It may be inferred from the above, that the royal governor of the Province felt the pressure of public sentiment on the question of anti-slavery.  While this colony copied its criminal code from Massachusetts, its people seemed to be rather select, and, on the question of human rights, far in advance of the people of Massachusetts.  The twelfth article was:  “If any man stealeth mankind he shall be put to death or otherwise grievously punished.”  The entire code—­the first one—­was rejected in England as “fanatical and absurd."[505] It was the desire of this new and feeble colony to throw every obstacle in the way of any legal recognition of slavery.  The governors of all the colonies received instruction in regard to the question of slavery, but the governor of New Hampshire had received an order from the crown to have the tax on imported slaves removed.  The royal instructions, dated June 30, 1761, were as follows:—­

     “You are not to give your assent to, or pass any law
     imposing duties on negroes imported into New
     Hampshire."[506]

New Hampshire never passed any law establishing slavery, but in 1714 enacted several laws regulating the conduct of servants.  One was An Act to prevent disorder in the night:—­

“Whereas great disorders, insolencies, and burglaries are ofttimes raised and committed in the night time by Indian, negro and mulatto servants and slaves, to the disquiet and hurt of her Majesty’s good subjects, for the prevention whereof Be it, &c.—­that no Indian, negro or mulatto servant or slave may presume to be absent from the families where they respectively belong, or be found abroad in the night time after nine o’clock; unless it be upon errand for their respective masters."[507]

The instructions against the importation of slaves were in harmony with the feelings of the great majority of the people.  They felt that slavery would be a hinderance rather than a help to them, and in the selection of servants chose white ones.  If the custom of holding men in bondage had become a part of the institutions of Massachusetts,—­so like a cancer that it could not be removed without endangering the political and commercial life of the colony,—­the good people of New Hampshire, acting in the light of experience, resolved, upon the threshold of their provincial life, to oppose the introduction of slaves into their midst.  The first result was, that they learned quite early that they could get on without slaves; and, second, the traders in human flesh discovered that there was no demand for slaves in New Hampshire.  Even nature fought against the crime; and Negroes were found to be poorly suited to the climate, and, of course, were an expensive luxury in that colony.