of charity marching in the shadow of the cross, In hoc signo vinces." *

Hope already obtains a glimpse of the breaking of the day when servitude shall have completely disappeared from the bosom of Christian nations.

On this day, there will be great rejoicing in heaven and on earth.

* Villemain, Essais sur la génie de Pindare et la poésie lyrique, Part II. Chap. XXV. p. 606.

EXTRACT FROM THE CIVIL CODE OF LOUISIANA, AND THE LAWS WHICH HAVE AMENDED IT FROM 1825 TO 1853.*

ART. 35. A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, or his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything but what must belong to his master.

ART. 36. Manumitted persons are those who, having been once slaves, are legally made free.

ART. 37. Slaves for a time, or statu liberi, are those who have acquired the right of being free at a time to come, or on a condition which is not fulfilled, or in a certain event which has not happened, but who, in the mean time, remain in a state of slavery.

ART. 38. Freemen are those who have preserved their natural liberty, that is to say, who have the right of doing whatever is not forbidden by law.

CHAPTER III. Of Slaves.

ART. 172. The rules prescribing the police and conduct to be observed with respect to slaves in this State, and the punishment of their crimes and offences, are fixed by special laws of the Legislature.

ART. 173. The slave is entirely subject to the will of his master, who may correct and chastise him, though not with unusual rigor, ndr so as to maim or mutilate him, or to expose him to the danger of loss of life, or to cause his death.

*Edited by Thomas Giles Morgan. New Orleans. 1853.

ART. 174. The slave is incapable of making any kind of contract, except those which relate to his own emancipation.

ART. 175. All that a slave possesses belongs to his master; he possesses nothing of his own except his peculium, that is to say, the sum of money, or movable estate, which his master chooses he should possess.

ART. 176. They can transmit nothing by succession, or otherwise ; but the succession of free persons related to them, which they would have inherited, had they been free, may pass through them to such of their descendants as may have acquired their liberty before the succession is opened.

શ

ART. 177. The slave is incapable of exercising any public office, or private trust; he cannot be tutor, curator, executor, nor attorney; he cannot be a witness in either civil or criminal matters, except in cases provided for by particular laws. He cannot be a party in any civil action, either as plaintiff or defendant, except when he has to claim or prove his freedom.

ART. 178. When slaves are prosecuted in the name of the State, for offences they have committed, notice must be given to their

masters.

ART. 179. Masters are bound by the acts of their slaves done by their command, as also by their transactions and dealings with respect to the business in which they have intrusted or employed them; but in case they should not have authorized or intrusted them, they shall be answerable only for so much as they have benefited by the transaction.

ART. 180. The master shall be answerable for all the damages occasioned by an offence or quasi-offence committed by his slave, independent of the punishment inflicted on the slave.

ART. 181. The master, however, may discharge himself from such responsibility by abandoning his slave to the person injured; in which case such person shall sell such slave at public auction in the usual form, to obtain payment of the damages and costs; and the balance, if any, shall be returned to the master of the slave, who shall be completely discharged, although the price of the slave should not be sufficient to pay the whole amount of the damages and costs; provided that the master shall make the abandonment within three days after the judg ment awarding such damages shall have been rendered; provided, also, that it shall not be proved that the crime or offence was committed by his order; for in case of such proof the master shall be answer

able for all damages resulting therefrom, whatever be the amount, without being admitted to the benefit of the abandonment.

ART. 182.

Slaves cannot marry without the consent of their masters, and their marriages do not produce any of the civil effects which result from such contract.

ART. 183. Children born of a mother then in a state of slavery, whether married or not, follow the condition of their mother; they are consequently slaves, and belong to the master of their mother.

ART. 184. A master may manumit his slave in this State, either by an act inter vivos, or by a disposition made in prospect of death, provided such manumission be made with the forms and under the conditions prescribed by law; but an enfranchisement, when made by a last will, must be express and formal and shall not be implied by any other circumstances of the testament, such as a legacy, an institution of heir, testamentary executorship, or other dispositions of this nature, which in such case shall be considered as if they had not been made.

ACT OF MARCH 18, 1852, p. 214.- SEC. 1. Henceforth no slave or slaves can be manumitted in this State, except under the express condition that, when the said slaves shall have been manumitted, they shall be transported out of the United States. It shall be the duty of the police juries of the different parishes in this State, and in the Council of New Orleans, before according any act of emancipation of any slave or slaves, to require that the master or masters, person or persons, desiring such emancipation, shall deposit in the treasury of the parish in which the said act shall be made out, or with the Mayor of the City of New Orleans, the sum of one hundred and fifty piasters for every slave thus manumitted, which sum shall be applied to the payment of the expenses of his voyage to Africa, and his support after his arrival.

SEC. 2. All slaves whose rights to emancipation shall not yet have been perfected by the proper authorities, shall receive the said emancipation only on the conditions stipulated in Section 1. And on his failure of the said conditions, the said slave shall be let by the master or masters, person or persons having the legal charge of the said slave or slaves; and in case there be no such person, then the district judge shall appoint an agent for this purpose, who shall let the said slave or slaves until the sum of one hundred and fifty piasters shall have been found and deposited as heretofore mentioned, when the act of emancipation may be perfected, and the slave sent to Liberia within a year. Provided that, in case any of the slaves, after having been thus emanci