ied. By the marriage settlement, the former were limited, in
default of issue of the marriage, to the representatives of Mrs.
Washington at her death; so that her negroes could not be enfranchised.
An unwillingness to separate parents and children, husbands and wives,
induced Washington to postpone the manumission of his own slaves. This
motive is briefly, and as it were accidentally, referred to in his
will.]

But if slaves were allowed to redeem themselves progressively, by
purchasing one day of the week after another, as they can in the Spanish
colonies, habits of industry would be gradually formed, and enterprise
would be stimulated, by their successful efforts to acquire a little
property. And if they afterward worked better as free laborers than they
now do as slaves, it would surely benefit their masters as well as
themselves.

That strong-hearted republican, La Fayette, when he returned to
France in 1785, felt strongly urged by a sense of duty, to effect the
emancipation of slaves in the Colony of Cayenne. As most of the property
in the colony belonged to the crown, he was enabled to prosecute his
plans with less difficulty than he could otherwise have done. Thirty
thousand dollars were expended in the purchase of plantations and slaves
for the sole purpose of proving by experiment the safety and good policy
of conferring freedom. Being afraid to trust the agents generally
employed in the colony, he engaged a prudent and amiable man at Paris to
undertake the business. This gentleman, being fully instructed in La
Fayette's plans and wishes, sailed for Cayenne. The first thing he
did when he arrived, was to collect all the cart-whips, and other
instruments of punishment, and have them burnt amid a general assemblage
of the slaves; he then made known to them the laws and rules by which
the estates would be governed. The object of all the regulations was to
encourage industry by making it the means of freedom. This new kind of
stimulus had a most favorable effect on the slaves, and gave promise of
complete success. But the judicious agent died in consequence of the
climate, and the French Revolution threw every thing into a state of
convulsion at home and abroad. The new republic of France bestowed
unconditional emancipation upon the slaves in her colonies; and had she
persevered in her promises with good faith and discretion, the horrors
of St. Domingo might have been spared. The emancipated negroes in
Cayenne ca