t or
servants, shall be wandering out of the bounds of the town or place to
which they belong, without a ticket or pass, in writing, under the hand of
some Assistant or Justice of the Peace, or under the hand of the master or
owner of such negro, mulatto, or Indian servant or servants, shall be
deemed and accounted as runaways, and may be treated as such. And every
person inhabiting in this colony, finding or meeting with any such negro,
mulatto, or Indian servant or servants not having a ticket as aforesaid, is
hereby empowered to seize and secure him or them, and bring him or them
before the next authority, to be examined and returned to his or their
master or owner, who shall satisfy the charge accruing thereby.

"'And all ferrymen within the colony are hereby requested not to suffer any
Indian, mulatto, or negro servant without certificate as aforesaid, to pass
over their respective ferries by assisting them, directly or indirectly, on
the penalty of paying a fine of twenty shillings for every such offence, to
the owner of such servants.' In the same act," continued Mr. Barbour, "a
free person who receives any property, large or small, from a slave,
without an order from his master, must either make full restitution or be
openly whipped with so many stripes, (not exceeding twenty.)"

"Now, gentlemen," said Mr. Chapman, who was an impetuous old gentleman,
"don't you see those Yankees were close enough in taking care of their own
slaves, and if they could have raised sugar and cotton, or had deemed it to
their advantage to be slaveholders to this day, they'd have had a Fugitive
Slave Law long before this. A Daniel would have come to judgment sooner
even than the immortal Daniel Webster."

"Wait a moment, my dear sir," said Mr. Barbour. "Another paragraph of the
same act provides, 'that if any negro, mulatto, or Indian servant or slave,
shall be found abroad from home, in the night season, after nine o'clock,
without a special order from his or their master or mistress, it shall be
lawful for any person or persons to apprehend and secure such negro,
mulatto, or Indian servant or slave, so offending, and him, her, or them,
bring before the next assistant or justice of the peace, which authority
shall have full power to pass sentence upon such servant or slave, and
order him, her, or them, to be publicly whipped on the _naked_ body, not
exceeding ten stripes, &c.'"

"Pretty tight laws you had, sir," said Mr. Chapman, a