Chapter XIV: Appendix

In giving a history of my own sufferings in slavery, as well as the sufferings of others with which I was acquainted, or which came under my immediate observation, I have spoken harshly of slaveholders, in church and state.

Nor am I inclined to apologize for anything which I have said. There are exceptions among slaveholders, as well as among other sinners; and the fact that a slaveholder feeds his slaves better, clothes them better, than another, does not alter the case; he is a slaveholder. I do not ask the slaveholder to feed, clothe, or to treat his victim better as a slave. I am not waging a warfare against the collateral evils, or what are sometimes called the abuses, of slavery. I wage a war against slavery itself, because it takes man down from the lofty position which God intended he should occupy, and places him upon a level with the beasts of the field. It decrees that the slave shall not worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience; it denies him the word of God; it makes him a chattel, and sells him in the market to the highest bidder; it decrees that he shall not protect the wife of his bosom; it takes from him every right which God gave him. Clothing and food are as nothing compared with liberty. What care I for clothing or food, while I am the slave of another? You may take me and put cloth upon my back, boots upon my feet, a hat upon my head, and cram a beef-steak down my throat, and all of this will not satisfy me as long as I know that you have the power to tear me from my dearest relatives. All I ask of the slaveholder is to give the slave his liberty. It is freedom I ask for the _slave_. And that the American slave will eventually get his freedom, no one can doubt. You cannot keep the human mind forever locked up in darkness. A ray of light, a spark from freedom's altar, the idea of inherent right, each, all, will become fixed in the soul; and that moment his "limbs swell beyond the measure of his chains," that moment he is free; then it is that the slave dies to become a freeman; then it is felt that one hour of virtuous liberty is worth an eternity of bondage; then it is, in the madness and fury of his blood, that the excited soul exclaims,

"From life without freedom, oh! who would not fly;
For one day of freedom, oh! who would not die?"

The rising of the slaves in Southampton, Virginia, in 1831, has not been forgotten by the American people. Nat Turner, a slave for life,--a Baptist minister,--entertained the idea that he was another Moses, whose duty it was to lead his people out of bondage. His soul was fired with the love of liberty, and he declared to his fellow-slaves that the time had arrived, and that "They who would be free, themselves must strike the blow." He knew that it would be "liberty or death" with his little band of patriots, numbering less than three hundred. He commenced the struggle for liberty; he knew his cause was just, and he loved liberty more than he feared death. He did not wish to take the lives of the whites; he only demanded that himself and brethren might be free. The slaveholders found that men whose souls were burning for liberty, however small their numbers, could not be put down at their pleasure; that something more than water was wanted to extinguish the flame. They trembled at the idea of meeting men in open combat, whose backs they had lacerated, whose wives and daughters they had torn from their bosoms, whose hearts were bleeding from the wounds inflicted by them. They appealed to the United States government for assistance. A company of United States troops was sent into Virginia to put down men whose only offence was, that they wanted to be free. Yes! northern men, men born and brought up in the free states, at the demand of slavery, marched to its rescue. They succeeded in reducing the poor slave again to his chains; but they did not succeed in crushing his spirit.

Not the combined powers of the American Union, not the slaveholders, with all their northern allies, can extinguish that burning desire of freedom in the slave's soul! Northern men may stand by as the body-guard of slaveholders. They may succeed for the time being in keeping the slave in his chains; but unless the slaveholders liberate their victims, and that, too, speedily, some modern Hannibal will make his appearance in the southern states, who will trouble the slaveholders as the noble Carthaginian did the Romans. Abolitionists deprecate the shedding of blood; they have warned the slaveholders again and again. Yet they will not give heed, but still persist in robbing the slave of liberty.

"But for the fear of northern bayonets, pledged for the master's protection, the slaves would long since have wrung a peaceful emancipation from the fears of their oppressors, or sealed their own redemption in blood." To the shame of the northern people, the slaveholders confess that to them they are "indebted for a permanent safe-guard against insurrection;" that "a million of their slaves stand ready to strike for liberty at the first tap of the drum;" and but for the aid of the north they would be too weak to keep them in their chains. I ask in the language of the slave's poet,

"What! shall ye guard your neighbor still,
While woman shrieks beneath his rod,
And while he tramples down at will
The image of a common God?
Shall watch and ward be 'round him set,
Of northern nerve and bayonet?"

The countenance of the people at the north has quieted the fears of the slaveholders, especially the countenance which they receive from northern churches. "But for the countenance of the northern church, the southern conscience would have long since awakened to its guilt: and the impious sight of a church made up of slaveholders, and called the church of Christ, been scouted from the world." So says a distinguished writer.

Slaveholders hide themselves behind the church. A more praying, preaching, psalm-singing people cannot be found than the slaveholders at the south. The religion of the south is referred to every day, to prove that slaveholders are good, pious men. But with all their pretensions, and all the aid which they get from the northern church, they cannot succeed in deceiving the Christian portion of the world. Their child-robbing, man-stealing, woman-whipping, chain-forging, marriage-destroying, slave-manufacturing, man-slaying religion, will not be received as genuine; and the people of the free states cannot expect to live in union with slaveholders, without becoming contaminated with slavery. They are looked upon as one people; they _are_ one people; the people in the free and slave states form the "American Union." Slavery is a national institution. The nation licenses men to traffic in the bodies and souls of men; it supplies them with public buildings at the capital of the country to keep their victims in. For a paltry sum it gives the auctioneer a license to sell American men, women, and children, upon the auction-stand. The American slave-trader, with the constitution in his hat and his license in his pocket, marches his gang of chained men and women under the very eaves of the nation's capitol. And this, too, in a country professing to be the freest nation in the world. They profess to be democrats, republicans, and to believe in the natural equality of men; that they are "all created with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." They call themselves a Christian nation; they rob three millions of their countrymen of their liberties, and then talk of their piety, their democracy, and their love of liberty; and, in the language of Shakspeare, say,

"And thus I clothe my naked villany,
And seem a saint when most I play the devil."

The people of the United States, with all their high professions, are forging chains for unborn millions, in their wars for slavery. With all their democracy, there is not a foot of land over which the "stars and stripes" fly, upon which the American slave can stand and claim protection. Wherever the United States constitution has jurisdiction, and the American flag is seen flying, they point out the slave as a chattel, a thing, a piece of property. But I thank God there is one spot in America upon which the slave can stand and be a man. No matter whether the claimant be a United States president, or a doctor of divinity; no matter with what solemnities some American court may have pronounced him a slave; the moment he makes his escape from under the "stars and stripes," and sets foot upon the soil of CANADA, "the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that burst from around him; and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation."

But slavery must and will be banished from the United States soil:

"Let tyrants scorn, while tyrants dare,
The shrieks and writhings of despair;
The end will come, it will not wait,
Bonds, yokes, and scourges have their date;
Slavery itself must pass away,
And be a tale of yesterday."

But I will now stop, and let the slaveholders speak for themselves. I shall here present some evidences of the treatment which slaves receive from their masters; after which I will present a few of the slave-laws. And it has been said, and I believe truly, that no people were ever found to be better than their laws. And, as an American slave,--as one who is identified with the slaves of the south by the scars which I carry on my back,--as one identified with them by the tenderest ties of nature,--as one whose highest aspirations are to serve the cause of truth and freedom,--I beg of the reader not to lay this book down until he or she has read every page it contains. I ask it not for my own sake, but for the sake of three millions who cannot speak for themselves.

From the Livingston County (Alabama) Whig of Nov. 16, 1845.

"NEGRO DOGS.--The undersigned having bought the entire pack of
Negro Dogs, (of the Hays & Allen stock,) he now proposesto catch
runaway Negroes. His charge will be three dollars per day for
hunting, and fifteen dollars for catching a runaway. He resides
three and a half miles north of Livingston, near the lower Jones'
Bluff road.

"WILLIAM GAMBREL.

"Nov. 6, 1845."

The Wilmington [North Carolina] Advertiser of July 13, 1838, contains the following advertisement:

"Ranaway, my Negro man Richard. A reward of $25 will be paid for
his apprehension, DEAD or ALIVE. Satisfactory proof will only be
required of his being killed. He has with him, in all probability,
his wife Eliza, who ran away from Col. Thompson, now a resident of
Alabama, about the time he commenced his journey to that state.

"D. H. RHODES."

The St. Louis Gazette says--

"A wealthy man here had a boy named Reuben, almost white, whom he caused to be branded in the face with the words 'A slave for life.'"

From the N. C. Standard, July 28, 1838.

"TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD.--Ranaway from the subscriber, a
negro woman and two children; the woman is tall and black, and _a
few days before she went off_ I BURNT HER ON THE LEFT SIDE OF HER
FACE: I TRIED TO MAKE THE LETTER M, _and she kept a cloth over her
head and face, and a fly bonnet over her head, so as to cover the
burn_; her children are both boys, the oldest is in his seventh
year; he is a _mulatto_ and has blue eyes; the youngest is a black,
and is in his fifth year.

"MICAJAH RICKS, Nash County."

"One of my neighbors sold to a speculator a negro boy, about 14
years old. It was more than his poor mother could bear. Her reason
fled, and she became a perfect _maniac_, and had to be kept in
close confinement. She would occasionally get out and run off to
the neighbors. On one of these occasions she came to my house.
With tears rolling down her cheeks, and her frame shaking with
agony, she would cry out, '_Don't you hear him--they are whipping
him now, and he is calling for me!_' This neighbor of mine, who
tore the boy away from his poor mother, and thus broke her heart,
was a _member of the Presbyterian church_."--_Rev. Francis Hawley,
Baptist minister, Colebrook, Ct._

A colored man in the city of St. Louis was taken by a mob, and burnt alive at the stake. A bystander gives the following account of the scene:--

"After the flames had surrounded their prey, and when his clothes
were in a blaze all over him, his eyes burnt out of his head, and
his mouth seemingly parched to a cinder, some one in the _crowd_,
more compassionate than the rest, proposed to put an end to his
misery by shooting him, when it was replied, that it would be
of no use, since he was already out of his pain. 'No,' said the
wretch, 'I am not, I am suffering as much as ever,--shoot me,
shoot me.' 'No, no,' said one of the fiends, who was standing
about the sacrifice they were roasting, 'he shall not be shot; I
would sooner slacken the fire, if that would increase his misery;'
and the man who said this was, we understand, an _officer of
justice_."--_Alton Telegraph._

"We have been informed that the slave William, who murdered his
master (Huskey) some weeks since, was taken by a party a few days
since _from the sheriff_ of Hot Spring, and _burned alive_! yes,
tied up to the limb of a tree and a fire built under him, and
consumed in a slow lingering torture."--_Arkansas Gazette, Oct.
29, 1836._

_The Natchez Free Trader_, 16th June, 1842, gives a horrible account of the execution of the negro Joseph on the 5th of that month for murder.

"The body," says that paper, "was taken and chained to a tree
immediately on the bank of the Mississippi, on what is called
Union Point. The torches were lighted and placed in the pile.
He watched unmoved the curling flame as it grew, until it began
to entwine itself around and feed upon his body; then he sent
forth cries of agony painful to the ear, begging some one to blow
his brains out; at the same time surging with almost superhuman
strength, until the staple with which the chain was fastened to
the tree, not being well secured, drew out, and he leaped from the
burning pile. At that moment the sharp ring of several rifles was
heard, and the body of the negro fell a corpse to the ground. He
was picked up by two or three, and again thrown into the fire and
consumed."

"ANOTHER NEGRO BURNED.--We learn from the clerk of the Highlander,
that, while wooding a short distance below the mouth of Red river,
they were _invited to stop a short time and see another negro
burned_."--_New Orleans Bulletin._

"We can assure the Bostonians, one and all, who have embarked in
the nefarious scheme of abolishing slavery at the south, that
lashes will hereafter be spared the backs of their emissaries.
Let them send out their men to Louisiana; they will never return
to tell their sufferings, but they shall expiate the crime of
interfering in our domestic institutions by being BURNED AT THE
STAKE."--_New Orleans True American._

"The cry of the whole south should be death, instant death, to the
abolitionist, wherever he is caught."--_Augusta (Geo.) Chronicle._

"Let us declare through the public journals of our country,
that the question of slavery is not and shall not be open for
discussion: that the system is too deep-rooted among us, and
must remain forever; that the very moment any private individual
attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorality, and the
necessity of putting means in operation to secure us from them,
in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out and cast upon the
dunghill."--_Columbia (S. C.) Telescope._

From the St. Louis Republican.

"On Friday last the coroner held an inquest at the house of Judge
Dunica, a few miles south of the city, over the body of a negro
girl, about 8 years of age, belonging to Mr. Cordell. The body
exhibited evidence of the most cruel whipping and beating we have
ever heard of. The flesh on the back and limbs was beaten to a
jelly--one shoulder-bone was laid bare--there were several cuts,
apparently from a club, on the head--and around the neck was
the indentation of a cord, by which it is supposed she had been
confined to a tree. She had been hired by a man by the name of
Tanner, residing in the neighborhood, and was sent home in this
condition. After coming home, her constant request, until her
death, was for bread, by which it would seem that she had been
starved as well as unmercifully whipped. The jury returned a
verdict that she came to her death by the blows inflicted by some
persons unknown whilst she was in the employ of Mr. Tanner. Mrs.
Tanner has been tried and acquitted."

A correspondent of the N. Y. Herald writes from St. Louis, Oct. 19:

"I yesterday visited the cell of Cornelia, the slave charged with
being the accomplice of Mrs. Ann Tanner (recently acquitted) in
the murder of a little negro girl, by whipping and starvation. She
admits her participancy, but says she was compelled to take the
part she did in the affair. On one occasion she says the child was
tied to a tree from Monday morning till Friday night, exposed by
day to the scorching rays of the sun, and by night to the stinging
of myriads of musquitoes; and that during all this time the child
had nothing to eat, but was whipped daily. The child told the same
story to Dr. McDowell."

From the Carroll County Mississippian, May 4th, 1844.

"Committed to jail in this place, on the 29th of April last,
a runaway slave named Creesy, and says she belongs to William
Barrow, of Carroll county, Mississippi. Said woman is stout built,
five feet four inches high, and appears to be about twenty years
of age; she has a band of iron on each ankle, and a trace chain
around her neck, fastened with a common padlock.

"J. N. SPENCER, Jailer.

"May 15, 1844."

The Savannah, Ga., Republican of the 13th of March, 1845, contains an advertisement, one item of which is as follows:--

"Also, at the same time and place, the following negro slaves, to
wit: Charles, Peggy, Antonnett, Davy, September, Maria, Jenny,
and Isaac--levied on as the property of Henry T. Hall, to satisfy
a mortgage fi. fia. issued out of McIntosh Superior Court, in
favor of the board of directors of the _Theological Seminary of
the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia_, vs. said Henry T. Hall.
Conditions, cash.

"C. O'NEAL, Deputy Sheriff, M. C."

In the "Macon (Georgia) Telegraph," May 28, is the following:

"About the first of March last, the negro man RANSOM
left me, without the least provocation whatever. I will give a
reward of $20 dollars for said negro, if taken DEAD or
ALIVE,--and if killed in any attempt an advance of $5
will be paid.

"BRYANT JOHNSON.

"Crawford Co., Ga."

From the Apalachicola Gazette, May 9.

"ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS REWARD.--Ranaway from
my plantation on the 6th inst., three negro men, all of dark
complexion.

"BILL is about five feet four inches high, aged about
twenty-six, _a scar on his upper lip_, also _one on his shoulder_,
and has been _badly cut on his arm_; speaks quick and broken, and
a venomous look.

"DANIEL is about the same height, chunky and well set,
broad, flat mouth, with a pleasing countenance, rather inclined to
show his teeth when talking, no particular marks recollected, aged
about twenty-three.

"NOAH is about six feet three or four inches high,
twenty-eight years old, with rather a down, impudent look,
insolent in his discourse, with a large mark on his breast, _a
good many large scars_, caused by the whip, on his back--_has
been shot in the back of his arm_ with small shot. The above
reward will be paid to any one who will KILL the three,
or fifty for either one, or twenty dollars apiece for them
delivered to me at my plantation alive, on Chattahoochie, Early
county.

"J. MCDONALD."

From the Alabama Beacon, June 11, 1845.

"Ranaway, on the 15th of May, from me, a negro woman named Fanny.
Said woman is twenty years old; is rather tall, can read and
write, and so forge passes for herself. Carried away with her a
pair of ear-rings, a Bible with a red cover, is very pious. She
prays a great deal, and was, as supposed, contented and happy. She
is as white as most white women, with straight light hair, and
blue eyes, and can pass herself for a white woman. I will give
five hundred dollars for her apprehension and delivery to me. She
is very intelligent.

"JOHN BALCH.

"Tuscaloosa, May, 29, 1845."

From the N. O. Commercial Bulletin, Sept. 30.

"TEN DOLLARS REWARD.--Ranaway from the subscribers, on
the 15th of last month, the negro man Charles, about 45 years of
age, 5 feet 6 inches high; red complexion, has had the _upper
lid of his right eye torn_, and _a scar on his forehead_; speaks
English only, and stutters when spoken to; he had on when he
left, _an iron collar, the prongs of which he broke off before
absconding_. The above reward will be paid for the arrest of said
slave.

W. E. & R. MURPHY,

"132 Old Raisin."

From the N. O. Bee, Oct. 5.

"Ranaway from the residence of Messrs. F. Duncom & Co., the negro
Francois, aged from 25 to 30 years, about 5 feet 1 inch in height;
the _upper front teeth are missing_; he had _chains on both of
his legs_, dressed with a kind of blouse made of sackcloth. A
proportionate reward will be given to whoever will bring him back
to the bakery, No. 74, Bourbon street."

From the N. O. Picayune of Sunday, Dec. 17.

"COCK-PIT.--_Benefit of Fire Company No. 1,
Lafayette._--A cock-fight will take place on Sunday, the 17th
inst., at the well-known house of the subscriber. As the entire
proceeds are for the benefit of the fire company, a full
attendance is respectfully solicited.

ADAM ISRANG.

"_Corner of Josephine and Tchoupitolas streets, Lafayette._"

From the N. O. Picayune.

"TURKEY SHOOTING.--This day, Dec. 17, from 10 o'clock, A. M., until
6 o'clock, P. M., and the following Sundays, at M'Donoughville,
opposite the Second Municipality Ferry."

The next is an advertisement from the New Orleans Bee, an equally popular paper.

"A BULL FIGHT, between a ferocious bull and a number of dogs, will
take place on Sunday next, at 4¼ o'clock, P. M., on the other side
of the river, at Algiers, opposite Canal street. After the bull
fight, a fight will take place between a bear and some dogs. The
whole to conclude by a combatbetween an ass and several dogs.

"Amateurs bringing dogs to participate in the fight will be
admitted gratis. Admittance--Boxes, 50 cts.; Pit, 30 cts. The
spectacle will be repeated every Sunday, weather permitting.

"PEPE LLULLA."

EXTRACTS FROM THE AMERICAN SLAVE CODE.

The following are mostly abridged selections from the statutes of the slave status and of the United States. They give but a faint view of the cruel oppression to which the slaves are subject, but a strong one enough, it is thought, to fill every honest heart with a deep abhorrence of the atrocious system. Most of the important provisions here cited, though placed under the name of only one state, prevail in nearly all the states, with slight variations in language, and some diversity in the penalties. The extracts have been made in part from Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, but chiefly from authorized editions of the statute books referred to, found in the Philadelphia Law Library. As the compiler has not had access to many of the later enactments of the several states, nearly all he has cited are acts of an earlier date than that of the present anti-slavery movement, so that their severity cannot be ascribed to its influence.

The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked among _sentient beings_, but among things--is an article of property, a chattel personal--obtains as undoubted law in all the slave states.[1]--_Stroud's Sketch_, p. 22.

The dominion of the master is as unlimited as is that which is tolerated by the laws of any civilized country in relation to brute animals--to _quadrupeds_; to use the words of the civil law.--_Ib._ 24.

Slaves cannot even contract matrimony.[2]--_Ib._ 61.

LOUISIANA.--A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to his master.--_Civil Code_, Art. 35.

Slaves are incapable of inheriting or transmitting property.--_Civil Code_, Art. 945; also Art. 175, and _Code of Practice_, Art. 103.

_Martin's Digest_, Act of June 7, 1806.--Slaves shall always be reputed and considered real estate; shall be as such subject to be mortgaged, according to the rules prescribed by law, and they shall be seized and sold as real estate.--_Vol. I._, p. 612.

_Dig. Stat._ Sec 13.--No owner of slaves shall hire his slaves to themselves, under a penalty of twenty-five dollars for each offence.--_Vol. I._, p. 102.

Sec. 15.--No slave can possess anything in his own right, or dispose of the produce of his own industry, without the consent of his master.--p. 103.

Sec. 16.--No slave can be party in a civil suit, or witness in a civil or criminal matter, against any white person.--p. 103. _See also Civil Code_, Art. 117, p. 28.

Sec. 18.--A slave's subordination to his master is susceptible of no restriction, (except in what incites to crime,) and he owes to him and all his family, respect without bounds, and absolute obedience.--p. 103.

Sec. 25.--Every slave found on horseback, without a written permission from his master, shall receive twenty-five lashes.--p. 105.

Sec. 32.--Any freeholder may seize and correct any slave found absent from his usual place of work or residence, without some white person, and if the slave resist or try to escape, he may use arms, and if the slave _assault_[3] and strike him, he may _kill_ the slave.--p. 109.

Sec. 35.--It is lawful to fire upon runaway negroes who are armed, and upon those who, when pursued, refuse to surrender.--p. 109.

Sec. 38.--No slave may buy, sell, or exchange any kind of goods, or hold any boat, or bring up for his own use any horses or cattle, under a penalty of forfeiting the whole.--p. 110.

Sec. 7.--Slaves or free colored persons are punished with _death_, for wilfully burning or destroying any stack of produce or any building.--p. 115.

Sec. 15.--The punishment of a slave for striking a white person, shall be for the first and second offences at the discretion of the court,[4] but not extending to life or limb, and for the third offence _death_; but for grievously wounding or mutilating a white person, _death_ for the first offence; provided, if the blow or wound is given in defence of the person or _property of his master_, or the person having charge of him, he is entirely justified.

_Act of Feb. 22, 1824_, Sec. 2.--A slave for wilfully striking his master or mistress, or the child of either, or his white overseer, so as to cause a bruise or shedding of blood, _shall be punished with death_.--p. 125.

_Act of March 6, 1819._--Any person cutting or breaking any iron chain or collar used to prevent the escape of slaves, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not more than two years nor less than six months.--p. 64 of the session.

_Law of January 8, 1813_, Sec. 71.--All slaves sentenced to death or perpetual imprisonment, in virtue of existing laws, shall be paid for out of the public treasury, provided the sum paid shall not exceed $300 for each slave.

_Law of March 16, 1830_, Sec. 93.--The state treasurer shall pay the owners the value of all slaves whose punishment has been commuted from that of death to that of imprisonment for life, &c.

If any slave shall _happen_ to be slain for refusing to surrender him or herself, contrary to law, or in unlawfully resisting any officer or _other person_, who shall apprehend, or endeavor to apprehend, such slave or slaves, &c., such officer or _other person so killing such slave as aforesaid_, making resistance, shall be, and he is by this act, _indemnified_, from any prosecution for such killing aforesaid, &c.--_Maryland Laws, act of 1751, chap_ xiv., § 9.

And by the negro act of 1740, of South Carolina, it is declared:

If any slave, who shall be out of the house or plantation where such slave shall live, or shall be usually employed, or without some white person in company with such slave, shall _refuse to submit_ to undergo the examination of _any white_ person, it shall be lawful for such white person to pursue, apprehend, and moderately correct such slave and if such slave shall assault and strike such white person, such slave may be _lawfully killed_!!--_2 Brevard's Digest_, 231.

MISSISSIPPI. _Chapt._ 92, Sec. 110.--Penalty for any slave or free colored person exercising the functions of a minister of the gospel, thirty-nine lashes; but any master may permit his slave to preach on his own premises, no slaves but his own being permitted to assemble.--_Digest of Stat._, p. 770.

_Act of June 18, 1822_, Sec. 21.--No negro or mulatto can be a witness in any case, except against negroes or mulattoes.--p. 749. _New Code_, 372.

Sec. 25.--Any master licensing his slave to go at large and trade as a freeman, shall forfeit fifty dollars to the state for the literary fund.

Penalty for teaching a slave to read, imprisonment one year. For using language having a _tendency_ to promote discontent among free colored people, or insubordination among slaves, imprisonment at _hard labor_, not less than three, nor more than twenty-one years, or DEATH, at the discretion of the court.--_L. M. Child's Appeal_, p. 70.

Sec. 26.--It is _lawful_ for _any_ person, and the duty of every sheriff, deputy-sheriff, coroner and constable to apprehend any slave going at large, or hired out by him, or herself, and take him or her before a justice of the peace, who shall impose a penalty of not less than twenty dollars, nor more than fifty dollars, on the owner, who has permitted such slave to do so.

Sec. 32.--Any negro or mulatto, for using abusive language, or lifting his hand in opposition to any white person, (except in self-defence against a wanton assault,) shall, on proof of the offence by oath of such person, receive such punishment as a justice of the peace may order, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes.

Sec. 41--Forbids the holding of cattle, sheep or hogs by slaves, even with consent of the master, under penalty of forfeiture, half to the county, and half to the _informer_.

Sec. 42--Forbids a slave keeping a dog, under a penalty of twenty-five stripes; and requires any master who permits it to pay a fine of five dollars, and make good all damages done by such dog.

Sec. 43--Forbids slaves cultivating cotton for their own use, and imposes a fine of fifty dollars on the master or overseer who permits it.

_Revised Code._--Every negro or mulatto found in the state, not able to show himself entitled to freedom, may be sold as a slave.--p. 389. The owner of any plantation, on which a slave comes without written leave from his master, and not on lawful business, may inflict ten lashes for every such offence.--p. 371.

ALABAMA.--_Aiken's Digest._ Tit. _Slaves, &c._, Sec. 31.--For _attempting_ to teach any free colored person, or slave, to spell, read or write, a fine of not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars!--p. 397.

Sec. 35 and 36.--Any free colored person found with slaves in a kitchen, outhouse or negro quarter, without a written permission from the master or overseer of said slaves, and any slave found without such permission with a free negro on his premises, shall receive fifteen lashes for the first offence, and thirty-nine for each subsequent offence; to be inflicted by master, overseer, or member of any patrol company.--p. 397.

_Toulmin's Digest._--No slave can be emancipated but by a _special_ act of the Legislature.--p. 623.

Act Jan. 1st, 1823--Authorizes an agent to be appointed by the governor of the state, _to sell for the benefit of the state_ all persons of color brought into the United States and within the jurisdiction of Alabama, _contrary to the laws of congress prohibiting the slave trade_.--p. 643.

GEORGIA.--_Prince's Digest._ Act Dec. 19, 1818.--Penalty for any free person of color (except regularly articled seamen) coming into the state, a fine of one hundred dollars, and on failure of payment to be sold as a slave.--p. 465.

Penalty for permitting a slave to labor or do business for himself, except on his master's premises, thirty dollars per week.--p. 457.

No slave can be a party to any suit against a white man, except on claim of his freedom, _and every colored person is presumed to be a slave, unless he can prove himself free_.--p. 446.

Act Dec. 13, 1792--Forbids the assembling of negroes under pretence of divine worship, contrary to the act regulating patrols, p. 342. This act provides that any justice of the peace may disperse any assembly of slaves which _may_ endanger the peace; and every slave found at such meeting shall receive, _without trial_, twenty-five stripes!--p. 447.

Any person who sees more than seven men slaves without any white person, in a high road, may whip each slave _twenty_ lashes.--p. 454.

Any slave who harbors a runaway, may suffer punishment to _any extent_, not affecting life or limb.--p. 452.

SOUTH CAROLINA.--_Brevard's Digest._--Slaves shall be deemed sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to be _chattels personal_ in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and assigns, _to all intents, constructions and purposes whatever_.--Vol. ii., p. 229.

Act of 1740, in the preamble, states that "_many_ owners of slaves and others that have the management of them do confine them _so closely to hard labor_, that they have _not sufficient time for natural rest_," and enacts that no slave shall be compelled to labor more than _fifteen_ hours in the twenty-four, from March 25th to Sept. 25th, or _fourteen_ in the twenty-four for the rest of the year. Penalty from £5 to £20.--Vol. ii., p. 243.

[Yet, in several of the slave states, the time of work for _criminals_ whose _punishment_ is hard labor, is eight hours a day for three months, nine hours for two months, and ten for the rest of the year.]

A slave endeavoring to entice another slave to run away, if provision be prepared for the purpose of aiding or abetting such endeavor, shall suffer _death_.--pp. 233 and 244.

Penalty for cruelly scalding or burning a slave, cutting out his tongue, putting out his eye, or depriving him of any limb, a fine of £100. For beating with a _horse_-whip, cow-skin, switch or small stick, or putting irons on, or imprisoning a slave, _no penalty or prohibition_.--p. 241.

Any person who, not having lawful authority to do so, shall beat a slave, so as to disable him from _working_, shall pay fifteen shillings a day _to the owner_, for the slave's lost time, and the charge of his cure.--pp. 231 and 232.

A slave claiming his freedom may sue for it by some friend who will act as guardian, but if the action be judged groundless, said guardian shall pay _double_ costs of suit, and such damages to the owner as the court may decide.--p. 260.

Any assembly of slaves or free colored persons, in a secret or confined place, for mental instruction, (even if white persons _are_ present,) is an unlawful meeting, and magistrates must disperse it, breaking doors if necessary, and may inflict _twenty lashes_ upon each slave or colored person present.--pp. 254 and 255.

Meetings for religious worship, before sunrise, or after 9 o'clock, P. M., unless a majority are white persons, are forbidden; and magistrates are required to disperse them.--p. 261.

A slave who lets loose any boat from the place where the owner has fastened it, for the first _offence shall receive thirty-nine lashes, and for the second shall have one ear cut off_.--p. 228.

_James' Digest._--Penalty for _killing_ a slave, on _sudden heat of passion_, or by _undue correction_, a fine of $500 and imprisonment not over six months.--p. 392.

NORTH CAROLINA.--_Haywood's Manual._--Act of 1798, Sec. 3, enacts, that the killing of a slave shall be punished like that of a free man; _except_ in the case of a slave _out-lawed_,[5] or a slave _offering to resist_ his master, or a slave _dying under moderate correction_.--p. 530.

Act of 1799.--Any slave set free, except for meritorious services, to be adjudged of by the county court, may be seized by any freeholder, committed to jail, _and sold to the highest bidder_.[6]--p. 525.

Patrols are not liable to the master for punishing his slave, unless their conduct clearly shows malice _against the master_.--_Hawk's Reps._, vol. i., p. 418.

TENNESSEE.--_Stat. Law_, Chap. 57, Sec. 1.--Penalty on master for hiring to any slave his own time, a fine of not less than one dollar nor more than two dollars a day, _half_ to the informer.--p. 679.

Chap. 2, Sec. 102.--No slave can be emancipated but on condition of immediately removing from the state, and the person emancipating shall give bond, in a sum equal to the slave's value, to have him removed.--p. 279.

_Laws of 1813._ Chap. 35.--In the trial of slaves, the sheriff chooses the court, which must consist of three justices and twelve _slaveholders_ to serve as jurors.

ARKANSAS.--_Rev. Stat._, Sec. 4, requires the patrol to visit all places suspected of unlawful assemblages of slaves; and sec. 5 provides that any slave found at such assembly, or strolling about without a pass, _shall receive_ any number of _lashes_, at the discretion of the patrol, not exceeding twenty.--p. 604.

MISSOURI.--_Laws, I._--Any master may commit to jail, there to remain, at _his pleasure_, any slave who refuses to obey him or his overseer.--p. 309.

Whether a slave claiming freedom may even commence a suit for it, may depend on the decision of a single judge.--_Stroud's Sketch_, p. 78, note which refers to Missouri laws, I., 404.

KENTUCKY.--_Dig. of Stat._, Act Feb. 8, 1798, Sec. 5.--No colored person may _keep_ or _carry_ gun, powder, shot, _club_ or _other weapon_, on penalty of _thirty-nine lashes_, and forfeiting the weapon, which any person is authorized to take.

VIRGINIA.--_Rev. Code._--Any emancipated slave remaining in the state more than a year, may be sold by the overseers of the _poor_, for the benefit of the _literary fund_!--Vol. i., p. 436.

Any slave or free colored person found at any school for teaching reading or writing, by day or night, may be whipped, at the discretion of a justice, not exceeding twenty lashes.--p. 424.

_Suppl. Rev. Code._--Any white person assembling with slaves, for the _purpose_ of teaching them to read or write, shall be fined, not less than 10 dollars, nor more than 100 dollars; or with free colored persons, shall be fined not more than fifty dollars, and imprisoned not more than two months.--p. 245.

By the revised code, _seventy-one_ offences are punished with _death_ when committed by slaves, and by nothing more than imprisonment when by the whites.--_Stroud's Sketch_, p. 107.

_Rev. Code._--In the trial of slaves, the court consists of five justices without juries, even in capital cases.--I., p. 420.

MARYLAND.--_Stat. Law_, Sec. 8.--Any slave, for rambling in the night, or riding horses by day without leave, or running away, may be punished by whipping, cropping, or branding in the cheek, or otherwise, not rendering him unfit for labor.--p. 237.

Any slave convicted of petty treason, murder, or _wilful burning of dwelling houses_, may be sentenced _to have the right hand cut off, to be hanged in the usual manner, the head severed from the body, the body divided into four quarters, and the head and quarters set up in the most public place in the country where such fact was committed_!!--p. 190.