[164] "Many of those whom the good Quakers have emancipated have received the great benefit with tears in their eyes, and have never quitted, though free, their former masters and benefactors." St. John Crèvecoeur, _Letters_, 222; _Pa. Mag._, XVIII, 372, 373; Buck, MS. _History of Bucks Co._, marginal note of author in his scrapbook. For the superiority of slavery _cf._ J. Harriot, _Struggles through Life_, etc., II, 409. Also Watson, _Annals_, II, 265. [165] It has been suggested that it was milder than the system under which redemptioners were held, and that hence "Quaker scruples against slavery were either misplaced or insincere." C. A. Herrick, "Indentured Labor in Pennsylvania," (MS. thesis, University of Pa.), 89. An examination of the Quaker records would have shown that the last part of this statement is not true. See below, chaps. IV, V. CHAPTER IV. THE BREAKING UP OF SLAVERY--MANUMISSION. In Pennsylvania the disintegration of slavery began as soon as slavery was established, for there were free negroes in the colony at the beginning of the eighteenth century.[166] Manumission may have taken place earlier than this, for in 1682 an owner made definite promise of freedom to his negro.[167] The first indisputable case now known, however, occurred in 1701, when a certain Lydia Wade living in Chester County freed her slaves by testament.[168] In the same year William Penn on his return to England liberated his blacks likewise.[169] Judging from the casual and unexpected references to free negroes which come to light from time to time, it seems probable that other masters also bestowed freedom. At any rate the status of the free negro had come to be recognized about this time as one to be protected by law, for when in 1703 Antonio Garcia, a Spanish mulatto, was brought to Philadelphia as a slave, he appealed to the provincial Council, and presently was set at liberty.[170] In 1717 the records of Christ Church mention Jane, a free negress, who was baptized there with her daughter.[171] This freeing of negroes at so early a time in the history of the colony is sufficiently remarkable. It might be expected that manumission would have been rare; and, indeed, the records are very few at first. Nevertheless a law passed in 1725-1726 would indicate that the practice was by no means unusual.[172]