HISTORY. 15 



known, monsters in human shape, who sailed the 

 seas, and made it their chief business to steal the 

 Belpless and unwary from the shores of England; 

 whole villages were laid desolate, and the inhabitants 

 carried off and sold in the colonies. No animal 

 more savage than such men. But the curse of God 

 was upon these pirates and man-steajers. 



The colonists refused to purchase their Christian 

 brethren, or to receive their fellow-creatures into 

 slavery from these kidnappers ; and hence it became 

 necessary, as I suppose, for the traders to assert that 

 the black African was only half human. The reader 

 may smile at this assertion ; but the subject was seri- 

 ously discussed, both at home and in the colonies, and 

 it was decided at one time that they were unworthy 

 of baptism, and ought not to be allowed to enter 

 where the word of God was preached. 



The first General Assembly for the despatch of 

 pubhc business was held at St. George's, according 

 to instructions from England, on the 1st August, 

 1620. The Assembly was composed of the Go- 

 vernor, council, bailiffs, burgesses, and a secretary, 

 numbering thirty-two in all ; and during the session 

 fifteen Acts were passed, and approved by the pro- 

 prietors in England. Butler divided the islands into 

 parcels, which were soon peopled: for, in 1623, 



