Page:The Slave Struggle in America.djvu/13

 good laws, negatived by the aristocratic government in England. Similar laws, passed in the Virginian Assembly, were again and again vetoed by England; and at last obstinate and pious George III. commanded the governor, "upon the pain of the highest displeasure, to assent to no law by which the importation of slaves would be in any respect prohibited or obstructed." The Assembly solemnly debated this order, for, they said, "the interest of the country manifestly requires the total expulsion of them." A petition was addressed to the king, beseeching him to remove his prohibition to "such laws as might check so very pernicious a commerce." In this petition Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania concurred. The king evaded a reply.

In a word, so long as England had any power in America she used that power to foster and protect the slave trade; surely the most diabolical, the most demoralising traffic in which civilised man ever engaged. Words can but faintly picture the horrors of the slave ships, the sufferings endured by the captives on those dreadful voyages, but the mere statement of the average mortality will assuredly make all thoughtful people shudder. The average loss of life amongst the Africans while on the voyage was about fifteen per cent.; and if the ships had to come into the West Indian harbors, about four more out of every hundred died. Sometimes, indeed, one-half, and even two-thirds, of the negro "cargo" was known to perish on a voyage.

In 1765, when George Grenville carried the Stamp Act through the British Parliament, Virginia was the first to protest. George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee occupied seats in the Virginia House of Burgesses. The opposition to this act was the first note of that cry for liberty which ended, not in the repeal of the act, but in the Independence of America. Then came Lord North's tax upon tea, answered at once by the recommendation, from Virginia, of a general congress, which, in the autumn of 1774, was held in Philadelphia. Then followed the infamous Boston Ports Bill, forcing the colonies into rebellion, and Washington's election as commander-in-chief over the "Continental" forces, as the newly raised levies of the revolted colonies were called.

Through all the weary marches, with an army often destitute of food and clothing, Washington was ever beloved by his men. Himself untiring, he was always thoughtful about subjecting his men to unnecessary fatigue. He was continually urging upon Congress the need of taking efficient means for providing the army with food and clothing. His care never to needlessly risk the lives of his men at first gave rise to unfounded accusations, overwhelmingly refuted by his personal courage. To the prisoners taken in war he was most humane, their treatment forming a marked contrast to that of the prisoners taken by the