l him or them, as slaves, at the next
court to be held for the county, at public vendue; and the
monies arising thereby, to be applied, by the vestry, to the
use of the parish, as aforesaid."[502]

The free Negroes were badly treated. They were not allowed any
communion with the slaves. A free Negro man was not allowed to marry a
white woman, nor even a Negro slave woman without the consent of her
master. If he formed an alliance with a white woman, her offspring
were bound out, or sold by the church-wardens, until they obtained
their majority.[503] If the white woman were an indentured servant,
she was constrained to serve an additional year. If she were a free
woman, she was sold for two years by the church-wardens. Free Negroes
were greatly despised and shunned by both slaves and white people.

As a conspicuous proof of the glaring hypocrisy of the "nobility,"
who, in the constitution, threw open the door of the Church to the
Negro, it should be said, that, during the period from the founding of
the Province down to the colonial war, no attempt was ever made,
through the ecclesiastical establishment, to dissipate the dark clouds
of ignorance that enveloped the Negro's mind. They were left in a
state of ignorance and crime. The gravest social evils were winked at
by masters, whose lecherous examples were the occasion for the most
grievous offending of the slaves. The Mulattoes and other free Negroes
were taxed. They had no place in the militia, nor could they claim the
meanest rights of the humblest "leetman."

FOOTNOTES:

[497] Bancroft, vol. ii., 5th ed. p. 148.

[498] Statutes of S.C., vol. i. pp. 53-55.

[499] Public Acts of N.C., vol. i. p. 64.

[500] This is an instance of humanity in the North-Carolina code
worthy of special note. It stands as the only instance of justice
toward the over-worked and under-fed slaves of the colony.

[501] Public Acts of N.C., p.65.

[502] Public Acts of N.C., p. 66.

[503] The Act of 1741 says, "until 31 years of age."

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE COLONY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

1679-1775.

THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS EXERCISES
AUTHORITY OVER THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AT ITS
ORGANIZATION.--SLAVERY EXISTED FROM THE BEGINNING.--THE
GOVERNOR RELEASES A SLAVE FROM BONDAGE.--INSTRUCTION AGAINST
IMPORTATION OF SLAVES.--SEVERAL ACTS REGULATING THE CONDUCT
OF SERVANTS.--THE INDIFFERENT TREATMENT OF SLAVES.--THE