And in the following year, 1767, on the 16th of March, the question was put as to whether the town should adhere to its previous instructions in favor of the suppression of the slave-trade, and passed in the affirmative.  Nearly all the towns, especially those along the coast, those accessible by mails and newspapers, had recorded their vote, in some shape or other, against slavery.  The pressure for legislation on the subject was great.  The country members of the Legislature were almost a unit in favor of the passage of a bill prohibiting the further importation of slaves.  The opposition came from the larger towns, but the opposers were awed by the determined bearing of the enemies of the slave-trade.  The scholarship, wealth, and piety of the colony were steadily ranging to the side of humanity.

On the 13th of March, 1767, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives “to prevent the unwarrantable and unlawful Practice or Custom of inslaving Mankind in this Province, and the importation of slaves into the same."[383] It was read the first time, when a dilatory motion was offered that the bill lie over to the next session, which was decided in the negative.  An amendment was offered to the bill, limiting it “to a certain time,” which was carried; and the bill made a special order for a second reading on the following day.  It was accordingly read on the 14th, when a motion was made to defer it for a third reading to the next “May session.”  The friends of the bill voted down this dilatory motion, and had the bill made the special order of the following Monday,—­it now being Saturday.  On Sunday there must have been considerable lobbying done, as can be seen by the vote taken on Monday.  After it was read, and the debate was concluded, it was “Ordered that the Matter subside, and that Capt.  Sheaffe, Col.  Richmond, and Col.  Bourne, be a Committee to bring in a Bill for laying a Duty of Impost on slaves importing into this Province."[384] This was a compromise, that, as will be seen subsequently, impaired the chances of positive and wholesome legislation against slavery.  The original bill dealt a double blow:  it struck at the slave-trade in the Province, and levelled the institution already in existence.  But some secret influences were set in operation, that are forever hidden from the searching eye of history; and the friends of liberty were bullied or cheated.  There was no need of a bill imposing an impost tax on slaves imported, for such a law had been in existence for more than a half-century.  If the tax were not heavy enough, it could have been increased by an amendment of a dozen lines.  On the 17th the substitute was brought in by the special committee appointed by the Speaker the previous day.  The rules requiring bills to be read on three several days were suspended, the bill ordered to a first and second reading, and then made the special order for eleven o’clock on the next day, Wednesday, the