it is traced to some well-known and undoubted source-numerous deeds, wills, and other muniments of title, must be carefully read over-proceedings in court examined, and after much labor and delay, if all appears to be thus far right, certificates are required from six or eight different officers, and their offices thoroughly searched to ascertain if there be any debt upon it. And after all this is done, then, expensive and long instruments must be written, signed, sealed, acknowledged, and recorded-causing great expense, as well as much vexatious delay. The expenses of writings, searches, &c., in regard to small houses, if added together for a great number of years, will sometimes amount to as much as the house and lot are worth! Most of this expense is a dead loss, and might as well have been thrown into the Delaware river, or expended by the owner of the house in the payment of debts, or the purchase of pleasure ;-the laws for the recovery of debts tend to make the poor poorer! and to impede business, whereas, if there was no law for the recovery of debts, it would release real estate from this onerous and unnecessary burden. We are not sure but what it would be a great improvement to make deeds transferable by endorsement or delivery only! If a thousand dollar note of hand is transferable by the payer writing his name upon the back, or bank note of like amount, by delivery only, why might not the ownership of a thousand dollar house be transferred in like manner? A deed for a house need not be larger than a bank note, or a certificate of stock, and if we must have any other currency than gold and silver, there is no kind of paper or parchment currency, that would be so secure as deeds transferable by delivery only, because the holder could always see and know for himself whether it was well secured. Lawyers and Conveyancers may cry out against this innovation, as did Demetrius of old, supposing their "craft is in danger"-but let us see for ourselves. Real estate being no longer liable for debt, all difficulty on that head vanishes at the commencement; there would then remain nothing but the question of title-a brief of title might accompany every separate property, showing the title to be complete at the execution of the last deed, that is to say, up to the execution of the deed which is intended thereafter to pass the title by delivery only. Professional men would soon become familiar with those titles, and would know at a glance that the title was undoubted. Millions of dollars, annually, would thus be saved, which, now, are little better than thrown away! REFLECTOR.

THE AMERICAN SLAVE CODE.

THE following are selections from the statutes of some of the slave states of the Union. They give, however, but a faint view of the cruel oppression to which the slaves are subject, but a strong one enough, it is thought, to fill every honest heart with a deep abhorrence of the atrocious system. Most of the important provisions here cited, though placed under the name of only one state, prevail in nearly all the states, with slight variations in language, and some diversity in the penalties. The extracts have been made in part from Stroud's Sketch

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of the Slave Laws, but chiefly from authorized editions of the statute books referred to, found in the Philadelphia Law Library. As the compiler has not had access to many of the later enactments of the several states, nearly all he has cited are acts of an earlier date than that of the present anti-slavery movement, so that their severity cannot be ascribed to its influence.

The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient beings, but among things-is an article of property-a chattel personal, obtains as undoubted law in all the slave states.— Stroud's Sketch, p. 22.

The dominion of the master is as unlimited as is that which is tolerated by the laws of any civilized country, in relation to brute animals— to quadrupeds; to use the word of the civil law. Ib. 24.

Slaves cannot even contract matrimony. Ib. 61.

LOUISIANA. A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing but what must belong to his master. Civil Code, Art. 35. Slaves are incapable of inheriting or transmitting property. Code, Art. 945; also Art. 175, and Code of Practice, Art. 103.

Civil

Martin's Digest, act of June 7, 1806. Slaves shall always be reputed and considered real estate; shall be as such subject to be mortgaged, according to the rules prescribed by law, and they shall be seized and sold as real estate. Vol. I. p. 612.

Dig. Stat. sec. 13. No owner of slaves shall hire his slaves to themselves, under a penalty of $25, for each offence. Vol. I. p. 102.

Sec. 15. No slave can possess any thing in his own right or dispose of the produce of his own industry, without the consent of his master. P. 103.

Sec. 16. No slave can be party in a civil suit, or witness in a civil or criminal matter, against any white person, p. 103. See also Civil Code, Art. 117, p. 28.

Sec. 18. A slave's subordination to his master is susceptible of no restriction, (except in what incites to crime,) and he owes to him and all his family, respect without bounds, and absolute obedience. P. 103.

Sec. 25. Every slave found on horseback, without a written permission from his master, shall receive twenty-five lashes. P. 105.

Sec. 32. Any freeholder may seize and correct any slave found absent from his usual place of work or residence, without some white person, and if the slave resist or try to escape, he may use arms, and if the slave assault and strike him, he may kill the slave. P. 108.

Sec. 35. It is lawful to fire upon runaway negroes who are armed, and upon those who, when pursued, refuse to surrender. P. 109.

Sec. 38. No slave may buy, sell, or exchange any kind of goods, or hold any boat, or bring up for his own use any horses or cattle, under a penalty of forfeiting the whole. P. 110.

Sec. 7. Slaves or free colored persons are punished with death for wilfully burning or destroying any stack of produce or any building. P. 115.

Sec. 15. The punishment of a slave for striking a white person

shall be, for the first and second offences, at the discretion of the court, but not extending to life or limb, and for the third offence death; but for grievously wounding or mutilating a white person, death for the first offence: Provided, if the blow or wound is given in defence of the person or property of his master, or the person having charge of him, he is entirely justified.

Act of February 22, 1824, sec. 2.-A slave for wilfully striking his master or mistress, or the child of either, or his white overseer, so as to cause a bruise or shedding of blood, shall be punished with death. P. 125.

Act of March 6, 1819. Any person cutting or breaking any iron chain or collar used to prevent the escape of slaves, shall be fined not less than $200 nor more than $1000, and be imprisoned not more than two years nor less than six months. P. 64 of the session.

MISSISSIPPI.-Chap. 92, sec. 110. Penalty for any slave or free colored person exercising the functions of a minister of the Gospel, thirtynine lashes; but any master may permit his slave to preach on his own premises, no slaves but his own being permitted to assemble. Digest of Stat. p. 770.

Act of June 18, 1822, sec. 21. No negro or mulatto can be a witness in any case, except against negroes or mulattoes. P. 749; New Code, 372.

Sec. 25. Any master licensing his slave to go at large and trade as a freeman, shall forfeit $50 to the state for the literary fund.

Penalty for teaching a slave to read, imprisonment one year. For using language having a tendency to promote discontent among free colored people, or insubordination among slaves, imprisonment at hard labor, not less than three, nor more than twenty-one years, or DEATH at the discretion of the court. L. M. Child's Appeal, p. 70.

Sec. 26. It is lawful for any person, and the duty of every sheriff, deputy-sheriff, coroner and constable to apprehend any slave going at large, or hired out by him or herself, and take him or her before a justice of the peace, who shall impose a penalty of not less than $20, nor more than $50 on the owner, who has permitted such slave to do so.

Sec. 32. Any negro or mulatto, for using abusive language, or lifting his hand in opposition to any white person, (except in self-defence against a wanton assault,) shall, on proof of the offence by oath of such person, receive such punishment as a justice of the peace may order, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes.

Sec. 41. Forbids the holding of cattle, sheep or hogs by slaves, even with consent of the master, under penalty of forfeiture, half to the county, and half to the informer.

Sec. 42. Forbids a slave keeping a dog, under penalty of twentyfive stripes: and requires any master who permits it to pay a fine of $5, and make good all damages done by such dog.

Sec. 43. Forbids slaves cultivating cotton for their own use, and imposing a fine of $50 on the master or overseer who permits it.

Revised Code. Every negro or mulatto found in the state, not able to show himself entitled to freedom, may be sold as a slave, p. 389. The owner of any plantation, on which a slave comes without written leave

from his master, and not on lawful business, may inflict ten lashes for every such offence. P. 371.

ALABAMA.-Aiken's Digest, tit. Slaves, &c., sec. 31. For attempting to teach any free colored person, or slave, to spell, read, or write; a fine of not less than $250 nor more than $500! P. 397.

Sec. 35 and 36. Any free colored person found with slaves in a kitchen, out-house, or negro quarter without a written permission from the master or overseer of said slaves, and any slave found without such permission, with a free negro on his premises, shall receive fifteen lashes for the first offence, and thirty-nine for each subsequent offence; to be inflicted by master, overseer or member of any patrol company. P. 397. Toulmin's Digest. No slave can be emancipated but by a special act of the Legislature. P. 623.

Act of January 1, 1823, authorizes an agent to be appointed by the governor of the state, to sell for the benefit of the state, all persons of color brought into the United States, and within the jurisdiction of Alabama, contrary to the laws of Congress prohibiting the slave trade.

P. 643.

GEORGIA.-Prince's Digest. Act December 19, 1818. Penalty for any free person of color (except regularly articled seamen) coming into the state, a fine of $100, and on failure of payment to be sold as a slave. P. 465.

Penalty for permitting a slave to labor or do business for himself, except on his master's premises, $30 per week. P. 457.

No slave can be a party to any suit against a white man, except on claim of his freedom, and every colored person is presumed to be a slave, unless he can prove himself free. P. 446.

Act of December 13, 1792, forbids the assembling of negroes under pretence of divine worship, contrary to the act regulating patrols. P. 342. This act provides that any justice of the peace may disperse any assembly of slaves which may endanger the peace; and every slave found at such meeting shall receive, without trial, twenty-five stripes! P. 447. Any person who sees more than seven men slaves without any white person, in a high road, may whip each slave twenty lashes. P. 454. Any slave who harbors a runaway, may suffer punishment to any extent, not affecting life or limb. P. 452.

SOUTH CAROLINA.-Brevard's Digest. Slaves shall be deemed sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be chattels personal in the handṣ of their owners, and possessors, and their executors, administrators and assigns, to all intents, constructions and purposes whatever. Vol. ii., p. 229.

Act of 1740, in the preamble, states that "many owners of slaves, and others that have the management of them, do confine them so closely to hard labor that they have not sufficient time for natural rest," and enacts that no slave shall be compelled to labor more than fifteen hours in the twenty-four, from March 26th to September 25th, or fourteen in the twenty-four the rest of the year. Penalty, from £5 to £20. Vol. ii., p. 243.

[Yet in several of the slave states, the time of work for criminals whose punishment is hard labor, is eight hours a day for three months, nine hours for two months, and ten for the rest of the year.]

A slave endeavoring to entice another slave to run away, if provision be prepared for the purpose of aiding or abetting such endeavor, shall suffer death. P. 233 and 244.

Penalty for cruelly scalding or burning a slave, cutting out his tongue, putting out his eye, or depriving him of any limb, a fine of £100. For beating with a horse-whip, cow-skin, switch, or small stick, or putting irons on, or imprisoning a slave, no penalty or prohibition. P. 241.

Any person who, not having lawful authority to do so, shall beat a slave, so as to disable him from working, shall pay fifteen shillings a day to the owner, for the slave's lost time and the charge of his cure. P. 231 and 232.

A slave claiming his freedom may sue for it by some friend who will act as guardian; but if the action be judged groundless, said guardian shall pay double costs of suit, and such damages to the owner as the court may decide. decide. P. 260.

Any assembly of slaves or free colored persons in a secret or confined place, for mental instruction, (even if white persons are present,) is an unlawful meeting, and magistrates must disperse it, breaking doors, if necessary, and may inflict twenty lashes upon each slave or colored person present. P. 254 and 255.

Meetings for religious worship, before sunrise, or after 9 o'clock, P. M., unless a majority are white persons, are forbidden; and magistrates are required to disperse them. P. 261.

A slave who lets loose any boat from the place where the owner has fastened it, for the first offence shall receive thirty-nine lashes, and for the second shall have one ear cut off. P. 228.

James's Digest. Penalty for killing a slave, on sudden heat or passion, or by undue correction, fine of $500, and imprisonment not over six months. P. 392.

NORTH CAROLINA.-Haywood's Manual. Act of 1798, sect. 3, enacts, that the killing of a slave shall be punished like that of a free man; except in the case of a slave outlawed, or slave offering to resist his master, or a slave dying under moderate correction. P. 530.

Act of 1799. Any slave set free, except for meritorious service, to be adjudged of by the county court, may be seized by any freeholder, committed to jail, and sold to the highest bidder. P. 525.

Patrols are not liable to the master for punishing his slave, unless their conduct clearly shows malice against the master. Hawk's Reps., vol. i. p. 418.

TENNESSEE. Stat. Law, chap. 57, sect. 1. Penalty on a master for hiring to any slave his own time, a fine of not less than $1, nor more than $2 a day, half to the informer. P. 679.

Chap. 2, sect. 102. No slave can be emancipated but on condition of immediately removing from the state; and the person emancipating shall give bond, in a sum equal to the slave's value, to have him removed. P. 279.

Laws of 1813, chap. 35. In the trial of slaves, the sheriff chooses the court, which must consist of three justices and twelve slaveholders, to serve as jurors.

ARKANSAS.-Rev. Stat., sect. 4. Requires the patrol to visit all