Slavery Illustrated--Continued.
SEVERITY OF THE LAWS AGAINST SLAVES.
As the laws provide for the degradation of the slave to a state of the
most stupid ignorance, it would naturally be supposed that little would
be required in the way of obedience, and that when a slave did trespass
a very light punishment would be meted out to him. Evidently this would
be the humane and just course, for where little is given little should
be required. In this, however, as in most other things slavery is
precisely contrary to nature, humanity and reason.
Slaves are punished by the laws for numerous acts which are in
themselves perfectly right.
"For seeking liberty a slave is proclaimed an outlaw and may be
lawfully killed." (_Goodell._) "He may be punished for attending
religious meetings at night. He may be publicly whipped for keeping a
gun, or a pistol. For visiting a wife or child without a written pass,
he may be whipped. For striking a white person, no matter how great the
provocation, whipping--and for the second or third offence, DEATH."
(_Goodell._) These are but specimens of the cruel and vexatious laws
by which the slave's life is embittered. He, poor wretch, must have so
many lashes on the bare back for almost every thing which his manhood
prompts him to do. He must always be on the look out to act and feel
as a mere brute--he must crouch and bend in constant abjectness or his
back shall pay the penalty. But for _actual crimes_ the disproportion
between the punishment of slaves and white persons is very great.
"In Va., by the revised code of 1819, there are seventy-one offenses
for which the penalty is death when committed by slaves and imprisonment
when committed by the whites." (_Jay's Inquiry._)
"In Mississippi there are seventeen offenses punishable with death when
committed by slaves, which, if committed by white persons, are either
punished by fines or imprisonment, or punishment not provided for by
the statute or at common law." (_Goodell._)
A law of Md., provides that--"Any slave for rambling in the night,
or riding on horseback or running away, may be punished by whipping,
cropping and branding in the cheeks or otherwise, not rendering him
unfit for labor."
And yet, notwithstanding the extreme and unreasonable partiality and
severity of these laws, it is not unusual for the barbarous spirit of
slavery to overleap them in its unmerciful punishment of the slave.
When the slave commits a high crime, not unfrequently does a furious
mob seize him, and hang him up without trial as if he were a mean dog.
Calmness and solemnity, which should always characterize the punishment
of the _greatest_ criminals in christian countries, give place to the
most violent and cruel passions. Judgment, mercy, law, humanity, God
and Christianity, are all forgotten in the hasty and insane desire to
have the wretched bondman pushed out of the world. And perhaps the
crime which has so violently stirred up the community against him was
committed under the greatest provocations. His soul may have been
writhing under a crushing sense of repeated wrongs. His wife may have
been abused before his eyes while he was not permitted to defend her.
His daughter may have been dishonored, and he, without appeal for her
protection to church or State, compelled to suffer it in silence. And
his own back may have been smarting from the maddening lash--and in a
moment of frenzy or despair he may have smitten his oppressor to the
earth.
And, for this crime he is treated as a prince of criminals, is hung up
without trial, or perhaps _burned alive_!
Our souls have been harrowed up by a circumstance which transpired
during the present year (1853) in the State of Mo. Two negro men for
the commission of murder were arrested and tied to a tree, near the
county seat of Jasper co., a fire was kindled around them, and in
the presence of two thousand persons, they were burned to death! No
time for reflection or repentance was allowed. Not a word of warning
or exhortation was permitted. Even a humane mode of being killed was
denied. But they were, in this year, during the Presidency of _Pierce_,
in the State of Missouri, _burned without trial_!
In 1842 a negro was burned at Union Point, Mississippi. The _Natchez
Free Trader_ gives the following account of the horrible work.
"The body was taken and chained to a tree immediately on the bank
of the Mississippi, on what is called Union Point. Fagots were then
collected, and piled around him to which he appeared quite indifferent.
When the work was completed, he was asked what he had to say. He then
warned all to take example by him, and asked the prayers of all around;
he then called for a drink of water, which was handed to him; he drank
it, and said, 'Now set fire--I am ready to go in peace!' The torches
were lighted and placed in the pile, which soon ignited. He watched
unmoved the curling flame, that 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
ringing of several rifles was heard: the body of the negro fell a
corpse on the ground. He was picked up by some two or three, and again
thrown into the fire and consumed--not a vestige remaining to show that
such a being ever existed."
A colored man was burned in St. Louis, Mo., in 1836, in presence of an
immense throng of spectators. The _Alton Telegraph_ gives the following
description of the scene.
"All was silent as death while the executioners were piling wood around
their victim. He said not a word, until feeling that the flames had
seized upon him. He then uttered an awful howl, attempting to sing
and pray, then hung his head, and suffered in silence, except in
the following instance: After the flames had surrounded their prey,
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 would be of no use, since he was already out of pain."
"No, no," said the wretch, "I am not. I am suffering as much as ever;
shoot me, shoot me." "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._""[5]
It may be said that we have in these illustrations of slavery,
exaggerated. But this can not be the case, for we have given the
laws and the practice together, and have furnished the testimony of
eye-witnesses. And we could bring forward a thousand witnesses from
the midst of slavery, whose testimony would confirm all we have said.
Yea more; they would declare that half the extent of the evils of this
horrible institution are unknown. Hear if you please, a voice from
North Carolina--Mr. Swain:
"Let any man of spirit and feeling for a moment cast his thoughts
over this land of slavery--think of the nakedness of some, the hungry
yearnings of others, the flowing tears and heaving sighs of parting
relations, the wailings of _woe_, the bloody cut of the keen lash,
and the _frightful scream_ that rends the very skies--and all this to
gratify ambition, lust, pride, avarice, vanity, and other depraved
feelings of the human heart. THE WORST IS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN. Were all
the miseries, the horrors of slavery, to burst at once into view, a
peal of seven fold thunder could scarce strike greater alarm."
Hear the venerable John Rankin, a native and long resident of
Tennessee. (_See Elliot pp. 225._)
"Many poor slaves are stripped naked, stretched and tied across
barrels, or large bags, _and tortured with the lash during hours,
and even whole days, till their flesh is mangled to the very bones_.
Others are stripped and hung up by the arms, their feet are tied
together, and the end of a heavy piece of timber is put between their
legs in order to stretch their bodies, and so prepare them for the
torturing lash--and in this situation they are often whipped till
their bodies are covered _with blood and mangled flesh_--and, in order
to add the greatest keenness to their sufferings, their wounds are
washed with _liquid salt_! And some of the miserable creatures are
permitted to hang in that position till they actually _expire_; some
die under the lash, others linger about for a time, and at length die
of their wounds, and many survive, and endure again similar torture.
These bloody scenes are _constantly exhibiting in every slaveholding
country--thousands of whips are every day stained in African blood_!
Even the poor _females_ are not permitted to escape these shocking
cruelties."
And finally listen dispassionately to the _Presbyterian Synod of
Kentucky_, composed of those whose interest it was to present slavery
in as favorable a light as possible. (_See Elliot pp. 225._)
"This system licenses and produces _great cruelty_. Mangling,
imprisonment, starvation, every species of torture, may be inflicted
upon him, [the slave,] and he has no redress. There are now in our
whole land two millions of human beings, exposed, defenseless, to
every insult, and every injury short of maiming or death, which
their fellow-men may choose to inflict. They suffer all that can be
inflicted by wanton caprice, by grasping avarice, by brutal lust, by
malignant spite, and by insane anger. Their happiness is the sport
of every whim, and the prey of every passion that may, occasionally
or habitually, infest the master's bosom. If we could calculate the
amount of woe endured by ill-treated slaves, it would overwhelm every
compassionate heart--it would move even the obdurate to sympathy.
There is also a vast sum of suffering inflicted upon the slave by
humane masters, as a punishment for that idleness and misconduct which
slavery naturally produces. BRUTAL STRIPES and all the varied kinds of
personal indignities, are not the only species of cruelty which slavery
licenses."