| OCR Text |
Show _____. .'.f . 182 Dl::SPOTlS!Il doing so. The kidnapped negroes were ordered to be: sent back; but no other punishment was inflicted, the court doubting their authority to punish crimes committed on the coast of Africa. 'rhe honor of having made the first American protest against negro slavery, really belongs not to 1'\l"assachusetts, but to Roger Williams and his fellowsetllcrs at Providence in Rhode Islall<l, exiles and refugees from t he colony of Massachusetts because they had embraced t he doctrine of "soul liberty," by which t hey signified perfect freedom of opinion in matters of religion. The people of Providence, thinking probably that body liberty was a necessary supplement to soul liberty, enacted a law in 1652, placing "black mankind" on the :;arne level, with regard to limitation of service, as white servants, and a b::;olutely prohibiting perpetual slavery within their territories. Unfortunately for the honor of Rhode Island, this law, never in force except in t he town of Providence, presently fell into abeyance; and wi thin a century not only did negro • lavery become common in Rhode Island, but its inhabitants engaged in the African trade, for t he supply of the other colonies. In Virginia the ratio of slaves to the white population, though for many years not large, was mnch greater than in New England; but it was not till cases arose for which the English common law, as the colonists understood it, made no provisions satisfactory to the slave-holders, that any distinct mention of slavery occurs in the legislation of that colony. In the course of forty years, by which time the slaves numbered two thousand in a population of forty thousand, mulatto children had been born and grown to manhood. ·what should be the condition of these children 7 By the English law, wfien the fathers were free the children were free also. But t his did not suit the interest of the slave-holders. The mulattoes were few, ignorant, and helpless, and the Virginia legisla- 1N Al\lERlCA, 183 turc, noh~it~1standing. . its .acknowlcc~ged obligation to c~nform otnctly to hnghsh law, cbd not hesitate to dn;regarc.l a great and well-establi:;hed doctrine of !.bat _law, and substituting a provi!:iion of the civil, that JS, ol the Roman code, to enact- that chiltlren should follow the condition ?f the mother; and thi!i principle-, thus unwarrantably mtroduced into Virninia in 1662 wa• ultimately adopted, by statute or 0 usage in a ll the Briti::;h eolonic8. ' Another question, not less in teresting to the 8lavcholdcrs, pre!:iently arose. Of the necrroes brouaht to V~rginia, some had been c.onvertcd a~1d baptized, and tlms \Vas the case to a still greater extent with those born in the. colony. By what right were these Christians held as slaves ? 'l'he law of England, even accord ina to the colonial view of it, did not allow the slavery of Chris tians. It was only pagans and infidel:; who could be enslaved. But the Virginia assembly came to the relief of the musters;_ and with t hat audacious disregard of a ll law and all nf!ht cxc~pt 1~s own good pleasure, by which ~lave-holdmg l~gislation has ever been characterized, they enact~d , 111 ulte~ defia1~cc of the Engli:;h law, --<wen the1r ~wn vcn;wn of 1t,-that negroes co n vert~ cd and bapt1zcd should not thereby become free. This act bears date in 1669. Another act passed the same year, in equal defiance of the En(Tiish law provided, that killing slaves by extremity of ~orrecti01~ should not be esteemed felony, "since it cannot be presumed t hat prepense malice should indncc any man to destroy his own estate." . Par reasons~ ~f policy or humanity, it had been proVJded that Indmns should not be held as slave,,- a pro.visJon, whatever t he reason of it, which places the legisla~ion of Virpinia, on this point, in honorable cout r~st to tha.t of New England, wlil• rc t hP contrary practice prevadcd. But did tlli:; prohibi tion extend 1o. In.di.an captives taken in war, elsf'wherc than ht VJ,r~p~lla, and brought to that colony for sale? l h1s question was settled in 1670, by enacting that |
