Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/395

 the facts, and the reader can judge whether the inference is warranted or not: The ships which took cargoes of staves and fish to Madeira and the Canaries were accustomed to touch on the coast of Guinea "to trade for negroes," who were carried generally to Barbadoes or the other English islands in the West Indies, the demand for them at home being but small. In the case above referred to, instead of buying negroes in the regular course of traffic, which, under a fundamental law of Massachusetts already quoted, would have been perfectly legal, the crew of a Boston ship joined with some London vessels on the coast, and, on pretense of some quarrel with the natives, landed a "murderer" — the expressive name of a small piece of cannon — attacked a negro village on Sunday, killed many of the inhabitants, and made a few prisoners, two of whom fell to the share of the Boston ship. In the course of a lawsuit between the master, mate, and owners, all this story came out, and Saltonstall, who sat as one of the magistrates, thereupon presented a petition to the court, in which he charged the master and mate with a threefold offense, murder, manstealing, and Sabbath-breaking; the two first capital by the fundamental laws of Massachusetts, and all of them "capital by the law of God." The magistrates doubted their authority to punish crimes committed on the coast of Africa; but they ordered the negroes to be sent back, as having been procured not honestly by purchase, but unlawfully by kidnapping.

A code of laws for Connecticut was compiled in 1650 and adopted by the general court, as the legislative assembly was then called. On the subject of the Indians this code exhibits much anxiety. The militia law is full and precise. Every town is to have a store of powder, and on Sundays and lecture days to be furnished with an armed guard, to prevent sudden surprises. Trade with the Indians in arms of any kind, or in dogs, is strictly forbidden. White men leaving the colony and joining the Indians are liable to three years' imprisonment. Every band of Indians resident near any plantation is to have some sachem or chief to be personally responsible for all depredations committed by the band; and, in conformity with a recommendation of the commissioners for the united colonies, if satisfaction for injuries is refused or neglected, the Indians themselves may be seized; "and, because it will be chargeable keeping them in prison," they may be delivered to the injured party, "either to serve, or to be shipped out and exchanged for negroes, as the case will justly bear." It thus appears that negro slavery was authorized in Connecticut as well as in Massachusetts. It was only the heretics of Providence who prohibited perpetual servitude by placing "black mankind" on the same level with regard to limitation of service as white servants. Unfortunately for the honor of Rhode Island, this regulation, enacted during a temporary disruption of the province, never extended to the other towns, and never obtained the force of a general law.

Slaves were introduced into New Netherland by the Dutch West India Company, about the year 1650. Most of them remained the property of the