BRAZIL. 



BRECKINRIDGE, EGBERT J. 85 



or neglected their support and education. The 

 masters' right, as stated in article 1, is trans- 

 ferable in case of necessary heritage. The Gov- 

 ernment may deliver those children born of 

 female slaves after the date of the law, when 

 they are ceded or given up by or taken away 

 from their masters, to privileged societies. 

 1. The said societies are entitled to the gra- 

 tuitous services of such minors, until they 

 come to the full age of twenty-one years, and 

 may hire them out, but they are bound to 

 feed and educate them ; to reserve for their 

 benefit a certain portion of their wages ; and 

 after the expiration of their term of service to 

 procure them a suitable employment. The 

 societies are subject to the control of the 

 Court of Orphans, as are also the foundling 

 hospitals and all persons intrusted with the 

 education of said minors. The Supreme Gov- 

 ernment reserves the right of placing the 

 minors in public institutions, in which case 

 the municipal government assume all obliga- 

 tions. In each province of the empire so 

 many slaves are to be set free every year as 

 its quota of the emancipation fund will per- 

 mit. The emancipation fund is created out 

 of the slave-tax ; out of tax had on transfer- 

 ring slaves ; from the proceeds, free of taxes, 

 of six yearly lotteries, and the tenth part of all 

 lotteries henceforth to be authorized; from 

 the fees imposed by this law ; from the quota 

 to be freed in the budgets of the empire, the 

 provinces and municipalities ; and from collec- 

 tions, donations, and legacies, for this purpose. 

 The slave is entitled to his earnings, to his 

 savings, and to donations, legacies, and in- 

 heritance, which may devolve on him. This 

 property is to be protected by the Government, 

 and in case of death devolves on the lawful 

 heirs ; in default of succession, it is adjudicated 

 to the emancipation fund. Slaves who, by 

 their income, or by the liberality of any one, 

 or by a contract for future services, procure 

 the means for purchasing themselves, have a 

 claim to manumission. The ransom is to be 

 fixed by agreement or by estimate. Contracts 

 for future services, for the purpose of 

 manumission, are subject to the sanction of 

 the Court of Orphans, and can only be closed 

 for a term not exceeding seven years. In case 

 a slave who is owned by several masters is set 

 free by one of them, he may obtain his .full 

 freedom by buying out the other masters, ac- 

 cording to their shares. This compensation 

 may consist in services not exceeding a term 

 of seven years. Manumission by a contract 

 for future services cannot be annulled by non- 

 fulfilment of this obligation, but the freed- 

 man shall be compelled to comply with it. In 

 all cases of selling or transferring slaves, the 

 separation of husband from wife, or children 

 under twelve years from their parents, is en- 

 tirely prohibited. If a family of slaves de- 

 volves by inheritance to several heirs, it is to 

 be sold and the proceeds to be divided. The 

 following slaves are rendered free : 1. The 



slaves of the nation, the Government having 

 to provide for their proper employment; 2. 

 Those given to the crown in usufruct; 3. The 

 slaves of the religious orders within seven 

 years, by agreement of the Government as to 

 the latter ; 4. Slaves belonging to vacant in- 

 heritance ; 5. Slaves who save the lives of 

 their masters or the parents or children of 

 their masters; 6. Slaves given up by their 

 masters ; the latter are bound to feed them 

 unless prevented by poverty if they aban- 

 doned them on account of physical unfitness. 

 BRECKINRIDGE, Rev. ROBERT JEFFERSON, 

 D. D., LL. D., a Presbyterian clergyman, pro- 

 fessor, and author, born at Cabell's Dale, Ky., 

 March 8, 1800; died at Danville, Ky., Decem- 

 ber 27, 1871. He was the son of the Hon. 

 John Breckinridge, the author of the cele- 

 brated Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, and 

 Attorney-General of the United States under 

 President Jefferson. Robert was a student 

 both at Princeton and Yale, but graduated at 

 Union College in 1819. He studied law and 

 was admitted to the bar of his native State in 

 1823, where he practised for eight years, hav- 

 ing within that time been elected to the Legis- 

 lature for four successive years. He made a 

 public profession of religion in 1829, and his 

 attention having been turned to the min- 

 istry, he studied theology privately, and was 

 licensed to preach in 1832, and soon after be- 

 came pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church 

 of Baltimore, in which position he remained 

 thirteen years. In 1845 he was elected presi- 

 dent of Jefferson College, Pa., and at the same 

 time took charge of a Presbyterian Church in 

 a neighboring village. After two years in the 

 presidency of the college, he removed to Lex- 

 ington, Ky., where he became pastor of the 

 First Presbyterian Church, and also Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction for the State. 

 In 1853 he was elected Professor of Didactic 

 and Polemic Theology in the new theological 

 seminary at Danville, which office he con- 

 tinued to hold until his death. He published 

 " Travels in France, Germany," etc., in 1839 ; 

 a volume on "Popery," in 1841 ; two volumes 

 on foreign travel, in 1845 ; the "Internal Evi- 

 dence of Christianity," in 1852 ; and an elab- 

 orate work on theology, incomplete, in 1857. 

 While in Baltimore he edited a Literary and 

 Religious Magazine with great ability. He 

 also edited at Danville, Ky., while professor 

 there, the Danville Review, in which he not 

 only defended his theological views, but gave 

 utterance to his patriotic sentiments during 

 the war with such earnestness as to encourage 

 the wavering and greatly provoke the disloyal. 

 Dr. Breckinridge has been one of the most 

 distinguished of the polemic divines of his age. 

 He believed himself to belong to the Church 

 militant, and fought his way through. In the 

 discussions and controversies that preceded 

 the disruption of the Presbyterian Church, he 

 was. the champion of the Old-School party; in 

 every conflict, urging on the wavering, rally 



