12]
John Oldmixon, The British Empire in America (1708), Vol 2, p.264.
[13] An
essential institution of government is an Assembly to make laws. No form of Assembly was ever established for
Anguilla until 1976. Contrast this with
another West Indian territory of Bermuda.
Bermuda’s Assembly is famous as being the oldest continuously sitting
Assembly in the Commonwealth. Britain’s
was interrupted by the Civil War of the 1640s.
Bermuda’s Assembly has had unbroken service since 1620. Anguilla had none until the 1976
Constitution.
[14] Comprising
Walter Hodge as Chairman, Peter Adams, Atlin Harrigan, Alfred Webster, James
Baird, John Rogers, Clifford Rogers, Ronald Webster, Wallace Rey, Camile
Connor, Phillip Lloyd, Charles Fleming, Wallace Richardson, Mac Connor, and
Emile Gumbs.
[15] Comprising
Rev Leonard Carty, Rev Martin Roberts, Peter Adams, and Conrad Walton Fleming.
[16] Among
the brave men were Todville Harrigan, Mitchell Harrigan, Collins Hodge, and
Lemuel Phillip.
[17]
Published by Atlin Harrigan.
[18] The
Advisory Board comprised Tony Lee, John Webster, Calvin Hodge, Emile Gumbs,
Alfred Webster, Atlin Harrigan, Walter Hodge, Lucas Wilson, Camile Connor,
Lewis Haskins, Joseph A Webster, Clement Daniels, Wallace Richardson, and
Charles Fleming.
[19] Those
elected were Ronald Webster, Atlin Harrigan, Kenneth Hazel, Collins Hodge, John
Hodge, Wallace Rey, and Emile Gumbs.
[20] They
were Winston Harrigan, Lucas Wilson, Uriel Sasso, James Woods, Charles Fleming,
and Mac Connor.
[21]
Formerly the British politician, Sir Hugh Foot.
[22]
Those elected to the fourth Anguilla Council were Ronald Webster, Evans
Harrigan, Reuben Hodge, Wallace Rey, Emile Gumbs, Camile Connor, and John
Hodge.
[23]
Elected to the first Legislative Assembly were Ronald Webster, Campbell
Fleming, Idalia Gumbs, Albena Lake-Hodge, Emile Gumbs, Hubert Hughes, and John
Hodge.
[24]
Elected to the second Legislative Assembly
were Ronald Webster, Nashville Webster, Watkins Hodge, Claudius M
Roberts, Emile Gumbs, Hubert Hughes, and Albert Hughes. Those nominated were Euton Smith and Connell
Harrigan.
[25]
Those elected to the third Legislative Assembly were Nashville Webster, Osborne
Fleming, Victor Banks, Ronald Webster, Emile Gumbs, Maurice Connor, and John
Hodge.
[26]
Its members were Attorney-General Richard Whitehead, Speaker Atlin Harrigan,
Clement Daniels, Rev Leonard Carty, and Miriam Gumbs.
