murder, man-ſtealing, 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. Hildreth, i., 282. Masſs. Records, ii., 67, 129, 136, 168, 176, 196; iii., 46, 49, 58, 84. Winthrop's Journal, ii., 243, 379.
In all the proceedings of the General Court on this occaſion there is not a trace of anti-ſlavery opinion or ſentiment,[1] ſtill leſs of anti-ſlavery legiſlation; though both have been repeatedly claimed for the honor of the colony.
III
The coloniſts of Maſſachuſetts aſſumed to themſelves "a right to treat the Indians on the footing of Canaanites or Amalekites," and practically regarded them from the firſt as forlorn and wretched heathen, poſſeſſing few rights which were entitled to reſpect. Bancroft, iii., 408. Bp. Berkeley's Works, iii., 247.
- ↑ It is poſſible that the petition referred to in the following extract from the Records may have related to this ſubject; but it left no impreſſion which can be traced.
"29 May, 1644. Mr. Blackleach his petition about the Mores was conſented to, to be comitted to the elders, to enforme us of the mind of God herein, & then further to conſider it." Maſs. Records, ii., 67. Mr. John Blackleach, a merchant, was of Salem as early as 1634, and repreſentative in 1636. Some of his letters are printed in M. H. S. Coll., iv., vii. 146–155.
