MANUMISSION OF SLAVES. 39 



whether some such plan might not be adopt- 

 ed with beneficial results in our West India 

 Islands, where similar experiments, modified 

 so as to suit particular circumstances, might 

 be productive of similar results. 



The law of the 19 th of July of the year 

 XL, which has given liberty to all the chil- 

 dren of female slaves, which has abolished 

 the trade in negroes, and established the 

 boards of manumission, has been put in force 

 through all the territory of the republic. In 

 December of the same year, (the period 

 fixed by the law for the liberation of the 

 slaves who could purchase it with the sums 

 assigned by the law,) some received their 

 liberty, blessing the legislators of Colombia, 

 who have conferred on them so great a be- 

 nefit. The number of those who were libe- 

 rated in last December has been greater, and 

 the government has well-founded hopes that 

 the funds will annually increase. 



