shall immediately proceed with the said master in the manner above said, by committing of him to Her Majesty’s jail, where he shall remain without bail or mainprize, until he hath paid unto the naval officer, for the use of this colony, double the sum specified in his said bill, and all charges that shall accrue thereby; which money shall be paid out by the said naval officer, as the General Assembly of this colony shall order the same.

“And it is further enacted, that the naval officer who now is, and who ever shall be for the future put into said office, shall at his entering into the said office, take his engagement to the faithful performance of the above said acts.  And for his encouragement, shall have such fees as are hereafter mentioned at the end of this act.

     “And for the more effectual putting in execution those acts,
     and that none may plead ignorance: 

“It is enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all masters of vessels trading to this government, shall give bond, with sufficient surety in the naval office, for the sum of L50, current money of New England."[462]

We have omitted a large portion of the bill, because of its length; but have quoted sufficient to give an excellent idea of the marvellous caution taken by the good Christians of Rhode Island to get every cent due them on account of the slave trade, which their prohibition did not prohibit.  It was a carefully drawn bill for those days.

The diligence of the public officers in the seaport town of Newport was richly rewarded.  The slave-trade now had the sanction and regulation of colonial law.  The demand for Negro laborers was not affected in the least, while traders did not turn aside on account of three pounds per head tax upon every slave sold into Rhode Island.  On the 5th of July, 1715, the General Assembly appropriated a portion of the fund derived from the impost-tax on imported Negroes to repairing the streets; and then strengthened and amplified the original law on impost-duties, etc.  The following is the Act:—­

“This Assembly, taking into consideration that Newport is the metropolitan town in this colony, and that all the courts of judicature within this colony are held there; and also, that it is the chief market town in the government; and that it hath very miry streets, especially that leading from the ferry, or landing place, up to the colony house, so that the members of the courts are very much discommoded therewith, and is a great hindrance to the transporting of provisions, &c., in and out of the said towns, to the great loss of the inhabitants thereof:—­

“Therefore, be it enacted by this present Assembly, and by the authority thereof it is enacted, that the sum of L289 17s. 3d., now lying in the naval officer’s hand, (being duties paid to this colony for importing of slaves), shall be, and is hereby granted to the town of