Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1838-01-17
VERMONT TELEGRAPH.

and even now in New-Jersey servants are
bought" as really as in Virginia. And
the different senses in which the same
word is used in the two states, puts no man
in quandary. whose common sense
amounts to a modicum. $40 e7f@.s .f
So under the system of legal iadenture
in Illinois, servants now are "bought."*
A short time since, hundreds of foreigners
who came to this country were" bought
annually. BY voluntary contract they en-
gagged to work for their purchasers CIV
en- time to pay for their passage. This
class of persons called redemp!ioners,"
consisted at one time of thousands Null
titudes are bought out of slavery by them
selves or others, and remove into free
states. Under the same roof with the wri-
ter is ''SerVant bought with money!, A
few weeks since, she was a slave. As
soon as bought she was a slave no long
er. Alas! for our leading politicians if
"buying" men makes them "chattels."
The Wings say that Benton and Rives
were thought" by the administration
with the surplus revenue; and the other
party, that Clay and Webster were
"bought' by the Bank. The histories of
the revolution tell US that Benedict Ar
mold was d" bought by British gold Did
that make him an article of property ?
When northern clergyman marries a
rich southern widow, country gossip hits
off the indecency with this current phrase,
"The cotton bags bought him" When
Robert Walpole said, Every man has
his price. and whoever will pay it can buy
hiro,' and when John Randolph said,
| while the Missouri question was pending,
THE northern delegation is in The mar
ket give me money enough, and can
buy Them" they both meant just aokat
they said. When the temperance publ
cations tell US that candidates for office
buy men with whiskey; and the oracles
of street tattle, that the cour., district attor-
ney, and jury, in the late trial of Robin
son were bought, we have no floating Wis
ions of" chattels personal" man auctions,
or coffles.
The transaction between Joseph and the
Egyptians gives clue 10 the meaning at
tached to buy and bought with mon
ey." See Gen. Xvii. 1876 The
Egyptians proposed to Joseph to become
servants, and that he should bug them.
When the bargain was closed, Joseph
said, "Behold have bought you this day,'
and yet it is plain that neither of the par
ties dreamed that the persons bought were
in any sense articles ofproperty, but mere
~ that they became thereby obligated 10
labor for the government on certain condi-
lions, as a compensation for the entire
support Of themselves and families during
the famine. And that the idea attached
to buy u.s." and "behod have bought
you," was merely the procuring of servi-
ces voluntarily offered, and secured by
contract, as a return for rGLne receiced,
and not at all that the Egyptians were be-
reft oftheir personal ownership, and made
articles of property. And this buying of
services (they were to give one-ffth part
of their crops to Pharaoh) is called in
Scripture usage, buying the persons This
case deserves special notice, as it is the
only one where the whole transaction of
buying servants is detailed-the prelimi-
naries, the process, the mutual acquiesc-
ence and the permanent relation resulting
therefrom. In all other instances, the
mere fact is stated without entering into
particulars In this case, the whole pro-
cess is laid open.
I. The persons "bought," sold them-
selres and of their own accord.
! 2. Obtaining permanently the services
ofpersons, or even a portion of them, is
called "buying" those persons. The OBJ
jector, at the outset, assumes that servants
were bought Of third persons; and thence
infers that they were articles of property
This is sheer assumption. Not single
instance is recorded, of servant being
sold by any one but himself; not a case,
either under the patriarchaI or the Mosa-
ic systems, in which master sold his SER
| cant. That the servants who were "bo't"
sold themselves, is fair inference from
various passages of Scripture.
In Leviticus XIV. At, the case of the Is
raelile, WHO became the servant of the
stranger, the words are, eff he SELL
HIMSELF unto the stranger" The same
aeord andlhe same form ofthe word, which,
| in the 47th verse, is rendered sell himself,
( is iE the 39th verse of the same chapter,
! rendered be sold; in Deut. xviii. GO, the
same word is rendered be sold" Here
it is the Hhhpael conjugation, which is re-
flexive in its force, and, like the middle
voice in Greek, represents what an indi-
Vidual does for himself, or in his own COP
Germs and should manifestly have been
rendered, We shall offer yourselves for sale.
For aclue to Scripture usage on this point,
see ! Kings xxi. 20, 25-e Thoa hast
SOLD thyseifto work evil" There was
none like to Ahab that sold himself to
work wickedness."-2 Kings xvii. II.
they used divination and entertainments,
and soLd Men seLres To do evil n-Isa