“And be it, &c., that all and every Negro, Indian, Mulatto and Mestee bastard child and children, who is, are, and shall be born of any Negro, Indian, or Mestee, shall follow the state and condition of the mother and be esteemed, reputed, taken and adjudged a slave and slaves to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

“Provided always, and be it, &c., That no slave whatsoever in this colony shall at any time be admitted as a witness for or against any freeman in any case, matter or cause, civil or criminal, whatsoever."[236]

So when the door of the Christian Church was opened to the Negro, he was to appear at the sacred altar with his chains on.  Though emancipated from the bondage of Satan, he nevertheless 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