.494 JAMA I C A. 



the abje£l flavery which the common people of England formerly 

 laboured under. In the 34th of Edward 111, for example, a la- 

 bourer, or flave, fleeing from his mafter's ferviee into any town 

 or city, the chief officer of the place was required to deliver him 

 up to his mafter ; fo, if he eloped into another country, he was 

 to be burned in the forehead with the letter F, Whoever fcrved 

 in hulbandry till the age of twelve, was to continue in that flation 

 . ever after ; and not be bound or put out to any trade, or artifice. 

 By another ad, 12 Richard II, «««(? 1388, no artificer, labourer, 

 ■ or fervant, was allowed to pafs from one hundred to another, with- 

 out a permit under the king's leal, unlefs fent on bufinefs by his 

 lord, or mafter, on pain of being fet in the" flocks, and compelled 

 to return. But the mod remarkable badge of fervility was im- 

 .pofed, in the 1 ft. of Edward VI, by the ftatute againil vagabonds; 

 which adjudges them abfolutely and exprefsly (laves ; inflifts fe-- 

 veral violent punifliments, by beating, chaining, &c. to force 

 them to work for their owner; punifhcs run-aways, for the firft 

 offence, by branding on the cheek with a red-hot iron; and, for 

 the fecond ofi^ence, by death. This law likewife empowers the 

 mafter to put an iron ring about his flave's neck, arm, or leg, for 

 fafer cuftody ; and lays a penalty of 10/. on any perfon taking it 

 off without the mafter's confent. A man, detaining or harbouring 

 another's run-away (lave, knowing him to be fuch, is made liable 

 to an aflion of trefpafs, and 10/. damages. The ferviee of fuch 

 flaves might be hired out. Ibid, or bequeathed, as any other 

 rfnoveable goods and chattels. And any fuch flave, confpiring to 

 ,inurder, kill, or maim, his mafter or miftrefs, or to burn their 

 houfes, barns, or corn, lying in wait with a weapon, or com- 

 mitting any overt zOi leading to luch effedl', was to fufFer death as 

 a felon. If the father, mother, nurfe, or bearer about, of a child 



" And wheieas, amongft other laws pafTed in Jamaica the 5th of April, 1683, an aft for regii- 

 ♦' lating flaves was tranfmitted unto his late majefty, \t"ho did not think fit to confirm the fame, by 

 " reafon of a claufe therein contained, whereby fuch, as wantonly and wilfully kill a Negroe, 

 ■*' are only liable to a fine and three months imprifonments ; which penalties, not being equal to 

 •" the guilt, might encourage the wilful fhedding of blood; for which it is neceffary forae better 

 " provifion be made, to deter all perfons from fuch afts of cruelty; you are therefore to fignify 

 '" the fame unto the next aflembly, and further propofe to them the enacling a lliifter claufe in 

 <' that behalf, which may be fit for. our royal xonfirmation." The law is certainly not yet feveie. 

 ieuou^h in this vefpeft. 



adjudged 



