eless remained the
abject slave of the Christian colonists. Claiming spiritual kinship
with Christ, the Negro could be sold at the pleasure of his master,
and his family hearthstone trodden down by the slave-dealer. The
humane feature of the system of slavery under the simple Dutch
government, of allowing slaves to acquire an interest in the soil, was
now at an end. The tendency to manumit faithful slaves called forth no
approbation. The colonists grew cold and hard-fisted. They saw not
God's image in the slave,--only so many dollars. There were no strong
men in the pulpits of the colony who dared brave the avaricious spirit
of the times. Not satisfied with colonial legislation, the municipal
government of the city of New York passed, in 1710,[237] an ordinance
forbidding Negroes, Indians, and Mulatto slaves from appearing "in the
streets after nightfall without a lantern with a lighted candle in
it."[238] The year before, a slave-market was erected at the foot of
Wall Street, where slaves of every description were for sale. Negroes,
Indians, and Mulattoes; men, women, and children; the old, the
middle-aged, and the young,--all, as sheep in shambles, were daily
declared the property of the highest cash-bidder. And what of the few
who secured their freedom? Why, the law of 1712 declared that no
Negro, Indian, or Mulatto that shall hereafter be set free "shall hold
any land or real estate, but the same shall escheat."[239] There was,
therefore, but little for the Negro in either state,--bondage or
freedom. There was little in this world to allure him, to encourage
him, to help him. The institution under which he suffered was one huge
sepulchre, and he was buried alive.

The poor grovelling worm turns under the foot of the pedestrian. The
Negro winched under his galling yoke of British colonial oppression.

A misguided zeal and an inordinate desire of conquest had led the
Legislature to appropriate ten thousand pounds sterling toward an
expedition to effect the conquest of Canada. Acadia had just fallen
into the hands of Gov. Francis Nicholson without firing a gun, and the
news had carried the New Yorkers off their feet. "On to Canada!" was
the shibboleth of the adventurous colonists; and the expedition
started. Eight transports, with eight hundred and sixty men, perished
amid the treacherous rocks and angry waters of the St. Lawrence. The
troops that had gone overland returned in chagrin. The city was
wrapped in gloom: