is own slaves just
what he would have had others do in his lifetime. As long as he lived
he refused to emancipate his slaves but when he passed away he left a
written document, the following portion of which forms the eminent
climax to a career of continuous labors for the eventual good of the
Kentucky slave owners as well as the slaves themselves.

"In the sale of any of my slaves, I direct that members of families
shall not be separated without their consent.

"My will is, and I accordingly direct, that the issue of all my female
slaves, which shall be born after the first day of January, 1850,
shall be free at the respective ages, of the males at twenty-eight,
and of the females at twenty-five; and that the three years next
preceding their arrival at the age of freedom, they shall be entitled
to their hire or wages for those years, or of the fair value of their
services, to defray the expense of transporting them to one of the
African colonies and of furnishing them with an outfit on their
arrival there.

"And I further direct, that they be taught to read, to write, and to
cipher, and that they be sent to Africa. I further will and direct,
that the issue of any of the females, who are so to be entitled to
their freedom, at the age of twenty-five, shall be free at their
birth, and that they be bound out as apprentices to learn farming, or
some useful trade, upon the condition also, of being taught to read,
to write, and to cipher. And I direct also, that the age of twenty-one
having been attained, they shall be sent to one of the African
colonies, to raise the necessary funds for which purpose, if they
shall not have previously earned them, they must be hired out for a
sufficient length of time.

"I require and enjoin my executors and descendants to pay particular
attention to the execution of this provision of my will. And if they
should sell any of the females who or whose issue are to be free, I
especially desire them to guard carefully the rights of such issue by
all suitable stipulations and sanctions in the contract of sale. But I
hope that it may not be necessary to sell any such persons who are to
be entitled to their freedom, but that they may be retained in the
possession of some of my descendants."--Colton, Reed & McKinley, Vol.
3, p. 153.

[422] Birney, William, _James G. Birney and his Times_, p. 132.

[423] Birney, William, _James G. Birney and his Times_, p. 133.

[424] _Ibid._, p. 182. The int