of laws in Maſſachuſetts eſtabliſhed ſlavery, as we have ſhown, and at the very birth of the foreign commerce of New England the African ſlave-trade became a regular buſineſs. 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 ſmall.[1] In the caſe referred to, inſtead of buying negroes in the regular courſe of traffic, which, under the fundamental law of Maſſachuſetts already quoted, would have been perfectly legal,[2] the crew of a Boſton ſhip joined with ſome London veſſels on the coaſt, and, on pretence 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 one of the magiſtrates preſented a petition to the General Court, in which he charged the maſter and mate with a threefold offence,
- ↑ "One of our ſhips, which went to the Canaries with pipe-ſtaves in the beginning of November laſt, returned now [1645] and brought wine, and ſugar, and ſalt, and ſome tobacco, which ſhe had at Barbadoes, in exchange for Africoes, which ſhe carried from the Iſle of Maio." Winthrop's Journal, ii., 219.
- ↑ In awarding damages to Captain Smith againſt his aſſociate in this buſineſs, they would allow him nothing for the negroes; but the reaſon they give is worth quoting here:
"4. * * the negars (they being none of his, but ſtolen) we thinke meete to alowe nothing." Maſs. Records, ii., 129.
This was "the Court's opinion" "by both howſes." Ib., iii., 58.
