of them to receive an unconditional manumission as soon as they shall, by their labour, offset the amount paid for them.
The law under which the purchase should be made, ought to declare the slaves to be free, and as possessing all the rights and privileges of the white people of the United States; with the declaration, however, that these slaves are individually indebted to the government, according to the price paid for each. The government would then be the guardian of the blacks, for a particular purpose. The latter would be free; they would have no master, and they might, under proper regulations, sue for any invasion of their rights. The government should, in the supposed act, provide for the appointment of agents in all the slave-holding states; which agents should contract for the purchase of the slaves, and for the letting of their services for a length of time sufficient to cancel the debt thus incurred.
I have no doubt that slave holders would, generally, sell their slaves to the United States, for this purpose, upon liberal terms. Indeed, I know it to be a fact, that some of the planters would deduct, in relation to this subject, from 25 to 50 per cent. from the real value of the slave. Many of the planters too, would also hire the slaves of the government {215} according to the proposed plan. Some of the planters prefer hiring to purchasing negroes. This preference is grounded upon many considerations.
As soon as the slaves, upon the supposed plan, should discharge their obligations to the United States, they would be as independent as any of her citizens, and would let their services upon their own contracts, and according to their own calculations.
Some may object to having so many free blacks in the
