ory form.

The legislature of New York, two months after the murder of Col. Greene
and his faithful negro troops at Point's Bridge, in that State, by the
British, passed an act (March, 1781) looking to the raising of two
regiments. The sixth section of the act reads as follows:

"And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that
any person who shall deliver one or more of his able-bodied
male slaves to any warrant officer, as aforesaid, to serve
in either of the above regiments or independent corps, and
produce a certificate thereof, signed by any person
authorized to muster and receive the men to be raised by
virtue of this act, and produce such certificate to the
Surveyor-General, shall, for every male slave so entered and
mustered as aforesaid, be entitled to the location and grant
of one right, in manner as in and by this act is directed;
and shall be, and hereby is discharged from any further
maintenance of such slave, any law to the contrary
notwithstanding. And such slave so entering as aforesaid,
who shall serve for the term of three years or until
regularly discharged, shall, immediately after such service
or discharge, be, and is hereby declared to be, a free man
of this State."

In 1821, in the convention which revised the constitution of New York,
Mr. Clark, speaking in favor of allowing negroes to vote, said in the
course of his remarks:

"My honorable colleague has told us, that, as the colored
people are not required to contribute to the protection or
defence of the State, they are not entitled to an equal
participation in the privileges of its citizens. But, Sir,
whose fault is this? Have they ever refused to do military
duty when called upon? It is haughtily asked, Who will stand
in the ranks shoulder to shoulder with a negro? I answer, No
one, in time of peace; no one, when your musters and
trainings are looked upon as mere pastimes; no one, when
your militia will shoulder their muskets and march to their
trainings with as much unconcern as they would go to a
sumptuous entertainment or a splendid ball. But, Sir, when
the hour of danger approaches, your white 'militia' are just
as willing that the man of color should be set up as a mark
to be shot at by the enemy, as to be set up themselves. In
the War of the Revolution, thes