exception, unlawfully held in bondage. There is no master, who has a
legal title to any of them. This assertion may appear strange and
extravagant to many; but it does not follow on that account that it is
the less true. It is an assertion, which has been made by a West Indian
proprietor himself. Mr. Steele[4], before quoted, furnishes us with what
passed at the meeting of the Society of Arts in Barbadoes at their
committee-room in August 1785, when the following question was in the
order of the day: "Is there any law written, or printed, by which a
proprietor can prove his title to his slave under or conformable to the
laws of England?" And "Why, (immediately said one of the members,) why
conformable to the laws of England? Will not the courts in England admit
such proof as is authorized by _our slave laws_?"--"I apprehend not,
(answered a second,) unless we can show that _our slave laws_ (according
to the limitations of the charter) are _not_ repugnant to the laws of
England."--The same gentleman resumed: "Does the original purchaser of
an African slave in this island obtain any legal title from the merchant
or importer of slaves--and of what nature? Does it set forth any title
of propriety, agreeable to the laws of England (or even to the laws of
nations) to be in the importer more than what depends upon his simple
averment? And have not free Negroes been at sundry times trepanned by
such dealers, and been brought contrary to the laws of nations, and sold
here as slaves?"--"There is no doubt, (observed a third,) but such
villainous actions have been done by worthless people: however, though
an honest and unsuspicious man may be deceived in buying a stolen horse,
it does not follow that he may not have a fair and just title to a horse
or any thing else bought in an open and legal market; but according to
the obligation _of being not repugnant to the laws of England_, I do not
see how _we can have any title to our slaves_ likely to be supported by
the laws of England." In fact, the Colonial system is an excrescence
upon the English Constitution, and is constantly at variance with it.