d the Hollanders to regard the Negro as a
coveted, marketable chattel.

"In its scheme of political administration, the West-India
Company exhibited too often a mercantile and selfish spirit;
and in encouraging commerce in Negro slaves, it established
an institution which subsisted many generations after its
authority had ceased."[226]

The Dutch colony was governed by the Dutch and Roman law. The
government was tripartite,--executive, legislative, and judicial,--all
vested in, and exercised by, the governor and council. There seemed to
be but little or no necessity for legislation on the slavery question.
The Negro seemed to be a felt need in the Province, and was regarded
with some consideration by the kind-hearted Hollanders. Benevolent and
social, they desired to see all around them happy. The enfranchised
African might and did obtain a freehold; while the Negro who remained
under an institution of patriarchal simplicity, scarcely knowing he
was in bondage, danced merrily at the best, in "kermis," at Christmas
and Pinckster.[227] There were, doubtless, a few cases where the
slaves received harsh treatment from their masters; but, as a rule,
the jolly Dutch fed and clothed their slaves as well as their white
servants. There were no severe rules to strip the Negroes of their
personal rights,--such as social amusements or public feasts when
their labors had been completed. During this entire period, they went
and came among their class without let or hinderance. They were
married, and given in marriage;[228] they sowed, and, in many
instances, gathered an equitable share of the fruits of their labors.
If there were no schools for them, there were no laws against an
honest attempt to acquire knowledge at seasonable times. The
Hollanders built their government upon the hearthstone, believing it
to be the earthly rock of ages to a nation that would build wisely for
the future. And while it is true that they regarded commerce as the
life-blood of the material existence of a people, they nevertheless
found their inspiration for multifarious duties in the genial sunshine
of the family circle. A nation thus constituted could not habilitate
slavery with all the hideous features it wore in Virginia and
Massachusetts. The slaves could not escape the good influences of the
mild government of the New Netherlands, nor could the Hollanders
withhold the brightness and goodness of their hearts from their
do