state than he had, up to that time, dared to anticipate.  It allowed him to infer that his life was a little more than that of the brute that perisheth; that he could not be dragged by malice through the forms of a trial, without jury, witness, counsel, or friend, to an ignominious death, that was to be regretted only by his master, and his regrets to be solaced by the Legislature paying “the price;” that the law regarded him as a man, whose life was too dear to be committed to the disposition of irascible men, whose prejudices could be mollified only in extreme cruelty or cold-blooded murder.  It had much to do toward elevating the character of the Negro in New Jersey.  It first fired his heart with the noble impulse of gratitude, and then led him to hope.  And how much that little word means!  It causes the soul to spread its white pinions to every favoring breeze, and hasten on to a propitious future.  And then the fact that Negroes had rights acknowledged by the statutes, and respectfully accorded them by the courts, had its due influence upon the white colonists.  The men, or class of men, who have rights not challenged, command the respect of others.  The fact clothes them with dignity as with a garment.  And then, by the inevitable logic of the position of the courts of East Jersey, the colonists were led to the conclusion that the Negroes among them had other rights.  And, as it has been said already, they received better treatment here than in any other colony in the country.

In West Jersey happily the word “slave” was omitted from the laws.  Only servants and runaway servants were mentioned, and the selling of rum to Negroes and Indians was strictly forbidden.

The fear of insurrection among Indians and Negroes was general throughout all of the colonies.  One a savage, and the other untutored, they knew but two manifestations,—­gratitude and revenge.  It was deemed a wise precaution to keep these unfortunate people as far removed from the exciting influences of rum as possible.  Chapter twenty-three of a law passed in West Jersey in 1676, providing for publicity in judicial proceedings, concludes as follows:—­

     “That all and every person and persons inhabiting the said
     province, shall, as far as in us lies, be free from
     oppression and slavery."[476]

In 1702 the proprietors of East and West Jersey surrendered their rights of government to the queen.  The Province was immediately placed with New York, and the government committed to the hands of Lord Cornbury.[477] In 1704 “An Act for regulating negroe, Indian and mulatto slaves within the province of New Jersey,” was introduced, but was tabled and disallowed.  The Negroes had just cause for the fears they entertained as to legislation directed at the few rights they had enjoyed under the Jersey government.  Their fellow-servants over in New York had suffered under severe laws, and at that time had no privilege in which they could rejoice.  In 1713 the following law was passed:—­