Sinfulness of American slavery : proved from its evil sources, its wrongs, its contrariety to many scriptural commands, prohibitions, and principles, and to the Christian spirit, and from its evil effects : together with observations on emancipation, and the duties of American citizens in regard to slavery.

Front matter

SINFULNESS

OF

AMEEICAN SLAVEEY:

Part I

AMERICAN SLAVERY AND THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE. CHAPTER I.

INTEODUOTION.

Slavery defined — ^Boman laws — Quotation from Stroud — South Carolina on Slavery— Legal view of the question — Sketch of the laws relating to slavery — Judicial decisions upholding slavery — Decision of Judge Crenshaw — Correspondence between the practices and workings of the system and the statutes and legal decisions on the same — No people better than their laws — Declaration of Scripture — Diflference between the system of slavery and some who are slaveholders by law — Two classes of slaveholders — Great dissimilarity — Christians generally opposed to slavery — Some who think the system right — Resolutions of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church — Declaration of Rev. James Smylie — Baptist pleaders of slavery — Dr. Fuller — Charleston arid Edgefield associations — Methodist slave-pleaders — Dr. Longstreet — Professor *. SImms — Statesmen and politicians in favor of slavery — Governor M'Duffie — ^Mr. Calhoun — Mr. Hammond — ^W. B. Seabrook — Civil and political features of the system — ^Dr. "Wayland and Dr. Fuller — Slavery tested by the Scripture standard — ^Who are slaves ? — Definitions and distinctions — Change of times and opinions... .Page 15

Chapter II. Mosal Identity Of The African Slave-tbade And Slavebt

A brief survey of the origin of the slave-trade — ^How are slaves procured in Africa ?— Force, fraud, and theft — The "middle passage " — ^Its horrors — Slave markets — The home traffic portrayed — American slavery constantly reducing persons to slavery— Instances— Free negroes— Piracy— Slave-raising— Opinion of Judge ITpshur, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Clay, and Mr. Gholson— Hon. jTohn Run-

dolph Professor Dew — Quotations from various newspapers — The

trade between the states— Advertisements— Address of Mr. Giddings— Scene in Uniontown, Pa. — J. K. Paulding, Esq.— Feather-

1* 5

CONTENTS.

stonaugh on America — Rev. J. O'Kelly on negro slavery — Specification of the atrocities connected with American slavery — The horrors of the two systems alike — Shakspeare quoted — ^William Pinckney — Thomas Erskine — Slavery the parent of the slave-trade — Africa before the existence of the slave-trade — The destruction of slavery certain Page 39

Chapter III. The Enslavesiemt Of Obilpbsn

No one ever born a slave — ^Liberty the natural and inalienable righli of every human being — ^Violation of the law of nature — All men owners of themselves — ^Heathenism — The enslavement of children forbidden in the law of Moses — Contrary to the spirit of the New Testament — Colored children as justly entitled to freedom as the white>— Continuance in theft — The darkest page of human criminality — The enslaving of children a mere substitute for the African slave-trade — ^No one entitled to the services of another for life — Right of freedom belongs to all — Man not a chattel — Opinions of statesmen — Rights of the master considered — Stolen property — Kidnappers — Every case in which a child is made a slave is a neio case of enslavement, as original as that which occurs in the case of an African stolen from Africa — The Rev. John Wesley quoted , 83

Chapter I

"Wrongs — ^Two kinds — Rights absolute and rights relative — Opinion of Blackstone — Civil and conventional rights — Terms defined and principles resulting — Divine rights — Commentaries on the laws of England — Natural rights trampled o:» by slavery — Personal liberty — Objections to making man an article of property — The idea of holding man as property is contrary to the right idea of property — The inalienable rights of man by slavery become the sole property of another — If one man be sold as property, 80 can all men — ^Making men property leads to treating them as property — ^Hebrew servants were not property — ^Brougham's speech before the British Parliament — ^Buxton quoted — ^Dr. Rice — Slavery and the right of holding property — ^Laws of the slave states in regard to the time to be employed in labor — ^Inhuman regulations — Downright, robbery—Slavery at war with personal security . . .104

CONTENTS.

Chapter II, Bepeivation Of Bights — ^education

Education withheld from the slave — No legal provision for persons of color — Laws of South Carolina— Statements of slaveholders — Synod of Kentucky — The interests of the master against the mental culture of his slaves — Violation of Scriptural precepts and commands — ^Disastrous efifects of ignorance — Ohanning quoted — Chancellor Harper — Rev. James Smylie — ^His views in reference to educating the slave population — ^Fuller and Wayland — ^Protection of the m^ter secuVed by the ignorance of the slaves — The laboring classes of free states — ^Laboring classes of Europe — heavy millstone — Oral religious instruction a failure — Such instruction too limited, too superficial, and too circumscribed in every particular Page 121

Chapter III

The duties inculcated hy Christianity — Quotations from the Bible — Bights of conscience — The Constitution and the laws of the United States — Denial of all religious privileges to the slave — ^A law of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Mississippi^ — Slavery versus religious instruction and the privileges of the Gospel- Slaves denied access to God's word, not provided with a regular ministry, and the social means of grace buf limitedly used by them-—Argument of Dr. Fuller — Three ways in which the righte of conscience are violated — ^A most heinous sin — Testimony of the synod of Kentucky — One of the worst features of the slave system — Slavery against the spread of true religion — ^Remarks of a runaway slave— Startling statements 134

Chapter IV. Depbivation Of Bights — ^habbiage

No such thing as marriage, properly so called, among slaves — Opinion of Mr. Dulaney, Attorney-(3eneral of Maryland — ^Annihilation of the right of marriage — The Scriptures made void — ^Mr. Rice to Mr. Blanchard — Singular evasion-— Slavery leads to licentiousness among the slaves and among the masters — General concubinage — Consequences of the abrd'gation of marriage — ^Masters' cl.ildren frequently slaves — The quadroons of New Orleans — Sale of one's own offspring — ^British custom — Slave-growing — ^Dr. "W. E. Ohanning's views — ^Miss Martineau on slavery and emancipation — Monstrous illegal amalgamation — Shameless hypocrisy — Degradation of woman — ^Public advertisements — Bible opposition — Opinions of some slaveholders against such abominations — Incest common — Redemption from slavery 146

CONTENTS.

Chapter V. Deprivation Of Bights Oivil Disabilities Of Slavebt, Involving

INJURIES.

Civil disabilities of slavery, involving great injustice — slave can not be a witness against a white person — ^Wheeler and Stroud quoted — The law excluding the testimony of slaves extends to all colored persons — ^Injurious effects of this disability — ^Most of the protecting laws a mere nullity — Chief Justice Atley — Sir William Young, Governor of Tobago, and others — Decision of the Supreme Court of Louisiana — The remedy proposed by southern laws of no account — South Carolina enactment — ^Why are colored persons refused the privilege of testifying in court? — The question considered — ^Unparalleled intolerance — Peculiar viciousness — A slave can not be a party to a civil suit — Six considerations named — Speech of a slave on trial — Unlimited submission required of the slave — Law of Georgia, Maryland, Kentucky, Louisiana, and South Carolina — ^Injury of a slave — Slaves can make no contracts — Can not redeem themselves — ^Laws against emancipation examined ^^ge 159

Part III

INJURIES INFUCTED BY AMERICAN SLAVERY. CHAPTER I.

EXCESSIVE PENALTIES INCURRED BY THE SLAVE.

Primary object of law — Quotations from Scripture — Crael enactments against the slave — Specimens from the laws of various slave states — Whipping and death — The chief kinds of pun.ohment — Prosecution of slaves — Strange measure — Trial by jury — The slave always kept profoundly ignorant of the laws, and when, through ignorance, he breaks one, condign punishment results — Child's Oration — ^Unlimited power of the master in punishing a slave — ^Law of ITorth Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia — Moderate correction — South Carolina regulation — Cpnstitution of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri — Quotation fi-om Stroud — The master and his deputy possessed of boundless powtr — Theheart of slavery revealed — The opinion of Whitemarsli B. S^abrook, of South Carolina — Five methods of punishment proposed — Corporeal punishment — Solitary confinement — ^Deprivation of privileges — ^Additional labor — Transportation 183

COKTENTS.

CHAPTER II.

FBIVATIONS OF SLAVES IN BEFEREXCE TO LABOU, FOOD, OLOIHINO, OWELI.-

IXGS, AND UEALXU.

The time of labor determined by the master — The law of Georgia of 1817— Law of South Carolina of 1740— Mississippi — The time of labor in South Carolina is enormous — ^Bite and work — The argument from self-interest — Consequences of overworking — Retribution of Heaven — The food of slaves, as to quantity and quality, determined solely by the master — ^^Vhat is meant by svfficient food— Corn the usual food of slaves — Meat withheld — Rations of the United States' soldiers and state prisoners — Testimony of Rev. Thomas S. Clay, of Georgia — Clothing of slaves not adequate to comforter decency — Provisions of different states on the subject- Why the slave is poorly clothed — The dwellings of slaves — Quotations on the subject — Provision for sick and aged slaves — ^Act of Georgia for December 12, 1815 — Sarah M. Grimke — George A. Avory — The privations of slaves continued — Dr. Channing — ^Moral character of the system Page 200

CHAPTER III.

CBCELTIES OF SLAVERY.

The punishments of slaves amount to the greatest inhumanity — Several specifications made — Penalties — Property of the master more sacred than the person of the slave — Two laws of Louisiana' cited — ^Indifference to the torments of slaves — ^Brenard's Digest quoted — ^Decision of Judge Matthews, of Louisiana — ^Another decision — Shooting slaves — Dniform cruelty of American slavery — Mr. Whitfield quoted — Woolman — Pinckney — O'Kelly — Rice — President Edwards, the younger — Major Stoddard — Testimony of the Gradual Emancipation Society of North Carolina — Rev. J. Rankin — ^Judge Rufiin — Mr. Moore, of Virginia — Swaim, of North Carolina — J. C. Finley to Mr. Mahan — ^Mr. Thome's speech. New York, 1834 — Synod of Kentucky — Specimens of whipping — G. W. Westgate quoted— Horace Moulton — S. M. Grimke — Tortures of slaves — ^Branding, crippling, and cutting — The overseer and the driver — Description of a slave-dealer, by Hon. J. K. Paulding^ — ^Inhumanity proved — Advertisements — Moral evils and actual sins flowing from slavery — Objections noticed — Denial of these cruelties — Dr. Fuller — ^Feeble logic— A serious omission — Contempt of marriage and all marriage relations — Evasion by all champions of slavery of the real point at issue — A slavery guided by justice or love is no slavery at all — Confession of Dr. Fuller to Dr. Wayland — Dr. Fuller practically an insurrectionist and an abolitionist- Gratifying consideration — Some improvement hoped for 218

CONTENTS.

Part IV

CONTRARIETY TO THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. CHAPTER I.

SLAVERY CONTBAEY TO MANY SCaiFTUIlE FItOHIBITIONS.

Despotism of slavery considered — Quotations — Confession of Dr. Fuller — ^Declaration of Thomas Jefferson — E. C. Holland— W. B. Seabrook — What is- a despot ? — Declaration of Independence — Governor M'Duffie — The civil law — ^Its application — A sad picture — Two slaveholders quoted — The Bible views slavery as oppression — Treatment of the Hebrews — Scripture precepts — ^Deprivation of just and righteous wages — The laborer is worthy of his hire — Condemnation of the capture of fugitive slaves — Hebrew servitude — Slaves — ^Laws in regard to fugitive slaves opposad to the Bible — ^Argument — Outrageous enormities — No liberty for the slave in the United States — Sad narrative — Constitution of the United States — ^Act of Congress, passed February 12, 1793 — Pennsylvania the forum of most of the decisions respecting fugitive slaves — Laws of the United States and of the slave states, in regard to the capture of fugitive slaves, directly opposed to the Mosaic code — A Hebrew servant, when maltreated, could claim freedom — ^Not so with American slaves — Stealers of men in old times punished with death — ^Enormities practiced in regard to the capture of fugitive slaves — Practical workings of the system — Outline of treating runaways — Caution against running away — Pursuit of runaways — ^Blood-hounds — Deadly weapons — Professional men-hunters — Advertisements — Chaining and torturing fugitive slaves Pago 251

CHAPTER II.

SLAVERY VS. SCRIFTVRAX COMMANDS,

Contrary to justice or righteousness — Proof— Contrary to the great law of love — The Bible cited — General statements — ^Keeping slaves for their good — The «* golden rule" opposed to slavery — St. Augustine on Matthew vii, 12 — Cornelius a Lapide — Dr. Doddridge — No one under the influence of this rule ever made another a slave, nor would he continue the practice of the system under the guidance of the "golden rule" — The brotherhood of the human race — Evasion of the law of this brotherhood — ^A question propounded and answered — Captives — Jesus Christ and Moses — Teachings of the prophets — Slavery shows no mercy to the poor- Quotations from Scripture — Obedience of children — Separation of parents and children — ^Narrative of Mr. Birney — A Missouri negro-trader -^Husbands and wives — Marriage may be forbid* den — Two a^tvertisements — ^Rev. J. H. Dickey's description of a

CONTENTS.

"drove"— Rev. A. Eankin — "Searcli the Scriptures" — Slavery does not allow this — ^Duty of the slave to aim at freedom — ^Decision of Judge Ruffin , . . .Page 274

CHAPTER III.

Contrary to the original grant vrhich God gave to man — Ood's charter gives no grant of property in man— 'Quotation from Genesis — The declaration of the Psalmist — Slavery contradicts the grant made by God in two ways: first, by one portion of the human family claiming and securing another portion of the human family, and, secondly, by depriving that portion of the common property bestowed on the whole race of mankind — The Saxon has no right of property in the Indian or African — God the only lawful despot — Slavery divides and scatters families — Slaveholders monopolizers and robbers — Property the right of aLl — Slavery sinks the divine image of God, in which man was created, to the level of brutality — Passages from various parts of the Scriptures — ^Indirect attacks on God — ^Fighting against him — All mental improvement in slaves denounced by pro-slavery men — Christ died for all — John iii, 16 — The work of redemption antagonistic to slavery — Declaration of St. Paul — The same sacrifice made for the slave as for the master — Christian brethren in bonds and chains — The early Christians opposed to the spirit and prd.ctice of slavery — ^Usurpation of divine rights — The claims of slavery equal the claims of Heaven- Slavery contrary to the natural equality of mankind — Bible declarations — ^Human equality recognized by the Bible — The ground on which Aristotle defended slavery — Slavery contrary to the chief end of man, which is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. . . .299

CHAPTER IV.

THE DECALOGUE AGAINST SLAVSEY.

Eight reasons given for the consideration of the ten commandments — Slavery a breach of the first commandment — ^The point discussed — Opposed to the second commandment — ^The slave can not worship God — Slavery encourages profanity — ^Proof— Violates the Sabbath — Does not allow the obedience of children to parents — Reciprocal duties of parents and children despised — The servant and the slave — Encourages murder — Stroud quoted — O'Kelly on this point — Rev. John Rankin, of Tennessee — ^Instances of atrocious murders — Burning of negroes — Several examples cited — Slow deaths by fire common — Suicides — Lex talionia illustrated — Murder by a negro — ^Adultery encouraged by slavery — Valuable slaves — The Edmondson sisters — EProcess of amalgamation—

CONTENTS.

Slavery a violation of the eighth commandment — *' Thou shalt not Bteal" — ^Westminster catechism — ^Bishop Hopkins — Exposition of the ten commandments — Slaveholders, according to St. Paul, are men-stealers — The Greek word andrapodistes analyzed — Dr. Bloomfield's view — Analysis of the crime of theft — ^What constitutes theft ? — Quotations from Exodus xxi, 16, Proverbs xxix, 24, and Psalm 1, 18 — Bishop Hopkins again — Men, being naturally free, are incapable of , becoming goods or chattels — Judge Blackstone quoted — Slaveholding is robbery beyond all other robbery — Real slaveholders swindlers — ^Blackstone's Commentaries — Slavery is theft — African and American thieving — ^Hard terms^ — Stolen property — Passage from the life of William Brown — Quotations from Genesis and Deuteronomy — Stealers, sellers, purchasers, and holders of slaves, alike guilty — Penalty of the Mosaic law — ^Larger catechism of the Presbyterian Church — The Mosaic law on man- Btealiag recognized and resanctioncd in the Ifew Testament by St. Paul — Slavery a breach of the eighth commandment, according to all good interpreters — ^Westminster Assembly — Punishments of the Lord — Report on the Free People of Color of Ohio — ^Horrible case of kidnapping — Contrary to the ninth and tenth commandments, and against all just laws, human and divine Page 310

CHAPTER V.

8LAVEET CONTRAEY TO THE SPIRIT OP CnRISTIANlxY.

The right, such as the master claims over the slave, not acknowledged by the Bible — The matter demonstrated — Slavery and the light diffused by Christianity at variance — Speech of Rev. Richard Watson, Exeter Hall, London — The spirit of Christianity and slaveholding — The dispositions and feelings enjoined on Christians opposed to slavery — Christ's kingdom — The brotherhood of Christianity — The case of Dcmarara — Prayer and slavery not congruous — Quotation from " Thoughts on Slavery," by John Wesley — Two prayers given — ^A third — Stanza of poetry— Proceedings of some citizens of South Carolina against Dr. Brisbane — Slavery opposed to civilization and education — Remarks of Rev. William Bevan before the Antislavery Convention held at London, June, 1840 344

Part I. American Slavery And The African Slave- Trade Contrasted

SINFULNESS

OP

AMERICAN SLAVERY.

CHAPTER I. INTBODUOTIOy

1. We will commence this treatise by defining l£ie system of slavery :

"A slave is a person divested of the ownership of himself, and conveyed, with all his powers of body and mind, to the proprietorship of another."

" Slaveholding is detaining one in this condition, or keeping him subject to the laws of slavery ; and the detamer is the slaveholder."

Or, a slaveholder is one who sustains the legal relation of master or owner of a slave.

There are but two slaveholding powers in all countries where slavery exists by law — ^the master and the government. A slaveholding government is one which authorizes individuals to deprive their fello^ men of self-ownership. An individufil slaveholder is one who subjects men to the laws of slavery, or who voluntarily holds slaves by law.

2. Slavery reduces men to articles of property; makes chattels out of free agents; converts persons into things.

But American slavery is best defined by quoting the laws which authorize and protect the system. In the civil or Roman laws, slaves were held "pro nullis; pro mortuis; pro quadrupedibus" — "as nothing; as dead; as quadrupeds."

The condition of slaves, in our slaveholding states, is little different or better, as far as laws are con^mcd, than under

IG

Introduction

the Bpman laws. According to the laws of Louisiana, " a slave is one who is in the power of a 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 any thing but what must belong to his master." — Civil code, art. 35. There is, indeed, in theory, a limitation to the master's power in punishing the slave, yet no such limitation practically exists, or can, by law, be enforced. " The slave is entirely subject to the will of his master, who may correct or chastise him, though not with unusual t^or, or so as to maim or mutilate him to the danger or loss of life, or to cause death." — Art. 173. (See Stroud, p. 22.)

The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to 1)6 ranked among sentient beings, but among things — ^is an article of property— a chattel — obtains as undoubted law in all other slave states. In South Carolina it is expressed in the following language: "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." (Stroud, p. 23.) Absolute despotism could ask no more than this.

3. We will here set down what may be called the legal definition of slavery. We quote from Mr. Stroud's excellent " Sketch of the laws relating to slavery," Philadelphia, 1837, an authority which can not be called in question. He treats first of the laws which regard the slave as property, and concern the relation of master and slave. Secondly, those laws which consider the slave as a member of civil society.

First. Those laws which regard the slave as property are comprised under the following twelve propositions :

" 1. The master may determine the kind, and degree, and time of labor, to which the slave may be subjected.

INTRODUCTION.

" 2. The master may supply the slave -with such food and clothing only, both as to quantity and iquality, as he may think proper or find convenient.

" 3. The master may, at his discretion, inflict any punishment upon the person of his slave.

" 4. All the power of the master over his slave may be exercised, not by himself only in person, but by any one whom he may depute as his agent.

" 5. Slaves have no legal rights of property ib .dings real or personal ; but whatever they may acqmre belongSj in point of law, to theur masters.

" 6. The slave, being a personal ehatteli b, at all times, liable to be sold absolutely, or mortgaged or leased, at the will of his master.

" 7. He may also be sold by procfess of law for tbelsatisfaction of the debts of a living, or the debts and bequests of a deceased master, at the suit of creditors or legatees.

"8. A slave can not be a party before a judicial tribmial, in any species of action, against L's master, no matter how atrocious may have been the injury received from him.

"0. Slaveis can not redeem themsel/es, nor obtain a change of masters, though cniel treatment may have rendered such change necessary for their personal safety.

" 10. Slaves being objects of property, if mjured by third persons, their owners may bring sxiit, and recover damages, for the injury.

"11. Slaves can make no contract.

" 12. Slavery is hereditary and perpetual."

The laws which refer to the slave as a member of civil society, Mr. Stroud, p. 66, for the sake of perspicuity, ranges under the following propositions :

" 1. A slave can not be a witness agtunst a white person, either in a civil or criminal cause.

"2. He can not be a party to a civil suit.

*' 3. The benefits of education are withheld from the slave.

2*

INTRODTrOTION.

" 4. Tlie means for moral and religious instruction are not granted to the slave ; on the conti'ary, the efforts of the humane and charitable to supply these wants are discountenanced by law.

"5. Submission is required of the slave, not to the will of his master only, but to that of all other white persons.

"6. The penal codes of the slaveholding states bear much more severely upon slaves than upon white persons.

" 7. Slaves are prosecuted and tried upon criminal accusations in a manner inconsistent with the rights of humanity."

The sum of these laws will comprehend the proper description or definition of slavery, much more clearly and fully than any definition, in abstract terms, can furnish. The legal enactments, by which alone slavery exists, will be the authoritative description of the slave system. To this we will contmually refer, and by it we will be gmded in the following chapters.

4. The judicial decisions upholding slavery, according to the statutes of slavery, and which are in keeping with these statutes, present a true picture of the system of slavery. The reported cases of judicial proceedings show how the law is practiced, and constitute the common iaw of slavery. There are innumerable cases that might be quoted ; but at this stage of the discussion we will introduce only two.

The following is a part of a case decided by Judge Crenshaw: — (1 Stewart's Reports, 320.)

"A slave is in absolute bondage; he has no civil rights, and can hold no property, except at the will and pleasure of his master. A slave is a rational being, endowed with understanding like the rest of mankind; and whatever he lawfully acquires and gmns possession of, by finding or otherwise, is the acquirement and possession of the master. And in 5 Cowen's Reports, 397, the court held that a slave at common law could not contract matrimony, nor could the

INTRODUCTION.

child of a slave take by descent or purchase." (Wheeler's Law of Slavery, p. Y.)

In the Supreme Court of Tennessee, in 1834, the following case was decided : Frederick, a slave of Colonel Patton, of the North Carolina line, with his master's consent, enlisted and fought through the war of the American Revolution. On the 8th of August, 1821, as Frederick's name was found in the muster-roll, a warrant was issued to Frederick, givivig him the soldier's bounty of one thousand acres of land. The question before the Court was, whether the land belonged to Frederick or to his master. Judge Catron's decision is in these words:

"Frederick, the slave of Colonel Patton, earned this warrant by his services in the continental line. What is earned by the slave belongs to the master, by the common law, the civil law, and the recognized rules of property in the slaveholdmg states of the Union. "

Hence, the thousand acres of land were awarded, not to Frederick, but to the heirs of Colonel Patton.

The matter is plain, that the legal decisions of com'ts, as well as the laws, make slaves things who can acquire or hold no property.

5. The practices and workings of slavery, in its range of operations, correspond to the statutes and legal decisions of the system, so as to show the sinfulness of slavery.

In representative republics, as in the United States, the laws may be safely regarded as constituting a faithful exposition of the sentiments and feelings of the body of the people ; for laws proceed from the deliberate acts of persons of mature age, embodying the intelligence, wisdom, justice, and humanity of the community. When cruelty or injustice is the spirit of the law toward a proscribed class — ^when it legalizes great outrages upon them — it necessarily will connive at greater outrages ; hence, though the degree of the outrage is illegal, the perpetrator will rarely be

INTRODUCTION.

convicted, and, even if convicted, Trill almost always be sure to escape punishment. This is not theory, but history. The legal conviction and punishment of masters and mistresses, for illegal outrages on their slaves, very rarely occurs ; and though hundreds of slaves have been murdered by their masters and mistresses, in the slave states, "wifchin the last thirty years, and the proofs ^f the murders unquestionable, yet the murderers, in all or most cases, have escaped the penalty of the law.

Indeed, the slave laws are a disgrace to human nature, especially when considered as the laws of a people glorying in their freedom, honor, and magnanimity. The system of slavery — ^a system of implacable and unmitigated cruelty — as set forth iii the laws which authorize and protect it, belongs to the lowest stage of barbarism.

It is an established maxim, that no people are better than tMr laws are. In general this is true; yet there are exceptions in both extremes. Some are worse than their laws; others are better; but the body of the people must be of the same spirit and sentiment with their laws, except in the stages of transition from good to better, or from bad to worse.

The establishment of slavery by laws does not make the system right; because God's law, which is superior to all laws, condemns slavery as wrong ; and God's laws can not be repealed by the laws of man. Is it right to steal human beings, or — ^what is the same — ^rob them of their liberty, convert them into property, treat them cruelly, because human laws allow or authorize this outrage? The history of human governments is a mer3 record of wrongs; and the progress of civilization consists principally of substituting just and humane for barbarous and oppressive laws. The authority of government, in ordaining slavery, as in ordaining other unjust things, is a reason for using all lawful means in correcting the evil. Besides, wrong done by

INTRODUOTION.

law or by society is amenable to the same retribution as wrong done by individuals.