nce, to our friend Dr. George
H. Moore, who, in his treatment of this particular feature of slavery
in Massachusetts, has, with great research, put down a number of
zealous friends of the colony who have denied, with great emphasis,
that any child was ever born into slavery there. Neither the opinion
of Chief-Justice Dana, nor the naked and barren assertions of
historians Palfrey, Sumner, and Washburn,--great though the men
were,--can dispose of the _historical reality of hereditary slavery in
Massachusetts_, down to the adoption of the Constitution of 1780.

The General Court of Massachusetts issued an order in 1645[289] for
the return of certain kidnapped or stolen Negroes to their native
country. It has been variously commented upon by historians and
orators. The story runs, that a number of ships, plying between
New-England seaport towns and Madeira and the Canaries, made it their
custom to call on the coast of Guinea "to trade for negroes." Thus
secured, they were disposed of in the slave-markets of Barbadoes and
the West Indies. The New-England slave-market did not demand a large
supply. Situated on a cold, bleak, and almost sterile coast,
Massachusetts lacked the conditions to make slave-trading as lucrative
as the Southern States; but, nevertheless, she disposed of quite a
number, as the reader will observe when we examine the first census. A
ship from the town of Boston consorted with "some Londoners" with the
object of gaining slaves. Mr. Bancroft[290] says that "upon the Lord's
day, invited the natives aboard one of their ships," and then made
prisoners of such as came; which is not mentioned by Hildreth.[291]
The latter writer says, that "on pretence of some quarrel with the
natives," landed a small cannon called a "murderer," attacked the
village on Sunday; and having burned the village, and killed many,
made a few prisoners. Several of these prisoners fell to the Boston
ship. On account of a disagreement between the captain and under
officers of the ship, as well as the owners, the story of the above
affair was detailed before a Boston court. Richard Saltonstall was one
of the magistrates before whom the case was tried. He was moved by the
recital of the cruel wrong done the Africans, and therefore
presented a petition to the court, charging the captain and
mate with the threefold crime of "murder," "man-stealing," and
"sabbath-breaking."[292]

It seems that by the Fundamental Laws, adopted by the people