o. It
was also required that he should confess as much on the following
sabbath.[143]

In the winter of 1639, on the 6th of January, during the incumbency of
Sir Francis Wyatt, the General Assembly passed the first prohibition
against Negroes. "All persons," doubtless including fraternizing
Indians, "except Negroes," were required to secure arms and
ammunition, or be subject to a fine, to be imposed by "the Governor
and Council."[144] The records are too scanty, and it is impossible to
judge, at this remote day, what was the real cause of this law. We
have already called attention to the fact that the slaves were but a
mere fraction of the _summa summarum_ of the population. It could not
be that the brave Virginians were afraid of an insurrection! Was it
another reminder that the "Negroes were heathen," and, therefore, not
entitled to the privileges of Christian freemen? It was not the act of
that government, which in its conscious rectitude "can put ten
thousand to flight," but was rather the inexcusable feebleness of a
diseased conscience, that staggers off for refuge "when no man
pursueth."

Mr. Bancroft thinks that the "special tax upon female slaves"[145] was
intended to discourage the traffic. It does not so seem to us. It
seems that the Virginia Assembly was endeavoring to establish friendly
relations with the Dutch and other nations in order to secure "trade."
Tobacco was the chief commodity of the colonists. They intended by the
act[146] of March, 1659, to guarantee the most perfect liberty "to
trade with" them. They required, however, that foreigners should "give
bond and pay the impost of tenn shillings per hogshead laid upon all
tobacco exported to any fforreigne dominions." The same act recites,
that whenever any slaves were sold for tobacco, the amount of imposts
would only be "two shillings per hogshead," which was only the nominal
sum paid by the colonists themselves. This act was passed several
years before the one became a law that is cited by Mr. Bancroft. It
seems that much trouble had been experienced in determining who were
taxable in the colony. It is very clear that the LIV. Act of March,
1662, which Mr. Bancroft thinks was intended to discourage the
importation of slaves by taxing female slaves, seeks only to determine
who shall be taxable. It is a general law, declaring "that _all_ male
persons, of what age soever imported into this country shall be
brought into lysts and be liable to the pa