mestic slaves.

On the 27th of August, 1664, New Netherlands fell into the hands of
the English; and the city received a new name,--New York, after the
famous Duke of York. When the English colors were run up over Fort
Amsterdam, it received a new name, "Fort James." In the twenty-four
articles in which the Hollanders surrendered their Province, there is
no direct mention of slaves or slavery. The only clause that might be
construed into a reference to the slaves is as follows: "IV. If any
inhabitant have a mind to remove himself, he shall have a year and six
weeks from this day to remove himself, wife, children, _servants_,
goods, and to dispose of his lands here." There was nothing in the
articles of capitulation hostile to slavery in the colony.

During the reign of Elizabeth, the English government gave its royal
sanction to the slave-traffic. "In 1562 Sir John Hawkins, Sir Lionel
Duchet, Sir Thomas Lodge, and Sir William Winter"--all "honorable
men"--became the authors of the greatest curse that ever afflicted the
earth. Hawkins, assisted by the aforenamed gentlemen, secured a
ship-load of Africans from Sierra Leone, and sold them at Hispaniola.
Many were murdered on the voyage, and cast into the sea. The story of
this atrocity coming to the ears of the queen, she was horrified. She
summoned Hawkins into her presence, in order to rebuke him for his
crime against humanity. He defended his conduct with great skill and
eloquence. He persuaded her Royal Highness that it was an act of
humanity to remove the African from a bad to a better country, from
the influences of idolatry to the influences of Christianity.
Elizabeth afterwards encouraged the slave-trade.

So when New Netherlands became an English colony, slavery received
substantial official encouragement, and the slave became the subject
of colonial legislation.

The first laws under the English Government were issued under the
patent to the Duke of York, on the 1st of March, 1665, and were known
as "the Duke's Laws." It is rather remarkable that they were fashioned
after the famous "Massachusetts Fundamentals," adopted in 1641. These
laws have the following caption: "_Laws collected out of the several
laws now in force in his majesty's American colonies and
plantations._" The first mention of slavery is contained in a section
under the caption of "Bond Slavery."

"No Christian shall be kept in Bondslavery, villenage, or
Captivity, Except Such who