the penalty of twenty dollars for every day he shall be so employed, hired or harbored! It is not lawful for any free blacks to attend any meetings for religious purposes, unless conducted by a white licensed or ordained preacher, or some respectable white person duly authorised! All free colored persons residing in the State, are compelled to register their names, ages, &c. &c.; and if any negro or mulatto shall remove from the State, and remain without the limits thereof for a space longer. than thirty consecutive days, unless before leaving the State he deposits with the clerk of the county in which he resides, a written statement of his object in doing so, and his intention of returning again, or unless he shall have been detained by sickness or coercion, of which he shall bring a certificate, he shall be regarded as a resident of another State, and be subject, if he return, to the penalties imposed by the foregoing provisions upon free negroes and mulattoes of another State, migrating to Maryland! It is not lawful for any person or persons to purchase of any free negro or mulatto any articles, unless he produce a certificate from a justice of the peace, or three respectable persons residing in his neighborhood, that he or they have reason to believe, and do believe, that such free negro or mulatto came honestly and bona fide into possession of any such articles so offered for sale!

All the above named Legislatures, with one exception, have passed resolutions highly encomiastic of the American Colonization Society!! The Senate of Louisiana has adopted similar resolutions!

(B.)

SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT-DEC. 4, 1832.

Before SHAW, Chief Justice.

CASE OF FRANCISCO. A habeas corpus was brought against Mrs. Howard, a lady who had resided in the Island of Cuba, in order to have the body of Francisco, a colored boy 12 or 14 years of age, (whom it was alleged that the defendant intended to carry to the Island of Cuba, and there keep or sell as a slave,) brought before the Court.

The defendant, in her return to the habeas corpus, stated in writing, that the boy Francisco was her servant, that he was free, and that she did not claim him as a slave, and submitted herself to such order in the premises as the Court might see fit to make.

To contradict this return, several witnesses were produced, who proved that Mrs. Howard purchased Francisco as a slave, that she had held him as a slave at Havana, and had brought him with her from thence to this country, that she intended to carry him back to Havana, and that she had spoken of him since

she had been here, as her slave, her property, &c., and had exhibited great anxiety lest he should be taken away from her while in this country. The evidence was strong to show that Mrs. Howard intended, or had intended until this habeas corpus was brought, to claim him as her slave in Havana, on her return there.

On behalf of Mrs. Howard, evidence was produced to prove that the boy was very much attached to her, and she to him; that she had treated him with great kindness, and had no design to sell him; and that before leaving the Havana, she was admonished that he would become free on being brought into this country, and that the boy preferred going with her to remaining here.

Curtis, on behalf of Mrs. Howard, contended, that the court ought not to deprive her of the care of a boy, whom she had treated kindly, and who was attached to her, and desirous of going with her; that the boy was free, and would still continue to be free, on going to Havana; that his actual condition would probably be better, if he went with her, than if he was kept in this country; and her counsel further stated that she was perfectly willing to have the question, whether or not the boy should go with her, left to his own decision. In support of this course, he cited a case decided by Chancellor Kent, and another by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, in the matter of a writ of habeas corpus, directed to the society of Shakers, to relieve a young person detained by them. The counsel also denied the authority of the court to interfere in a case where the respondent exercised no restraint over the person of the minor, and the minor himself made no complaints of restraint or detainment, but remained with the respondent of his own free will.

Sewall, on the other side, urged that Francisco, on being brought into Massachusetts, became free; that it was evidently Mrs. Howard's intention to make him a slave again, when she arrived at Havana; that ho was entitled to the same protection of the court as any other free person in Massachusetts; and that the court ought to interfere to preserve him from slavery. His affection for Mrs. Howard, and his desire of going with her, were no sufficient reasons for sending him to a place where he would inevitably be deprived of his freedom. And the counsel requested, that as Francisco was too young to determine what was for his interest, the court would appoint a guardian to act for him in the case.

SHAW, C. J., after examining Francisco privately, and ascertaining that it was his desire to go with Mrs. Howard, delivered an opinion, of which the following is a very imperfect sketch.

The question before the court is one of great importance. The writ of habeas corpus is intended for the protection of per

sonal liberty. If Mrs. Howard, in her return to the writ, had claimed the boy as a slave, I should have ordered him to be discharged from her custody. But it appears from her return to the writ, that she does not claim him as a slave. The boy, by the law of Massachusetts, is in fact free; and Mrs. Howard having, by her return to the writ, disclaimed to hold him as a slave, has made a record of his freedom, and cannot make him a slave again in the Island of Cuba.

The evidence shows that up to a very recent period, she intended to claim him as a slave on carrying him back to Havana. But after the disclaimer which she has made in her return, ought the Court to interfere to prevent the boy from going to Cuba with her, merely because he will be in more danger of being made a slave there, than if he was retained in this State? I think not. I know of no precedent of a guardian ad litem being appointed in a case of this kind. The Court must act as the boy's guardian. He appears to be attached to Mrs. Howard, and to be desirous of going with her, and I think it is for his interest to be allowed to do so, if he pleases. He can therefore go with her or not as he chooses. And all persons will be prohibited from interfering or attempting by force to prevent him from going with her, if such continues his wish.-Boston Atlas.

REPORT ON THE FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADE.

The Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the Foreign and Domestic Slave Trade, most respectfully submit the following report:

Notwithstanding the prohibition of the African slave trade by the laws and treaties of all nations, it appears, by the reports of British cruisers who have within the last year captured a number of vessels freighted with African slaves, that the trade is still prosecuted with unabated rigor; and thousands are annually stolen away from their homes in Africa, and transported across the ocean, to supply those Christian markets where men, women and children are bought and sold like brute beasts; fully demonstrating that so long as there is a market for human beings, laws, treaties and navies, aided by the power of moral and christian influence, are insufficient to restrain the avarice of wicked men from tearing from their peaceful homes those hapless victims of their cupidity, and consigning them to a life of bereavement, mourning and wo.

It can hardly be supposed that the statistics of an illicit trade. can be very accurately ascertained; but it is universally admit

ted that the demand for slaves, in the yet unglutted marts of christian states and colonies, has caused the trade to be prosecuted with as much severity and rigor since its legal prohibition as before. And it is contrary to all experience to suppose that it can ever be abolished, but by abolishing the market.

Appalling as is the contemplation of the wickedness, cruelty and sufferings attendant on the African slave trade, we turn with deeper horror to the countless woes and more aggravated crimes of the American slave trade. Here, where the trade in slaves and souls of men' is legalized, and counted honorable, we have more correct data for statistical calculation.

One sixth part of the people of the United States of America are held as property, and regarded as articles of commerce!

One hundred thousand children, annually born in the United States, are raised like cattle, to be sold and transferred from one owner to another, without any regard to their will or welfare!

When a slaveholder dies, his men, women and children are appraised and sold, and there is witnessed one of those heartrending scenes of human agony, which may be better conceived than described in words. The miserable victims of this inhuman system are brought to the stand, one by one, and each separately knocked off to the highest bidder. Husbands are separated from their wives, parents from children, friend from friend, and lover from lover, and every endearing tie of nature and affection is most unfeelingly sundered, causing the heavens to resound with their cries and their groans. And it is not only at the death. of a slaveholder that these scenes of anguish and despair are witnessed; for the trade in slaves and souls of men' is one of the most extensive branches of commerce in our country, and probably amounts to twenty millions of dollars in a year. Men sell their own children, and their brothers and sisters; and every day in which the light of heaven shines upon our guilty land, does it witness the image of God exposed at public sale, and that, too, by men who would be offended were we to call them cannibals. Even in the District of Columbia, under the exclusive jurisdiction of the general government of the Republic, men and women, whose only crime is that they are descended from African parents, are sold to inland pirates, who purchase them for the western market.

In the contemplation of these things, we are compelled to exclaim, Oh, America! how long shall it prove a misfortune and a curse to a portion of thy children, that their ancestors were not permitted to remain in a land of heathens? How long, in this Christian land, shall these unfortunate people be regarded as merchandise, and be denied that instruction which is essential for rational, intelligent and immortal souls ?

May the Christian churches in our land speedily clear their skirts of the stain of blood! May they make haste to put away from them this abomination, which has so long obstructed their progress, and obscured their glory; that the glad voices of ransomed millions may unite with those who love the Lord, in ascribing unto Him, who, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, delivered Israel from the house of bondage, the praise of having, in like manner, delivered his children from oppression in this guilty land!

In behalf of the Committee,

ARNOLD BUFFUM.

CONSTITUTION OF THE NEW-ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.

PREAMBLE.

Whereas, we believe that Slavery is contrary to the precepts of Christianity, dangerous to the liberties of the country, and ought immediately to be abolished; and whereas, we believe that the citizens of New-England not only have the right to protest against it, but are under the highest obligation to seek its removal by a moral influence; and whereas, we believe that the free people of color are unrighteously oppressed, and stand in need of our sympathy and benevolent co-operation; therefore, recognizing the inspired declaration that God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,' and in obedience to our Saviour's golden rule, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; we agree to form ourselves into a Society, and to be governed by the following

CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE 1. This Society shall be called the New-England Anti-Slavery Society.

ART. 2. The objects of the Society shall be, to endeavor, by all means sanctioned by law, humanity and religion, to effect the abolition of slavery in the United States; to improve the character and condition of the free people of color, to inform and correct public opinion in relation to their situation and rights, and obtain for them equal civil and political rights and privileges with the whites.

ART. 3. Any person by signing the Constitution, and paying to the Treasurer fifteen dollars as a life subscription, or two dollars annually shall be considered a member of the Society, and entitled to a copy of all its official publications.

ART. 4. The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice Presidents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Sec