he mischief, who was snug in bed and apparently in a
quiet sleep.

In 1701 an attempt was made in the General Court of Massachusetts to
prevent the increase of slaves. Judge Sewall soon after published a
pamphlet against slavery, but it seems with little effect. Boston
merchants and ship-owners became, to a considerable extent, involved in
the slave-trade. Distilleries, established in that place and in Rhode
Island, furnished rum for the African market. The slaves were usually
taken to the West Indies, although occasionally part of a cargo found its
way to New England, where the wholesome old laws against man-stealing had
become a dead letter on the statute-book.

In 1767 a bill was brought before the Legislature of Massachusetts to
prevent "the unwarrantable and unnatural custom of enslaving mankind."
The Council of Governor Bernard sent it back to the House greatly changed
and curtailed, and it was lost by the disagreement of the two branches.
Governor Bernard threw his influence on the side of slavery. In 1774 a
bill prohibiting the traffic in slaves passed both Houses; but Governor
Hutchinson withheld his assent and dismissed the Legislature. The
colored men sent a deputation of their own to the Governor to solicit his
consent to the bill; but he told them his instructions forbade him. A
similar committee waiting upon General Gage received the same answer.

In the year 1770 a servant of Richard Lechmere, of Cambridge, stimulated
by the general discussion of the slavery question and by the advice of
some of the zealous advocates of emancipation, brought an action against
his master for detaining him in bondage. The suit was decided in his
favor two years before the similar decision in the case of Somerset in
England. The funds necessary for carrying on this suit were raised among
the blacks themselves. Other suits followed in various parts of the
Province; and the result was, in every instance, the freedom of the
plaintiff. In 1773 Caesar Hendrick sued his master, one Greenleaf, of
Newburyport, for damages, laid at fifty pounds, for holding him as a
slave. The jury awarded him his freedom and eighteen pounds.

According to Dr. Belknap, whose answers to the queries on the subject,
propounded by Judge Tucker, of Virginia, have furnished us with many of
the facts above stated, the principal grounds upon which the counsel of
the masters depended were, that the negroes were purchased in open
market, and inc