“Ordered, that his Excellency the Governor be requested to write to His Excellency Benjamin Guerard, Governor of South Carolina, inclosing for the information of Governor Guerard, the letter of the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court of this Commonwealth, with the copy in the said letter referred to, upon the subject of Governor Guerard’s letter, dated the sixth October, 1783.”

The papers referred to seem to have been lost, but extracts are here produced:—­

     “GOVERNOR GUERARD TO GOVERNOR HANCOCK, 6th October, 1783.

EXTRACT.  “That such adoption is favoring rather of the Tyranny of Great Britain which occasioned her the loss of these States—­that no act of British Tyranny could exceed the encouraging the negroes from the State owning them to desert their owners to be emancipated—­that it seems arbitrary and domination—­assuming for the Judicial Department of any one State, to prevent a restoration voted by the Legislature and ordained by Congress.  That the liberation of our negroes disclosed a specimen of Puritanism I should not have expected from gentlemen of my Profession.”

MEMORANDUM.  “He had demanded fugitives, carried off by the British, captured by the North, and not given up by the interference of the Judiciary.’  Governor Hancock referred the subject to the Judges.”

     “JUDGES CUSHING AND SARGENT TO GOVERNOR HANCOCK, Boston,

     Dec. 20, 1783.

EXTRACT.  “How this determination is an attack upon the spirit, freedom, dignity, independence, and sovereignty of South Carolina, we are unable to conceive.  That this has any connection with, or relation to Puritanism, we believe is above y’r Excellency’s comprehension as it is above ours.  We should be sincerely sorry to do any thing inconsistent with the Union of the States, which is and must continue to be the basis of our Liberties and Independence; on the contrary we wish it may be strengthened, confirmed, and endure for ever."[603]

By the Treaty of Peace in 1783, Negroes were put in the same category with horses and other articles of property.[604]

“Negroes [says Mr. Hamilton], by the laws of the States, in which slavery is allowed, are personal property.  They, therefore, on the principle of those laws, like horses, cattle and other movables, were liable to become booty—­and belonged to the enemy, [captor] as soon as they came into his hands.  Belonging to him, he was free either to apply them to his own use, or set them at liberty.  If he did the latter, the grant was irrevocable, restitution was impossible.  Nothing in the laws of nations or in those of Great Britain, will authorize the resumption of liberty, once granted to a human being."[605]

On the 6th of May, 1783, Gen. Washington wrote Sir Guy Carleton:—­