.. renders them wholly unqualified to be governed by the
laws, customs and practices of our nation," and the "absolutely necessary
consequence that such other constitutions, laws and orders should be in
this island framed and enacted for the good regulating and ordering of them
as may ... restrain the disorders, rapines and inhumanities to which they
are naturally prone and inclined, with such encouragements and allowances
as are fit and needful for their support, that ... this island through the
blessing of God thereon may be preserved, His Majesty's subjects in their
lives and fortunes secured, and the negroes and other slaves be well
provided for and guarded against the cruelties and insolences of themselves
or other ill-tempered people or owners."
The statute itself met the purposes of the preamble unevenly. The slaves
were assured merely in annual suits of clothing, and the masters were given
claim for pecuniary compensation for slaves inveigled away or illegally
killed by other freemen; but the main concern of the statute was with
routine control and the punishment of slave malfeasances. No slaves were to
leave their masters' premises at any time unless in company with whites or
when wearing servants' livery or carrying written passes, and offenders
in this might be whipped and taken into custody by any white persons
encountering them.
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