ch, this committee were informed
of the arrival of the brig Fanny, Capt. Watson, with a
number of slaves for Mr. Brown: and, upon inquiry, it
appeared they were shipped from Jamaica as his property, and
on his account; that he had taken great pains to conceal
their arrival from the knowledge of the committee; and that
the shipper of the slaves, Mr. Brown's correspondent, and
the captain of the vessel, were all fully apprised of the
Continental prohibition against that article.

"'From the whole of this transaction, therefore, we, the
committee for Norfolk Borough, do give it as our unanimous
opinion, that the said John Brown, has wilfully and
perversely violated the Continental Association to which he
had with his own hand subscribed obedience, and that,
agreeable to the eleventh article, we are bound forthwith to
publish the truth of the case, to the end that all such foes
to the rights of British America may be publicly known and
universally contemned as the enemies of American liberty,
and that every person may henceforth break off all dealings
with him.'"

And the first delegation from Virginia to Congress in August, 1774,
had instructions as follows, drawn by Thomas Jefferson:--

"For the most trifling reasons, and sometimes for no
conceivable reason at all, his Majesty has rejected laws of
the most salutary tendency. _The abolition of domestic
slavery is the great object of desire in those Colonies,
where it was, unhappily, introduced in their infant state.
But, previous to the enfranchisement of the slaves we have,
it is necessary to exclude all further importations from
Africa._ Yet our repeated attempts to effect this by
prohibitions, and by imposing duties which might amount to a
prohibition, have been hitherto defeated by his Majesty's
negative; thus preferring the immediate advantages of a few
British corsairs to the lasting interests of the American
States, and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by
this infamous practice."[524]

It is scarcely necessary to mention the fact, that there were several
very cogent passages in the first draught of the Declaration of
Independence that were finally omitted. The one most pertinent to this
history is here given:--

"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself,
violatin