450 HISTORY 



manumission. Slaves could testify against manumitted persons in all cases 

 of offenses below felony. Manumitted slaves, who had been registered as com- 

 petent to take oaths while slaves, were allowed to testify as to facts committed 

 subsequent to such registration, but not on facts bearing " on the freedom of 

 a slave, or the life, liberty or property of a white person,'^ committed between 

 the time of registration and manumission. Even then the courts were author- 

 ized to throw out all evidence of a slave whose character was bad, even when 

 such evidence was not impugned, nor contradicted, by other and more trust- 

 worthy evidence."* 



Wilful perjury of a slave on oath was punishable with fifty lashes on the 

 bare back. A later statute imposed a hundred such stripes, branding with the 

 letter "P" (for perjurer), and disqualification to testify again under oath, or 

 to make a deposition.'* 



A slave in attendance at court was left in the custody of his master, when 

 not actually on the stand. In cases of treason and felony he was placed in 

 custody, unless the master entered into a recognizance to guarantee his attend- 

 ance when needed."" 



Religious Instruction. — The Bahama people seemed to have laid emphasis 

 constantly on the importance of religious instruction for their slaves. Slaves 

 who had had this advantage were recognized as entitled to privileges that were 

 still denied to other slaves."^ The consolidated slave law of 1829 contained the 

 following provision: "All masters or owners of slaves .... shall . . . . 

 endeavor to instruct their slaves in the Christian religion, and shall endeavor 

 to fit them for baptism, and, as soon as conveniently may be, shall cause to be 

 baptized all such slaves as they shall make sensible of the Deity and of the 

 Christian faith." "" 



Conditions and Terms of Manumission. — To become free was the coveted 

 goal of the slave. In order to reach this state he had to comply with rules, and 

 to go through severe processes provided by the law ; but after all, the becoming 

 free, or gaining recognition as a freeman, depended much on the master. It 

 was equally burdensome upon the master who saw fit to manumit a slave. In 

 1784 a tax of £90 was imposed on a manumission. The registers of the Colony 

 were not burdened with records of manumissions. Such tax was not removed 



^no Geo. IV, 13. 



"no Geo. IV, 13. 



1"° 10 Geo. IV, 13. 



^"^ See e. g. 24 Geo. Ill, 1. 



"'Loc. cit. 



