established, had its origin in a desire to promote as far as possible peaceful relations with the surrounding tribes.[1] As late as 1670, it was proclaimed that the youthful members of these tribes, seized during the progress of war, should not be held beyond their thirtieth year.[2] It remained for Bacon to adopt the rule that slavery for life should be the lot of every Indian who should come into the hands of the whites during the period of hostilities, and the Government, after the insurrection was over, followed the policy which he had inaugurated.[3] The scope of the principle was extended in 1682, by the passage of a law permitting the holding in bondage of all Indians who had been captured by tribes at peace with the Colony and sold to the planters, or who had been brought into the country from a distance by persons engaged in trade with the people of Virginia. The regulations established for the management of such slaves were practically the same as those in operation for the control of the African. They were brought within the scope of every measure adopted for the protection of the negro slaves, and morally as well as materially stood precisely upon the same footing in the view of the law. They were, however, valued at somewhat lower rates.
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