servant or slave may presume to be absent from the families
where they respectively belong, or be found abroad in the
night time after nine o'clock; unless it be upon errand for
their respective masters."[507]

The instructions against the importation of slaves were in harmony
with the feelings of the great majority of the people. They felt that
slavery would be a hinderance rather than a help to them, and in the
selection of servants chose white ones. If the custom of holding men
in bondage had become a part of the institutions of Massachusetts,--so
like a cancer that it could not be removed without endangering the
political and commercial life of the colony,--the good people of New
Hampshire, acting in the light of experience, resolved, upon the
threshold of their provincial life, to oppose the introduction of
slaves into their midst. The first result was, that they learned quite
early that they could get on without slaves; and, second, the traders
in human flesh discovered that there was no demand for slaves in New
Hampshire. Even nature fought against the crime; and Negroes were
found to be poorly suited to the climate, and, of course, were an
expensive luxury in that colony.

But, nevertheless, there were slaves in New Hampshire. The majority of
them had gone in during the time the colony was a part of the
territory of Massachusetts. They had been purchased by men who
regarded them as indispensable to them. They had lived long in many
families; children had been born unto them, and in many instances they
were warmly attached to their owners. But all masters were not alike.
Some treated their servants and slaves cruelly. The neglect in some
cases was worse than stripes or over-work. Some were poorly clad and
scantily fed; and, thus exposed to the inclemency of the severe
climate, many were precipitated into premature graves. Even white and
Indian servants shared this harsh treatment. The Indians endured
greater hardships than the Negroes. They were more lofty in their
tone, more sensitive in their feelings, more revengeful in their
disposition. They were both hated and feared, and the public sentiment
against them was very pronounced. A law, passed in 1714, forbid their
importation into the colony under a heavy penalty.

In 1718 it was found necessary to pass a law to check the severe
treatment inflicted upon servants and slaves. _An Act for restraining
inhuman severities_ recited,--

"