Dalton, Esq., of Boston, owned a Negro boy whom he taught to
read any Greek writer without hesitancy. Mr. Dalton was afflicted with
weak eyes; and his fondness for the classics would not allow him to
forego the pleasure of them, and hence his Negro boy Caesar was
instructed in the Greek.[357] "The Boston Chronicle" of Sept. 21,
1769, contains the following advertisement: "To be sold, a Likely
Little negroe boy, who _can speak the French language_, and very fit
for a Valet."

With increasing evidence of the Negro's capacity for mental
improvement, and fitness for the duties and blessings of a freeman,
and the growing insolence and rigorous policy of the mother country,
came a wonderful change in the colony. The Negroes were emboldened to
ask for and claim rights as British subjects, and the more humane
element among the whites saw in a relaxation of the severe treatment
of the blacks security and immunity in war. But anti-slavery sentiment
in Massachusetts was not born of a genuine desire to put down a wicked
and cruel traffic in human beings. Two things operated in favor of
humane treatment of the slaves,--an impending war, and the decision of
Lord Mansfield in the Sommersett case. The English government was
yearly increasing the burdens of the colonists. The country was young,
its resources little known. The people were largely engaged in
agricultural pursuits. There were no tariff laws encouraging or
protecting the labor or skill of the people. Civil war seemed
inevitable. Thoughtful men began to consider the question as to which
party the Negroes of the colony would contribute their strength. It
was no idle question to determine whether the Negroes were Tories or
Whigs. As early as 1750 the questions as to the legality of holding
Negroes in slavery in British colonies began to be discussed in
England and New England. "What, precisely, the English law might be on
the subject of slavery, still remained a subject of doubt."[358] Lord
Holt held that slavery was a condition unknown to English law,--that
the being in England was evidence of freedom. This embarrassed
New-England planters in taking their slaves to England. The planters
banded for their common cause, and secured the written opinion of
Yorke and Talbot, attorney and solicitor general of England. They held
that slaves _could_ be held in England as well as in America; that
baptism did not confer freedom: and the opinion stood as sound law for
nearly a half-cen