Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1867-02-01

| them with the barbarous slave codes so recent.
in force in the southern portion Of our owl
country, the comparison shall appear mich Il
our disfavor, we must be the more Thankful
that slavery has now no legal existence through
out the vast domain Of the United States.
Fir,t, The slave was not regarded as 4 inert
eAattei, to be held. treated. bought and sold ex.
aetly as brute is, il the owner SO pleased Hi:
personal relation to the owner was more truly
that Of one bound to render service and labor
without reward bu; yet possessed Of many Of the
rights Of manhood. He could, according to the
common phrase, be sold b. his owner under GER
sain limitations. and he could be levied upon
and sold for the benefit Of a creditor (:
but be could not be brought forward and tx
posed to view for that purpose at an auction
as horse or inanimate thing is The
dsgraceiul and shocking exhibition in public
OF men and women to be examined and sold like
o. =, so common lately in own Southern States.
an - often the subject Of indignant comment
BY the philanthropist and christian, was not
allowed here.
Second. II persev,ringly aud h,grantly
abused by bis owner, theoEner could be compel
led to sell the slave for fair price to master
Who would treat him more kin dly No doubt ap-
pleations to the magistrate for redress 10 cases
ofth.t sort would not be encouraged, unless the
abuse was h,gr,nt and clearly ir.q.ssnied the
degree Of severity believed &c be occasionally
necessary to secure order sud industry in the
l,borers. But the po.si5liiy Of such an ap-
peal to the magistrate. snd cf ,u,h 4, result,
mus, have worked teuefcially hr the slave
Third. The slave had the right to aequire
by honest mean, personal property, which his
owner had no right to deprive him o. He
might use mean, 90 acquired to get more,
to ald to his comforts or to purchate his own
or his uife's or his ehildrcn'l freedom, il be
please /; and if TIE owner refused to sell, or de-
mandrd an eIorbitant price, the price could be
determined by an impartial commission, and the
owner could not refuse to asept it.
Fourth. There we're no obstacle. BY law in
the way Of emancipation. 1t is well known that
in our Southern States it was frequent provision
Of State law that slave should not be made
free, unlefs ample security was given that
the freed person should not become chargeable
70 the public FOR support. In some cases tAs
owner could 40; Zee ais sls,e except By first
taking him outside Of the reach of the State
law sad leaving him in smother and free State.
Here it was only necessary for the owner to de-
clare the slave free before witr,,ses aui to have
the declaration properly recorded
Fylh The husband could not be sold re-
motely nom the wife, the wife remotely from
the husband, nor the child remotely from its
mot r.
Si-.h. The slave had, to certain extent,
legal siatus before the Courts Though this
testimony could no, he taken in civil affairs
belevs, ye, in criminal cases it would be, on
the same footing as that of white man What
5 different condition for the slave this was from
that in cur Southern States. where the pre-
Vailing rule was that no black or mulatto per
son's testimony was allowed in ary cave which
a white man
Ssrenih We all knew that in cur Southern
States it was a punishable ofTypse under
the law, FOR any one to teach a slave to
read or to write, and only by stealth. or coca
Iionally by an irdulgeut master, or more often I
n indulgent mistress, Was the lsS disregArdei /
in favor Of some fAvorite slave. In the Danish /
Islands there WAS such prohibition. On the .
,5ntrAry school houses erected in different parts .
and schools maintained st the expense Of the .
govern mout for the express purrose Of giving
the children Of the slaves an elementary educa- I
ton.
But the subject Of the education AMI religious
instruction OF the slaves anterior to eraAnoipa-
iiOn, and Of the labOring Olases siuOe tha,
event, | must leave for fuller notice hereafter. I
Yours. &C., G. v. b.