the writer is a “servant bought with money.”  A few weeks since, she was a slave; when “bought,” she was a slave no longer.  Alas! for our leading politicians if “buying” men makes them “chattels.”  The Whigs say, that Calhoun has been “bought” by the administration; and the other party, that Clay and Webster have been “bought” by the Bank.  The histories of the revolution tell us that Benedict Arnold was “bought” by British gold, and that Williams, Paulding, and Van Wert, could not be “bought” by Major Andre.  When a northern clergyman marries a rich southern widow, country gossip thus hits off the indecency, “The cotton bags bought him.”  Sir Robert Walpole said, “Every man has his price, and whoever will pay it, can buy him,” and John Randolph said, “The northern delegation is in the market; give me money enough, and I can buy them.”  The temperance publications tell us that candidates for office buy men with whiskey; and the oracles of street tattle, that the court, district attorney, and jury, in the late trial of Robinson were bought, yet we have no floating visions of “chattels personal,” man-auctions, or coffles.

[Footnote A:  The following statute is now in force in the free state of Illinois—­“No negro, mulatto, or Indian, shall at any time purchase any servant other than of their own complexion:  and if any of the persons aforesaid shall presume to purchase a white servant, such servant shall immediately become free, and shall be so held, deemed and taken.”]

In Connecticut, town paupers are “bought” by individuals, who, for a stipulated sum become responsible to the town for their comfortable support for one year.  If these “bought” persons perform any labor for those who “buy” them, it is wholly voluntary.  It is hardly necessary to add that they are in no sense the “property” of their purchasers.[A]

[Footnote A:  “The select-men” of each town annually give notice, that at such a time and place, they will proceed to sell the poor of said town.  The persons thus “sold” are “bought” by such persons, approved by the “select-men,” as engage to furnish them with sufficient wholesome food, adequate clothing, shelter, medicine, &c., for such a sum as the parties may agree upon.  The Connecticut papers frequently contain advertisements like the following:  “NOTICE—­The poor of the town of Chatham will be SOLD on the first Monday in April, 1837, at the house of F. Penfield, Esq., at 9 o’clock in the forenoon,”—­[Middletown Sentinel, Feb. 3, 1837.] ]

The transaction between Joseph and the Egyptians gives a clue to the use of “buy” and “bought with money.”  Gen. xlvii. 18-26.  The Egyptians proposed to Joseph to become servants.  When the bargain was closed, Joseph said, “Behold I have bought you this day,” and yet it is plain that neither party regarded the persons bought as articles of property, but merely as bound to labor