Chapter 4

THE EARLY BRITISH PERIOD

When Canada passed under the British flag by conquest there was for a time confusion as to the law in force. During the military regime from 1760 to 1764 the authorities did the best they could and applied such law as they thought the best for the particular case. There was no dislocation in the common affairs of the country. When Canada was formally ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris, 1763,[1] it was not long before there was issued a royal proclamation creating among other things a "Government of Quebec" with its western boundary a line drawn from the "South end of Lake Nipissim"[2] to the point at which the parallel of 45° north latitude crosses the River St. Lawrence. In all that vast territory the English law, civil and criminal, was introduced.[3] It is important now to see what was the law of England at the time respecting slavery.

The dictum of Lord Chief Justice Holt: "As soon as a slave enters England he becomes free,"[4] was succeeded by the decision of the Court of King's Bench to the same effect in the celebrated case of Somerset _v._ Stewart,[5] when Lord Mansfield is reported to have said: "The air of England has long been too pure for a slave and every man is free who breathes it."[6]

James Somerset,[7] a Negro slave of Charles Stewart in Jamaica, "purchased from the African coast in the course of the slave trade as tolerated in the plantations," had been brought by his master to England "to attend and abide with him and to carry him back as soon as his business should be transacted." The Negro refused to go back, whereupon he was put in irons and taken on board the ship _Ann and Mary_ lying in the Thames and bound for Jamaica. Lord Mansfield granted a writ of habeas corpus requiring Captain Knowles to produce Somerset before him with the cause of the detainer. On the motion, the cause being stated as above indicated, Lord Mansfield referred the matter to the full court of King's Bench; whereupon, on June 22, 1772, judgment was given for the Negro.[8] The basis of the decision and the theme of the argument were that the only kind of slavery known to English law was villeinage, that the Statute of Tenures enacted in 1660, expressly abolished villeins regardant to a manor and by implication villeins in gross. The reasons for the decision would hardly stand fire at the present day. The investigation of Paul Vinogradoff and others have conclusively established that there was not a real difference in status between the so-called villein regardant and villein in gross, and that in any case the villein was not properly a slave but rather a serf.[9] Moreover, the Statute of Tenures deals solely with tenure and not with status.

But what seems to have been taken for granted, namely that slavery, personal slavery, had never existed in England and that the only unfree person was the villein, who, by the way, was real property, is certainly not correct. Slaves were known in England as mere personal goods and chattels, bought and sold, at least as late as the middle of the twelfth century.[10] However weak the reasons given for the decision, its authority has never been questioned and it is good law. But it is good law for England, for even in the Somerset case it was admitted that a concurrence of unhappy circumstances had rendered slavery necessary[11] in the American colonies; and Parliament had recognized the right of property in slaves there.[12] Consequently so long as the slaves, Panis or Negro, remained in the colony they were not enfranchised by the law of the conqueror but retained their servile status.

The early records show the use of slaves. General James Murray, who became Governor of the Quebec Fortifications and adjoining territory immediately after the fall of Quebec and in 1763 the first Captain General and Governor in Chief of the new Province of Quebec,[13] writing from Quebec, November 2, 1763, to John Watts in New York speaks thus of the promoting of agriculture in the Province:

"I must most earnestly entreat your assistance, without servants nothing can be done, had I the inclination to employ soldiers which is not the case, they would disappoint me, and Canadians will work for nobody but themselves. Black Slaves are certainly the only people to be depended upon, but it is necessary, I imagine they should be born in one or other of our Northern Colonies, the Winters here will not agree with a Native of the torrid zone, pray therefore if possible procure for me two Stout Young Fellows, who have been accustomed to Country Business, and as I shall wish to see them happy, I am of opinion there is little felicity without a Communication with the Ladys, you may buy for each a clean young wife, who can wash and do the female offices about a farm. I shall begrudge no price, so hope we may, by your goodness succeed."[14]

From time to time slavery makes its appearance in official correspondence. Moreover, there are still subsisting records which show the prevalence of slavery in the province.[15] In January, 1763, there took place at Longueuil the marriage of Marie, slave of baroness de Longueuil, with Jacques César, slave of M. Ignace Gamelin. From 1763 to 1769 there are found records of the baptism of the children of slaves in the registers of the Parish of Lachine. In the first issue of the _Gazette_ of Montreal, June 3, 1778, there is an advertisement by the widow Dufy Desaulniers, offering a reward of six dollars for the return to her of a female slave who had run away on the 14th. She was thirty-five years old and she was dressed in striped calico of the ordinary cut and was of "tolerable stoutness."

Alexander Henry writing from Montreal, October 5, 1778, to the Governor Sir Frederick Haldimand, says that he had obtained a Judgment in the Court of Common Pleas against one Gillelande in the colonies who owed him a considerable sum of money. "Hearing that a Negro of his had deserted from him," said Henry, "and was lurking in this Province I obtained an execution upon that judgment and got the negro apprehended--who is still in gaol." General Powell who was the Commander there sent to Mr. Gray the Sheriff desiring him to postpone the sale until such time as the Governor should be made acquainted with the matter. Mr. Gray thereafter informed Mr. Henry that he mentioned the affair to Sir Frederic Haldimand, who likewise ordered the sheriff to postpone the sale until the Governor could confer with the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General thereafter informed Mr. Henry that he had spoken to the Governor, who was of the opinion that the civil law should take its course.... Mr. Gray thought he should have some definite authority to sell.... He said: "There are some gentlemen from the Upper Countries[16] whom I presume will give more for him than any person resident here and ... they are now on their return." He asked that an order for sale should be sent before the departure of these gentlemen.[16] The higher price which the gentlemen from the "Upper Countries" would pay indicates the objection of those in the old settled parts of the province to Slavery.

An official report made in 1778 by James Monk, Attorney General at Quebec, to the Governor, Sir Guy Carleton, (afterwards Lord Dorchester) gives a sufficiently full account of an occurrence the subject of much controversy and correspondence showing the significance of slavery at that time. The Attorney General examined the several papers, making a case of complaint, by Joseph Despin of St. Francois Merchant a trader against Major de Barner Commanding a Regiment of Light Infantry Chasseurs of Brunswick Troops. Despin complained to Brigadier General Ehrenkrook, Commander of the Brunswick Troops at Trois Rivieres, that Major de Barner by his orders or otherwise at Midnight of the first of the previous June, occasioned forcibly to be taken from said Despin a Negro-woman slave, Despin's property and suffered her to be carried out of the province. He therefore prayed Brigadier General Ehrenkrook, that Major de Barner might either return to him the said slave with damages or pay to Despin the value thereof.

Upon this complaint an inquiry was made. In the course of this inquiry Joseph Despin did not support his complaint and charge with those legal proofs which could entitle him to recover from Major de Earner thereupon; "or induce a Court of Justice to consider Major de Barner as having either given any others for the taking of, or even had any knowledge touching the intended escape of the Slave." The complaint of Despin was then deemed very justly dismissed.

Upon the dismission of this complaint Major de Barner requested of the Governor satisfaction and punishment upon the accuser, and a notary, one Robin, who prepared notarial acts, in an unbecoming affrontive manner. This request was made under three heads: first, that Despin might be exemplarily punished, not merely for a false dishonoring accusation of Major de Barner, a commanding officer and injurious to his whole battalion, but punishment for the personal insults to Major de Barner and his character; second, that Despin might pay the expenses of preparing and making out writings; and third, that the said Robin, the notary, may be equally punished for using expressions in his acts hurtful and indecent to persons of honor and character.

The Attorney General asserted that there is reason to conclude from the several testimonies appearing in the case, that Despin had lost his slave by means of some soldiers belonging to the Battalion of Chasseurs which Major de Barner Commanded, _though not in the least by the orders or with the knowledge or consent of Major de Barner as charged_.

One of the most extraordinary stories of the time is told by William Dummer Powell afterwards Chief Justice of Upper Canada, but in 1780[17] and later practising as a barrister in Montreal. "Meeting in the Street of Montreal an armed Party escorting to the Provost Guard several female prisoners and Children," says Mr. Powell, "curiosity was excited and upon engaging the Non-Commissioned Officer commanding the Escort, Mr. Powell was informed that they were Prisoners of war, taken in the Kentucky Country and brought into Detroit by a Detachment of the Garrison and now arrived from thence. Further Enquiry after procuring necessary relief to the first wants of the party, drew from Mrs. Agnes La Force the following Narrative:

"That her husband was a loyal Subject in the Province of North Carolina,[18] having a good Plantation well stocked and a numerous family. That his political Sentiments exposed him to so much Annoyance from the governing Party, that he determined to retire into the wilderness, that he accordingly mustered his whole family, consisting of several Sons and their Wives and Children, and Sons-in-law with their Wives and Children, a numerous band of select and valuable Slaves Male and female, and a large Stock of Cattle, with which they proceeded westward, intending to retire into Kentucky.

"That after" the accidental death of the father they pursued their route to the westward and settled with their Slaves in the wilderness about five hundred miles from any civil establishment. After a residence of three years, a party of regular Troops and Indians from the British Garrison at Detroit appeared in the plain and summoned them to surrender.[18] "Relying upon British faith," says Mr. Powell, "they open'd their Gate on condition of Protection to their Persons and property from the Indians; but they had no sooner surrendered and received that promise than her sons and sons-in-law had to resort to arms to resist the Insults of the Indians to their wives and Slaves.[19] Several lives were lost and the whole surviving Party was marched into Detroit, about six hundred Miles, where the Slaves were distributed among the Captors and the rest marched or boated eight hundred miles further to Montreal and driven into the Provot Prison as Cattle into a Pound."[19]

This story will be credited with difficulty but accident some time after put into the hands of Mr. Powell a document of undeniable credit, which, however, was unnecessary: for on Mr. Powell's representation of the case to Sir F. Haldimand the most peremptory orders to the Commandant at Detroit to find out the slaves of Mrs. La Force in whose ever possession they might be and transmit them to their mistress at Montreal. But Detroit was too far distant from headquarters and interests prompting to disobedience of such an order too prevalent for it to produce any effect; and the commandant acknowledged in answer to a reiterated order that the slaves could not be produced, although their names and those of their new masters were correctly ascertained and the following list transmitted with the order.

List of slaves formerly the property of Mrs. Agnes La Force and in possession of others:

Negro Scipio in possession of Simon Girty[20] do Tim " " " Mr. Le Duc. do Ishener " " " do do do Stephen " " " Captn. Graham. do Joseph " " " Captn. Elliot. do Peggy " " " do do do Job " " " Mr. Baby do Hannah " " " Mr. Fisher. do Candis " " " Capt. McKee. do Bess --Grace Rachel--and Patrick-Indians" ---- 13

The case of Mrs. La Force and some similar cases led Haldimand to require Sir John Johnson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to report. He wrote from Quebec, July 16, 1781, "Several complaints having been made upon the subject of selling negroes brought into this Province (Quebec) by scouting parties--who allege a Right to Freedom and others belonging to Loyalists who are obliged to relinquish their properties or reclaim them by paying the money for which they were sold, I must desire that you upon the most minute enquiry give in to Brigadier General Maclean a Return of all Negroes who have been brought into the Province by Parties in any Respect under your Directions whether Troops or Indians, specifying their names, their former masters, whether Loyalists or Rebels, by whom brought in and to whom sold, at what price and where they are at present. I shall direct Cols. Campbell and Clans to do the same by which it will be in my Power to reduce the Grievances now complained of and to make such arrangements as will prevent them in future."

Johnson sent a return of Negroes to Maclean and Maclean July 26, 1781, and they sent it on to Haldimand: Clans and Campbell made returns direct to Haldimand in August of the same year. Fortunately the covering letters are extant as are the reports. There is also one Negro, Abraham, reported in a Return of Rebel Prisoners in and about Montreal as having been taken June 18, 1781; and, therefore, about a year after Mrs. La Force's capture.[21]

"Of the fifty or more slaves named in this list," says Dr. T. W. Smith, "nearly half were sold at Montreal, a few being carried by the Indians and Whites to Niagara. The others were handed to their former owners. 'Charles' 'taken at Balls Town making his escape out of a window in Col. Gordon's house' was sold to the Rev. David C. DeLisle, the Episcopal rector at Montreal, for £20 Halifax currency; Samuel Judah, Montreal, paid £24 for 'Jacob' also a slave of Col. Gordon, a rebel master, but for a Negro girl of the same owner he gave £60; Nero, another of Col. Gordon's slaves, captured by a Mohawk Indian, Patrick Langan sold to John Mittleberger of Montreal for £60; 'Tom' was sold by Captain Thompson of Col. Butler's Rangers for £25 to Sir John Johnson who gave him to Mr. Langan; and William Bowen, a Loyalist owner, sold his recovered slave 'Jack' for £70 to Captain John McDonell of the Rangers. 'William,' who was also sold for £30 to Mr. McDonell and afterwards carried to Quebec, had been taken from his master's house by Mohawk Indians under Captain John the Mohawk with a wagon and horses which he had got ready to convey his mistress Mrs. Fonda wife of Major Fonda to Schenectady ... another Negro man, name unknown, was sold 'by a soldier of the 8th Regiment to Lieutenant Herkimer of the Corps of Rangers, who disposed of him to Ensign Sutherland of the Royal Regiment of New York.'"

Negroes were not the only victims of Indian raids. In 1782 Powell had another experience, which is indicative of the practices of the Indians during the Revolutionary War.[22] In his letter to the Commissary of Prisoners at Quebec he wrote:

Montreal, 22 August, 1782.,

"Sir

I should make an Apology for the Liberty I take but that I consider it a public Duty.

When you were here some time since, I am informed that mention was made to you of a young female slave bought of the Indians by a Mr. Campbell, a Publican of this Town, and that when you learned that she was the Daughter of decent family in Pensilvania[23] captured by the Indians at 10 years of age, your Humanity opposed itself to the barbarous Claim of her Master and you Promised that she should be returned to her Parents by the first Flag with Prisoners.

"In consequence of such a Promise," continued he, "the Child had been taught to expect a speedy release from her Bondage, and, finding that her Name was in the List permitted by his Excellency to cross the Lines with a flag from St. Johns,[24] she imagined that there could be no Obstacle to her Return; but, being informed that Mr. Campbell had threatened to give her back to the Indians, she eloped last Evening, and took refuge in my House from whence a female Prisoner, (sometime a nurse to my children) was to sett off this Morning for the Neighborhood of the Child's Parents. Upon Application from Mr. Campbell to Brigadr. Genl. De Speht setting forth that He had furnished her with money, an order was obtained for the delivery of the Child to her Master and there was no time for any other Accommodation than an undertaking on my part to reimburse Mr. Campbell the Price he paid for her to the Indians. This I am to do on his producing a Certificate from some Military Gentleman, whom he says was present at the Sale. I have no objection to an Act of Charity of this Nature, but _all Political Considerations aside_, I am of opinion that the national Honor is interested, that this Redemption should not be the Act of an Individual. As Commissary of Prisoners I have stated the Case to you, Sir, that you may determine upon the propriety of reimbursing me, or not, the sum I may be obliged to pay on this occasion.

"That all may be fairly stated I should observe that the Child was never returned a Prisoner,[25] nor has drawn Provisions as such--although there can be no doubt of her political character, having been captured by our Savages."

The reply to this communication was:

"I am favored with your's by Saturday's post and have since layed it before His Excellency the Commander in Chief, and I have the Pleasure to inform you that he approves much of your Conduct and feels himself obliged for your very humane Interposition to rescue the poor unfortunate Sarah Cole from the Clutches of the miscreant Campbell; and I am further to inform you that your letter has been transmitted by his Secretary to the Judges at Montreal, not only to make Campbell forfeit the money he says he paid for the Girl, but if possible to punish and make him an example to prevent such inhuman conduct for the Future; but in any Event you shall be indemnified for the very generous Engagement you entered into."

It has been established that Mr. Powell had redeemed his word the day it was given and paid Mr. Campbell Twelve Guineas[26] on production of a string of Wampum delivered by the Indians with the girl and the money paid by Campbell. A cartel went forward August 22, 1782, and in the list of prisoners sent south appears the name "Sarah Coal."[27] Haldimand gave Mr. Justice Mabane, the man of all work of his administration, instructions to see to it that Campbell did not profit by his inhumanity and also to take such steps that the practice should not prevail for the future.[27]

A petition presented to Haldimand in 1783, however, discloses another transaction with the Indians.[28] Jacob Adams presented the petition December 13 of that year from Carleton Island. He said:

"I have taken a Yankee Boy (by name Francis Cole)[29] with a party of Messesagee Indians--afterwards when I arrived at Carleton Island with the said party of Indians and said Yankee Boy, the Commanding Officer (Captain Aubrey) demanded the Prisoners Vizt. this Boy and an old man[30] the Indians refus'd giving them up on which Capt. Aubrey gave me Liberty to purchase them and so I did by paying sixteen Gallons Rum for the Boy which cost me at this place twenty shillings, York Currency, pr. Gallon,[31] and he the said Yankee Boy was to serve me the term of four years (with his own lawfull consent) for my redeeming him. As for the old man I likewise bought him for two Gallons Rum but Capt. Aubrey requested I should send him Prisoner to Your Excellency. I acted accordingly. I likewise gave a shirt apiece to each of the two Chiefs who belonged to said party in like manner I lost twenty-four shillings York Currency by four Keggs which the above Rum was put into.[32]

"Now, may it please Yr Excellency this said Yankee Boy remained very peaceably and quietly with me for the space of two months during which Time I took him several Journeys to Fort Stanwix and Oswego and whilst I was absent he got acquainted with some of the soldiers on this Island who persuaded him to get off from me and accordingly he got off in the manner following: when Lieut. Peppin of the 5th Regiment and his Party were embarking on board the Haldimand to go to Niagara, he privately got on board and remained there Incog. for one Day and a Night on which I made an application to Mr. Peppin to make a search for him and accordingly he did and found him and likewise brought him before the Commanding Officer who asked the Boy his Reasons for Running away from me: he replied He did not chuse to live with me on which Capt. Aubreay has sent him down as Prisoner to Yr. Excellency.

"May it please Your Excellency I expect your Excellency will please to take my Case into consideration by granting me the Request of being paid for what I have lost by said Prisoner or the Yankee Boy, to be returned to me...."[33]

There were not wanting at this time or later instances of those convicted of crime buying their lives by enlistment for life. One case of a mulatto, a slave, may be here mentioned. A mulatto called Middleton was convicted at Montreal in 1781 of a felony (probably larceny) which carried the sentence of death. He was an expert mechanic of a class of men much in demand in the army and he was given a pardon conditioned upon his enlisting for life. He chose the Second Batallion of Sir John Johnson's Royal American Regiment then in Quebec and was handed over by Sheriff Gray to the officers of that corps after having taken the oath of allegiance administered to all recruits.[34]

Many slaves were employed as boatmen, laborers, and the like, in the army. We find a letter from headquarters at Quebec to Captain Maurer who was at Montreal, dated October 6, 1783, which reads:

"Having had the Honor to communicate to His Excellency, the Commander-in-Chief, your intimation that applications have been made by the Proprietors of some Negro's Serving Capt. Harkimer's (Herkimer) Company of Batteau Men to have them restored to them and desiring to receive His Excellency's Pleasure therein, I am directed to signify to you His Excellency's Commands that all such Negro's to be given up on the Requisition of their owners, provided they produce sufficient Proofs of their Property and give full acknowledgments or Receipts for them which must be taken in the most ample manner to prevent future claims and to have the necessary recourse to those Persons who receive them should different applications be made for the above Negro's."[35]

Peace had come[36] and there was no more need for a large army. But it was some years before the Indians of the western country ceased from their practice of making prisoners.[37]

[Transcriber's Note: The following two tables were published as one large, wide table. They have been split into two tables, with the first column repeated, for clearer presentation in this e-book.]

RETURN OF NEGROES AND NEGRO WOMEN BROUGHT INTO THE PROVINCE BY PARTIES UNDER THE COMMAND AND DIRECTION OF LIEUT. COL. SIR JOHN JOHNSON, BART 1783

================+==============+=========+========+================+ | Former |Property | Rebel | By Whom | Names | Masters | of |Property| Brought In | | |Loyalists| | | ----------------+--------------+---------+--------+----------------+ Tom |Conyne |Loyalist | |Canada Indians | Charles[1] |Smyth | | Rebel | | Nero[2] |Col. Gordon | | ditto |Mohawk Indians | Jacob[3] | ditto | | ditto |Mohawk Indians | A Negro Wench[4]| ditto | | ditto |Mohawk Indians | Betty |Capt. Collins | | ditto |Mohawk Indians | Tom[5] |Col. Fisher | | ditto | ditto | Jack |Barney Wimple | | ditto |Royal Rt., N. Y.| Diana |Adam Fonda | | ditto | ditto | William[6] |Major Fonda | | ditto |Mohawk Indians | Combwood |J. Wimple | | ditto | ditto | Catharine |Dora Fonda | | ditto |Canada Indians | Simon[7] | | | | | Boatswain |Lewis Clemont | ditto | |Canada Indians | Jane | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Dick |Col. Butler | ditto | |Mohawk Rangers | Jack[8] |Wm. Bowen | ditto | |Royal Rt., N.Y. | Peggy |Mr. Young | ditto | | ditto | Mink[9] |Capt. Harkemaw| ditto | | | ----------------+--------------+---------+--------+----------------+

=============+==================+=======+=============================+ | | Price | | Names | To Whom Sold | Sold | Where They Are | | | For | at Present | -------------+------------------+-------+-----------------------------+ | |Halifax| | | | Curry.| | Tom |Jacob Jordon |£12-10 |Montreal with Mr. Jordon. | Charles |Rev. Mr. DeLisle | 20--- |Montreal with Mr. DeLisle. | Nero |John Mittleberger | 60--- |Montreal in Provost Gaol. | Jacob |Saml. Judah | 24--- |Quebec. | A Negro Wench| ditto | 60--- |Montreal with Mr. Judah. | Betty |John Gregory | 45--- |Montreal with Mr. Gregory. | Tom | Captn. Thomson | 25--- |Montreal with Mr. Tangen. | Jack | | |Montreal with Capt. Anderson.| Diana | | | ditto ditto | William |Mr. McDonell | 30--- |Quebec. | Combwood |Capt. Sherwood | 12-10 |St. James with Capt. | | | | Sherwood. | Catharine |John Grant | 12-10 |St. Genevieve with | | | | Capt. A. McDonell. | Simon | | |Niagara with A. Wimple. | Boatswain | | |Niagara with | | | | his former master. | Jane | | | ditto ditto | Dick | | | ditto with | | | | his former master. | Jack |Captn. J. McDonell| 70--- | ditto with Captn. McDonell. | Peggy | | | ditto with | | | | her former master. | Mink | | |Coteau du Lac with | | | | his former master. | -------------+------------------+-------+-----------------------------+

[1] Taken at Bells Town, making his escape out of a window in Col. Gordon's House.

[2] Runed away some time ago from his late Master.

[3] Taken at the same place endeavoring to make his escape, also runed away from his late Master.

[4] Sold by Sir John Johnson in lieu of a Negro wench and child of his Property which Col. Gordon exchanged for this Wench.

[5] Sold by Capt. Thomson of Col. Butlers Rangers, to Sir Johnson who gave him to W Langen Since Dead.

[6] Taken at his masters house by Capt John the Mohawk, with Waggon & Horses which he got ready to convey his mistress to Schenectady.

[7] Sold by John Grant to Captn Alexander McDonell.

[8] Sold by Wm. Bowen his Former Master, to Captn John McDonell of Col. Butlers Rangers.

[9] Came in with Sir John Johnson, and are now employed in Captn Harkimers company of Batteau Men.

[Transcriber's Note: The following two tables were published as one large, wide table. They have been split into two tables, with the first column repeated, for clearer presentation in this e-book.]

============+============== +=========+========+======================+ | Former |Property | Rebel | By Whom | Names | Masters | of |Property| Brought In | | |Loyalists| | | ------------+-------------- +---------+--------+----------------------+ Tance |Adam Fonda | | Rebel | | Cato |Pruyne | | ditto | | Jack |Major Fonda | | ditto | | Jack | ditto | | ditto | | William |Sir J. Johnson |Loyalist | |Rl. Rt., N. Y. | Frank | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Farry | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Jack | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Abraham | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Tom[10] | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Sam | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Jacob a boy | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Tanoe a boy | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Phillis | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Betty | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Jade | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Jane | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Hager | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Nicholas |Col. Claus | ditto | |Mohawk Rangers | Tom | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Peter | ditto | ditto | | ditto | Maria | ditto | ditto | | ditto | A Negro man name unknown[11] | N. B. several others carried to Niagara by Indians and White Men[12] | Chas. Grandison Col. Warner | ------------+--------------+---------+--------+-----------------------+

============+==================+========+=============================+ | | Price | | Names | To Whom Sold | Sold | Where They Are | | | For | at Present | ------------+------------------+--------+-----------------------------+ Tance | | |Coteau du Lac. | Cato | | | ditto | Jack | | | ditto | Jack | | | ditto | William | | |With his Master. | Frank | | | ditto | Farry | | | ditto | Jack | | | ditto | Abraham | | | ditto | Tom[10] | | | ditto | Sam | | | ditto | Jacob a boy | | | ditto | Tanoe a boy | | | ditto | Phillis | | |With her master. | Betty | | | ditto | Jade | | | ditto | Jane | | | ditto | Hager | | | ditto | Nicholas | | |With his master. | Tom | | | ditto | Peter | | | ditto | Maria | | | ditto | ------------+------------------+--------+-----------------------------+

[10] Since dead--All these marks for Sir John Johnson Joyned him on the Mohawk.

[11] Sold by a Soldier of the 8th Regt to Lieut Harkemer of the Corps of Rangers, who sold him to Ensign Sutherland of the Rl Rt N. Y.

[12] Sent a Prisoner to Fort Chambly--The Indians still claim the allowance promised them by ye Commandr in Chief.

JOHN JOHNSON, Lieut Col Comm.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See this Treaty which was concluded at Paris, February 10, 1763 "au Nom de la Très Sainte & indivisible Trinité, Pere, Fils & Saint Esprit"--Shortt & Doughty, _Constitutional Documents_, 1759-1791, pp. 73 sqq.

[2] What we now call Lake Nipissing.

[3] See the Proclamation, Shortt & Doughty, _Const. Docs._, pp. 119, sqq.

[4] Per Hargrave, _arguendo_, Somerset _v._ Stewart (1772), Lofft 1, at p. 4; the speech in the State Trials Report was never actually delivered.

[5] (1772) Lofft, 12 Geo. III, 1; (1772) 20 St. Trials 1.

[6] These words are not in Lofft or in the State Trials, but will be found in Campbell's _Lives of the Chief Justices_, Vol. II, p. 419, where the words are added: "Every man who comes into England is entitled to the protection of the English law, whatever oppression he may heretofore have suffered and whatever may be the color of his skin. _Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses_ and certainly Vergil's verse was never used to a nobler purpose. Verg. E. 2, 19.

William Cowper in _The Task_, written 1783-1785, imitated this in his well-known lines:

"Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free. They touch our country and their shackles fall."

[7] I use the spelling in Lofft. The State Trials and Lord Campbell have "Somersett" and "Steuart."

[8] This was in direct opposition to the opinion of Sir Philip Yorke, Attorney General (afterwards Lord Chancellor Lord Hardwicke) and Sir Charles Talbot, Solicitor General (afterwards Lord Chancellor Lord Talbot) who had pledged themselves to the British planters for all the legal consequences of Slaves coming over to England. The law of Scotland agreed with that of England.

[9] See _e.g._, Vinogradoff, _Villeinage in England_, passim. Hallam's _Middle Ages_ (ed. 1827), Vol. 3, p. 256; Pollock and Maitland, _History of English Law_, Vol. 1, pp. 395, sqq. Holdsworth's _History of English Law_, Vol. 2, pp. 33, 63, 131; Vol. 3, pp. 167, 377-393.

[10] See Pollock and Maitland's _History Eng. Law_, Vol. 1, pp. 1-13, 395, 415; Holdsworth's _Hist. Eng. Law_, Vol. 2, pp. 17, 27, 30-33, 131, 160, 216.

[11] "So spake the fiend and with necessity, The tyrant's plea, excused his devilish deeds." Paradise Lost, Bk. 4, ll. 393, 394.

Milton a true lover of freedom well knew the peril of an argument based upon supposed necessity. Necessity is generally but another name for greed or worse.

[12] For example, the Statute of (1732) 5 Geo. II, c. 7, enacted, sec. 4, "that from and after the said 29th September, 1732, the Houses, Lands, Negroes and other Hereditaments and real Estates situate or being within any of the said (British) Plantations (in America) shall be liable" to be sold under execution. Note that the Negroes are "Hereditaments and Real estate," as were the villeins--a rule wholly different from that of the French law.

[13] His Commission is dated November 28, 1763, Shortt & Doughty, _Constitutional Documents_, 1759-1761, pp. 126, sqq.

[14] _Canadian Archives, Murray Papers_, Vol. II, p. 15: the Quebec Act mentioned immediately below is (1774) 14 George III, c. 83.

In 1774 the well known Quebec Act reintroduced the former French Canadian law in civil matters while it retained the English law in criminal matters; but the change made no difference in the condition of the slave.

[15] The three which follow I owe to the interesting paper of Mr. E. Z. Massicotte, Archivist of Montreal published in _Le Bulletin des Recherches Historiques_ for November, 1918, pp. 348 sqq.--the advertisement in the Gazette is to be found in Terrill's _Chronicles of Montreal_. The paper was 2-1/2 Spanish dollars per annum, 10 sous per copy, published every Wednesday.

[16] The "Upper Countries" were Detroit and Michilimackinae, sometimes including the Niagara region--at this time there were practically no residents in what became the Province of Upper Canada and is now the Province of Ontario. The letter is to be found in the _Canadian Archives_, B. 217, p. 21: as no further record appears, it is to be presumed that an order was made for sale by the Sheriff.

The Report of James Monk Attorney-General at Quebec about to be mentioned is to be found in the _Canadian Archives_, B. 207, p. 105.

[17] In the same year a much wronged Negro petitioned Haldimand. His petition dated at Quebec, October 17, 1778, reads: "To His Excellency Frederick

Haldimand, Governor & Commander in Chief of all Kanady and the territories thereunto belonging,

The Petition of Joseph King humbly sheweth that Your Petitioner has been twice taken by the Yankys and sold by them each time at Public Vendue: he has made his escape and brought two white men through the woods: he was a servant to Captain McCoy last winter in Montreal and came here (Quebec) last spring. Your Petitioner has gone through many Perils and Dangers of his life for making his escape from the Yankeys. He hoaps that Your Excellency through the abundance of Your Benevolence will grant him his liberty for which your poor Petitioner as in Duty bound will ever pray." _Canadian Archives_, B. 217, p. 324.

[18] In the Petition referred to _post_, Mrs. La Force states that her husband was "late of Virginia."

[19] I have followed the Powell MSS. in spelling, capitalization, etc.

[20] They were taken in an expedition nominally under Captain Bird but he had little control over the Indians and had only a few men of his own British Regulars. He had had bitter experience of the cruelty and unreliability of the Indians in 1779 but had to go with them in 1780. This was not one of the two large Forts which Bird took in his 1780 expedition, Fort Liberty and Martin's Station, but a smaller fortification. It was taken June 26, 1780 (_Can. Arch._, B. 172, 480); that there were several small forts is certain; that some of the prisoners brought to Detroit were from the small forts and that they (or some of them) were not rebels appears from the letter from De Peyster of August 4, 1780 (_Canadian Archives_, B. 100, p. 441): "In a former letter to the Commander in Chief," said he, "I observed that it would be dangerous having so many Prisoners here but I then thought those small Forts were occupied by a different set of people."

[21] The well-known so-called Renegade, is in reality a loyal subject whose reputation pays the penalty of a losing cause. The others are all well-known loyalists of Detroit.

Mrs. La Force's Petition to Haldimand is still extant. _Canadian Archives_, B. 217, p. 116. Her name is included in the list of women and children remaining at Montreal, the list being dated Quebec, September 11, 1782, and she being given as of Virginia and taken June 26, 1780.

[22] The correspondence, &c., is in the _Canadian Archives_, B. 129, p. 221, 225; B. 159, p. 152; B. 183, p. 284. A Negro taken "horse hunting" by a party of Puttewatamies in the West is mentioned August 16, 1782, in B. 123, p. 290. He belonged to Epharaim Hart from whom he deserted and was taken about 20 miles up Cross Creek. I copy from a Manuscript of Powell's in my possession which I have compared with a photostate copy of a manuscript in the _Canadian Archives_.

[23] The western part of Pennsylvania is meant. This region was seething with conflicts on a small scale between the Loyalists and the Republicans. The Indians for the most part took the side of the former.

[24] In what is now the Province of Quebec.

[25] In 1780 Germain instructed Haldimand that "all prisoners from revolted Provinces are committed as guilty of high treason not as prisoners of war" (_Canadian Archives_, B. 59, p. 54) but a change soon took place and after some intermediate stages, Shelburne, the Home Secretary, in April, 1782, instructed Haldimand that all American prisoners were to be held for exchange. _Canadian Archives_, B. 50, p. 164.

[26] By the Ordinance of March 29, 1777, 17 George III, c. 9, the guinea was declared equivalent to £1.3.4, Quebec Currency: this would make the price of the girl, $42.60. See note 30 post. It is to be presumed that Powell was repaid. He nowhere complains that he was not as he certainly would have done if he had cause to do so.

Negroes were frequently arriving in the colony and seeking aid and subsistence. For example, we find Thomas Scott, J. P., reporting Thursday, May 17, 1781: "The Bearer John Jacob a Negro man just arrived from Montreal has applied to me for relief in his case as set forth in the Annexed Paper. But as I apprehend that can only be given him by His Excellency the Governor I respectfully recommend him to His Excellency's notice." _Canadian Archives_, B. 100, p. 72.

[27] See _Canadian Archives_, B. 130, pp. 33, 34.

[28] It is more than doubtful that the prohibition of the sale of white captives by the Indians would be productive of good. The natural result would rather be that the Indians would kill their white captives at once or torture them to death. At the best the prisoners would in most cases, if adults become slaves and if young be adopted into the tribe. There are numerous instances of white captives being slain because unsaleable while the Negroes escaped death because they found a ready market. See the story of Thomas Ridout, post, note 37. The order of Haldimand will be found in the Canadian Archives.

[29] Remembering that Sarah Cole was bought by Campbell from the Indians at Carleton Island (near Kingston) it seems likely that Francis Cole was her brother or some other relation. That Adams says nothing of Sarah is not at all strange.

The Mississagua Indians occupied a great part of the territory now the Province of Ontario and were always loyal to the British Crown.

[30] In the "Return of Prisoners whoa have requested leave to remain in the Province made at Quebec, November 3, 1782," appear the names of "Mich. & Phoebe Roach to remain at Montreal to receive a child with the Savages and a man at Carleton Island." These were white. The Report of the Negroes follows. _Canadian Archives_, B. 163, p. 258.

[31] The York Shilling (or shilling in New York currency) was 12-1/2 cents, one eighth of a dollar.

[32] $5.00 for the rum; $3.00 for the Keggs.

[33] _Canadian Archives_, B. 216, pp. 14, sqq.

No proceedings seem to have been taken on this Petition and it is probable that Mr. Adams had to stand the loss on Francis Cole the said Yankee Boy as Campbell did on Sarah Cole of Pennsylvania.

Indians were not the only slavers. As soon as the Declaration of Independence was promulgated, if not before, Boston began to fit out privateers to prey on British trade. We read of four privateers reported by Governor Montague as seen in the Straits of Belle Island in 1776, two off Placentia in 1777 and in 1778 committing daily depredations on the coast of Newfoundland. They harried the unprotected fishermen and the farmers of Newfoundland and Labrador but some at least of them went further. Those who had demanded political freedom themselves denied even personal freedom to others. They seized and carried away into slavery some of the unoffending natives, the Eskimos, who were freemen and whose only crime was their helplessness. One instance will suffice. The _Minerva_ privateer of Boston, Captain John Grimes, Master, mounting 20 nine pounders and manned with 160 men landed on Sandwich Bay, Labrador, at Captain George Cartwright's station, took his brig, _The Countess of Effingham_, loaded her with his fish and provisions and sent her off to Boston. Cartwright not unnaturally said: "May the Devil go with them." "The _Minerva_ also took away four Eskimo to be made slaves of." W. G. Gosling, _Labrador_, Toronto, n. d., pp. 192, 244, 245, 333.

[34] See _Canadian Archives_, B. 61, p. 83, where he is called a Negro. _Ibid._, B. 158, p. 261, where he is called a mulatto.

[35] _Canadian Archives_, B. 215, p. 236.

[36] The Definitive Treaty of Peace between the mother country and her revolted colonies, now become the United States of America, was signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, but it had been incubating for months before that date.

[37] It may not be out of place to give some account of the capture by Indians of Thomas Ridout, afterwards Surveyor General and Legislative Councillor of Upper Canada. His story is given in his own words by his granddaughter Lady Edgar in her interesting _Ten Years of Upper Canada_.

Thomas Ridout, born in Dorsetshire, when twenty years of age came to Georgia in 1774. After trading for a few years he left Annapolis, Maryland, in 1787 for Kentucky with letters of introduction from George Washington, Colonel Lee of Virginia and other gentlemen of standing. Sailing with Mr. Purviance, his man James Black and two other men towards the Falls of the Ohio, the party was taken by a band of about twenty Indians. Ridout was claimed by an elderly man, apparently a chief, who protected him from injury, but could not save his hat, coat and waistcoat. Soon he saw tied two other young men who had been taken that morning and set aside for death. Ridout was able to secure their release. The Indians were Shawanese, Pottawatamies, Ottawas and Cherokees. One prisoner, William Richardson Watson, said to be an Englishman but who had lived for some years in the United States, they robbed of 700 guineas and then burnt to death. Purviance, they beat to death but Ridout was saved by the Indian who claimed him as his own. A white man, Nash, about twenty-two who had been taken by the Indians when a child and had become a chief, encouraged him and told him that he would be taken to Detroit where he could ransom himself. He was more than once within a hairsbreadth of death but at length he was brought by his master, Kakinathucca, to his home. He was a great hunter and went every year to Detroit with his furs for sale, taking with him his wife Metsigemawa and a Negro slave. The chief had a daughter Altewesa, about eighteen years of age "of a very agreeable form and manners." She saved Ridout from death from the uplifted hand of an Indian who had his hand over him ready to strike the fatal blow with his tomahawk.

At the end of three weeks the whole village set off for the Wabash. Arriving at the Wabash his papers were read by the interpreter, a white man who had been taken prisoner several years before and held in captivity. The Indians were assured that Ridout was an Englishman and not an American and they consented that he might go with his master to Detroit for ransom. The Indians were excessively enraged at the Americans who they claimed were the cause of their misfortunes. The preceding autumn the Americans had come to their village on the Scito River from Kentucky and in times of profound peace and by surprise destroyed their village and many of their people, their cattle, grain and everything they could lay their hands on.

Ridout witnessed the torture and heard the dying shrieks of an American prisoner Mitchell who had been captured with his father Captain Mitchell on the Ohio. The father had been liberated but the son given to a warrior who was determined to burn him.

After three or four days, Ridout's master collected his horses and peltry and with his wife the Negro and Ridout set out for Detroit. On the way there were met other Indians among whom was the noted Simon Girty. A council was held at which the murderer of Mitchell claimed Ridout as his but at length Kakinathucca prevailed and Ridout's life was again spared. The murderer asserted that he was a spy but his papers proved his innocence. The little party went on to Fort Miami where several English and French gentlemen received Ridout with open arms. Mr. Sharpe clothed him and a French gentlemen lent a canoe to carry the party and furs 250 miles by water to Detroit. Reaching Detroit, which, it should be remembered, remained in British hands until August 1796, he was received with every attention and a bed was provided for him at Government House. The officers furnished him with money and gave him a passage to Montreal where he arrived about the middle of July, 1788. Ridout settled in Upper Canada. In 1799, Kakinathucca and three other Shawanese chiefs came to pay him a visit at York, (Toronto), and were hospitably treated, the great and good Kakinathucca receiving substantial testimony of the gratitude of the man he had saved from a death of torture.

Ridout's memorandum of the fate of the other prisoners is terribly significant: "Samuel Purviance, Killed; Barland, Killed; Wm. R. Watson, burnt; James Black, beat to death; Symonds, burnt; Ferguson, sold for corn; a negro woman unharmed."