399 



the murderer will be punished, but whether he can 

 even be put upon his trial. 



May 1. (Friday.) 



This morning I signed the manumission of Nicho- 

 las Cameron, the best of my mulatto carpenters. He 

 had been so often on the very point of getting his 

 liberty, and still the cup was dashed from his lips, that 

 I had promised to set him free, whenever he could 

 procure an able negro as his substitute ; although 

 being a good workman, a single negro was by no 

 means an adequate price in exchange. On my ar- 

 rival this year I found that he had agreed to pay 150/. 

 for a female negro, and the woman was approved of 

 by my trustee. But on enquiry it appeared that 

 she had a child, from which she was unwilling to 

 separate, and that her owner refused to sell the 

 child, except at a most unreasonable price. Here 

 then was an insurmountable objection to my accept- 

 ing her, and Nicholas was told to his great mortifi- 

 cation, that he must look out for another substitute. 

 The woman, on her part, was determined to be- 

 long to Cornwall estate and no other : so she told 

 her owner, that if he attempted to sell her else- 

 where she would make away with herself, and on 

 his ordering her to prepare for a removal to a neigh- 

 bouring proprietor's, she disappeared, and con- 

 cealed herself so well, that for some time she was 

 believed to have put her threats of suicide into 

 execution. The idea of losing his 150/. frightened 



