Huts and

Land to be

appropriated.

Property of Negroes secured.

for himself and his wife; provided, that in both cases the Minister of the district, and the Inspector of Negroes, shall certify, that they know nothing against his peaceable, orderly, and industrious behaviour.

31. And be it enacted, that the Master of every plantation shall provide the materials of a good and substantial hut for each married field Negro; and if his plantation shall exceed

acres, he shall allot to the same a portion of land not less than : and the said hut and land shall remain and stand annexed to the said Negro, for his natural life, or during his bondage; but the same shall not be alienated without the consent of the owners.

32. And be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful for the owner of any Negro, by himself or any other, to take from him any land, house, cattle, goods or money, acquired by the said Negro, whether by purchase, donation or testament, whether the same has been derived from the owner of the said Negro, or any other.

33. And be it enacted, that if the said Negro shall die possessed of any lands, goods, or chattels, and dies without leaving a wife or issue, it shall be lawful for the said Negro to devise or bequeath the same by his last will: but in case the said Negro shall die intestate, and leave a wife and children, the same shall be distributed amongst them,

them, according to the usage under the Statute, commonly called the Statute of Distributions. But if the Negro shall die intestate without ife or children, then, and in that case his estate shall go to the fund provided for the better execution of this Act.

34. And be it enacted, that no Negro, who is married, and hath resided upon any plantation for twelve months, shall be sold either privately, or by the decree of any Court, but along with the plantation, on which he hath resided, unless he should himself request to be separated therefrom.

35. And be it enacted, that no blows or stripes, exceeding thirteen, shall be inflicted for one offence upon any Negro, without the order of one of His Majesty's Justices of Peace.

Of the pu

nishment of

Negroes.

same.

36. And it is enacted, that it shall be lawful of the for the Protector of Negroes, as often as on complaint and hearing he shall be of opinion, that any Negro hath been cruelly and inhumanly treated, or when it shall be made to appear to him, that an Overseer hath any particular malice, to order, at the desire of the suffering party, the said Negro to be sold to another master.

37. And be it enacted, that, in all cases of injury to member or life, the offences against a Negro shall be deemed and taken to all intents and purposes as if the same were perpetrated against any of His Majesty's Subjects; and the Protector

of

Of the manumission

of Negroes, on complaint, or if he shall receive credible information thereof, shall cause an indietment to be presented for the same; and in case of suspicion of any murder of a Negro, an inquest by the Coroner, or Officer acting as such, shall, if practicable, be held into the same.

38. And in order to a gradual manumission of of Negroes. Slaves, as they shall seem fitted to fill the offices of freemen, Be it enacted, that every Negro Slave, being thirty years of age and upwards, and who has had three children born to him in lawful matrimony, and who hath received a certificate from the Minister of his district, or any other Christian teacher, of his regularity in the duties of religion, and of his orderly and good behaviour, may purchase, at rates to be fixed by two Justices of Peace, the freedom of himself, or his wife or children, or of any of them separately, valuing the wife and children, if purchased into liberty by the father of the family, at half only of their marketable values; provided, that the said father shall bind himself in a penalty of for the good behaviour of

Of the

same.

his children.

39. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the Protector of Negroes to purchase the freedom of any Negro, who shall appear to him to excel in any mechanical art, or other knowledge or practice deemed liberal, and the value shall be settled by a Jury.

40. And

groes, how

nished.

40. And be it enacted, that the Protector of Free NeNegroes shall be and is authorized and required to to be puact as a Magistrate for the coercion of all idle, disobedient, or disorderly free Negroes, and he shall by office prosecute them for the offences of ialeness, drunkenness, quarrelling, gaming, or vagrancy, in the Supreme Court, or cause them to be prosecuted before one Justice of Peace, as the case may require.

same.

41. And be it enacted, that if any free Negro of the hath been twice convicted for any of the said misdemeanors, and is judged by the said Protector of Negroes, calling to his assistance two Justices of the Peace, to be incorrigibly idle, dissolute and vicious, it shall be lawful, by the order of the said Protector and two Justices of Peace, to sell the said free Negro into slavery: the purchase-money to be paid to the person so remanded into servitude, or kept in hand by the Protector and Governour for the benefit of his family.

to receive

mit annual

42. And be it enacted, that the Governour in Governour each Colony shall be assistant to the execution of and transthis Act, and shall receive the reports of the Pro- Reports, tector, and such other accounts, as he shall judge material, relative thereto, and shall transmit the same annually to one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State.

то

THE CHAIRMAN

OF

THE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE MEETING*,

Held on the 13th April, 1780, at Aylesbury.

Sir,

HAVING heard yesterday by mere accident,

that there is an intention of laying before the County Meeting new matter, which is not contained in our Petition, and the consideration of which had been deferred to a fitter time by a majority of our Committee in London; permit me to take this method of submitting to you my reasons for thinking, with our Committee, that nothing ought to be hastily determined upon the subject.

Our Petition arose naturally from distresses, which we felt; and the requests, which we made, were in effect nothing more, than that such things should be done in Parliament, as it was evidently the duty

* The Meeting of the Freeholders of the County of Buckingham, which occasioned the following Letter, was called for the purpose of taking into consideration a Petition to Parliament, for shortening the duration of Parliaments, and for a more equal Representation of the People in the House of Commons.

of