preferred against him in London, and the trial ordered
before the man of whom he asked restitution! The case remained in
_statu quo_ until July, 1622, when the court made a disposition of the
case. Nine of the slaves were to be delivered to Capt. Kendall, "and
the rest to be consigned to the company's use." This decision was
reached by the court after the Earl of Warwick had submitted the case
to the discretion and judicial impartiality of the judges. The court
gave instructions to Capt. Bernard, who was then the governor, to see
that its order was enforced. But while the order of the court was _in
transitu_, Bernard died. The earl, learning of the event, immediately
wrote a letter, representing that the slaves should _not_ be delivered
to Kendall; and an advantage being taken--purely technical--of the
omission of the name of the captain of the Holland man-of-war, Capt.
Kendall never secured his nine slaves.

It should be noted, that while Rolfe, in Capt. Smith's history, fixes
the number of slaves in the Dutch vessel at _twenty_,--as also does
Beverley,--it is rather strange that the Council of Virginia, in 1623,
should state that the commanding officer of the Dutch man-of-war told
Capt. Kendall that "he had fourteen Negroes on board!"[132] Moreover,
it is charged that the slaves taken by "The Treasurer" were divided up
among the sailors; and that they, having been cheated out of their
dues, asked judicial interference.[133] Now, these slaves from "The
Treasurer" "were placed on the Earl of Warwick's lands in Bermudas,
and there kept and detained to his Lordship's use." There are several
things apparent; viz., that there is a mistake between the statement
of the Virginia Council in their declaration of May 7, 1623, about the
number of slaves landed by the man-of-war, and the statements of
Beverley and Smith. And if Stith is to be relied upon as to the slaves
of "The Treasurer" having been taken to the "Earl of Warwick's lands
in Bermudas, and there kept," his lordship's claim to the slaves Capt.
Kendall got from the Dutch man-of-war was not founded in truth or
equity!

Whether the number was fourteen or twenty, it is a fact, beyond
historical doubt, that the Colony of Virginia purchased the first
Negroes, and thus opened up the nefarious traffic in human flesh. It
is due to the Virginia Colony to say, that these slaves were forced
upon them; that they were taken in exchange for food given to relieve
the hunger of fa