"NOTICE TO BLACKS.

"The officers of the police having made returns to the subscriber
of the names of the following persons who are Africans or
negroes, not subjects of the Emperor of Morocco nor citizens of
any of the United States, the same are hereby warned and directed
to depart out of this Commonwealth before the tenth day of
October next, as they would avoid the pains and penalties of the
law in that case provided, which was passed by the Legislature
March 26, 1788.

"CHARLES BULFINCH, Superintendent.

"By order and direction of the Selectmen."

The names annexed are about three hundred, with the places of their
supposed origin, and they occupy a column of the paper. So at least
asserts the _United-States Gazette_ of Sept. 23. "It seems probable,"
adds the editor, "from the nature of the notice, that some suspicion of
the design of the negroes is entertained; and we regret to say there is
too much cause." The law of 1788 above mentioned was "An Act for
suppressing rogues, vagabonds, and the like," which forbade all persons
of African descent, unless citizens of some one of the United States or
subjects of the Emperor of Morocco, from remaining more than two months
within the Commonwealth, on penalty of imprisonment and hard labor. This
singular statute remained unrepealed until 1834.

Amid the general harmony in the contemporary narratives of Gabriel's
insurrection, it would be improper to pass by one exceptional legend,