The good work did not stop here. The Emperor did not leave the freedmen without protection, handed over to the tender mercies of former owners. By a careful series of “Regulations” accompanying the Proclamation, prepared with minutest care, and divided into chapters and sections, their rights are secured beyond question. A copy of this remarkable document shows it to be a model for generous imitation.
These “Regulations” begin with a formal declaration, that the freedmen by the act of Emancipation “acquire the rights belonging to free farmers.” The language is general. It is “the rights of free farmers,” not in certain particulars, but in all particulars,—not merely in exemption from the authority of their masters, but in complete enfranchisement. Surely this is an example for us.
The “Regulations” then proceed in formal words to fix and assure these rights, civil and political. They are not left to inference or to future discussion, but positively declared with all possible detail.
By one section the freedman is secured in all his rights of family and rights of contract, as follows:—
“The articles of the Civil Code on the rights and obligations of the family are extended to the freedmen; consequently they acquire the right, without the authorization of the proprietor, to contract marriage, and to make any arrangement whatever concerning their family affairs; they can equally enter into all agreements and obligations authorized by the laws, as well with the state as with individuals, on the conditions established for free farmers; they can inscribe themselves in the guilds, and exercise their trades in the villages; and they can found and conduct factories and establishments of commerce.”
Here is a beautiful example for us.
By another section the freedman is secured in rights of property. He may acquire and alienate property of all kinds, according to the general law; and, besides, “the possession of the homestead” on which he has lived is guarantied to him on certain conditions. Here is another example for us.
By further provision the freedman is secured complete Equality in the courts:—