y," and the persons who were "adventurers and purchasers in
the same province." Provision was made for the punishment of persons
who should injure Indians, and that the planter injured by them should
"not be his own judge upon the Indian." All controversies arising
between the whites and the Indians were to be settled by a council of
twelve persons,--six white men and six Indians.

The first laws for the government of the colony were agreed upon in
England, and in 1682 went into effect. Provision was made for the
registering of all servants, their full names, amount of wages paid,
and the time when they received their remuneration. It was strictly
required that servants should not be kept beyond the time of their
indenture, should be kindly treated, and the customary outfit
furnished at the time of their freedom.

The baneful custom of enslaving Negroes had spread through every
settlement in North America, and was even "tolerated in Pennsylvania
under the specious pretence of the religious instruction of the
slave."[509] In 1688 Francis Daniel Pastorius draughted a memorial
against slavery, which was adopted by the Germantown Friends, and by
them sent up to the Monthly Meeting, and thence to the Yearly Meeting
at Philadelphia.[510] The original document was found by Nathan Kite
of Philadelphia in 1844.[511] It was a remarkable document, and the
first protest against slavery issued by any religious body in America.
Speaking of the slaves, Pastorius asks, "Have not these negroes as
much right to fight for their freedom as you have to keep them
slaves?" He believed the time would come,--

"When, from the gallery to the farthest seat,
Slave and slave-owner shall no longer meet,
But all sit equal at the Master's feet."

He regarded the "buying, selling, and holding men in slavery, as
inconsistent with the Christian religion." When his memorial came
before the Yearly Meeting for action, it confessed itself "unprepared
to act," and voted it "not proper then to give a positive judgment in
the case." In 1696 the Yearly Meeting pronounced against the further
importation of slaves, and adopted measures looking toward their moral
improvement. George Keith, catching the holy inspiration of humanity,
with a considerable following, denounced the institution of slavery
"as contrary to the religion of Christ, the rights of man, and sound
reason and policy."[512]

While these efforts were, to a certain extent, abortive,