An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans Part 5

In nearly all slaveholding States, a slave emanc.i.p.ated by his master's will, may be seized and sold to satisfy _any debt_. In Louisiana, fraud of creditors is by law considered as _proved_, if it can be made to appear that the master, at the moment of executing the deed of enfranchis.e.m.e.nt, had not sufficient property to pay all his debts; and if after payment of debts, there be not personal estate enough to satisfy the widow's claim to one third, his slaves, though declared to be free by his last will, are nevertheless liable to be sold for the widow's portion.--In South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, a valid emanc.i.p.ation can only be gained by authority of the Legislature, expressly granted. A slave-owner _cannot_ manumit his slaves without the formal consent of the Legislature. "In Georgia, any attempt to free a slave in any other manner than the prescribed form, is punished by a fine of two hundred dollars for each _offence_; and the slave or slaves are still, to all intents and purposes, in a state of slavery." A new act was pa.s.sed in that State in 1818, by which any person, who endeavors to enfranchise a slave by will, testament, contract, or stipulation, or who contrives indirectly to confer freedom by allowing his slaves to enjoy the profit of their labor and skill, incurs a penalty not exceeding _one thousand dollars_; and the slaves who have been the object of such benevolence, are ordered to be seized and sold at public outcry.

In North Carolina, "no slave is allowed to be set free, except for _meritorious services_, to be adjudged of and allowed by the county court, and license first had and obtained thereupon;" and any slave manumitted contrary to this regulation may be seized, put in jail, and sold to the highest bidder. In Mississippi _all_ the above obstacles to emanc.i.p.ation are combined in one act.

In Kentucky, Missouri, Virginia, and Maryland, greater facilities are afforded to emanc.i.p.ation. An instrument in writing, signed by two witnesses, or acknowledged by the owner of the slave in open court, is sufficient; the court reserving the power to demand security for the maintenance of aged or infirm slaves. By the Virginia laws, an emanc.i.p.ated negro, more than twenty-one years old, is liable to be again reduced to slavery, if he remain in the State more than twelve months after his manumission.

In Louisiana, a slave cannot be emanc.i.p.ated, unless he is thirty years old and has behaved well at least four years preceding his freedom; except a slave who has saved the life of his master, his master's wife, or one of his children. It is necessary to make known to the judge the intention of conferring freedom, who may authorize it, after it has been advertised at the door of the court-house forty days, without exciting any opposition.

Stephens, in his history of West India slavery, supposes that the colonial codes of England are the only ones expressly framed to obstruct emanc.i.p.ation. He is mistaken;--the American _republics_ share that distinction with their mother country. There are plenty of better things in England to imitate.

According to the Mosaic law, a Hebrew could not retain his brother, whom he might buy as a servant, more than six years, against his consent, and in the seventh year he went out free for nothing. If he came by himself, he went out by himself; if he were married when he came, his wife went with him. _Exodus_ xxi, _Deut._ xv, _Jeremiah_ x.x.xiv. Besides this, Hebrew slaves were, without exception, restored to freedom by the _Jubilee_.--"Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land, and unto all the inhabitants thereof." _Leviticus_ xxv, 10.

At Athens, if the slave possessed property enough to buy his freedom, the law compelled the master to grant it, whenever the money was offered.

The severe laws of Rome discouraged manumission; but it was a very common thing for slaves to pay for freedom, out of their _peculium_; and public opinion made it dishonorable to retain them in bondage under such circ.u.mstances. "According to Cicero, sober and industrious slaves, who became such by captivity in war, seldom remained in servitude above six years."

"In Turkey, the right of redemption is expressly regulated by the Koran. The master is commanded to give to all his slaves, that behave themselves faithfully, a writing, fixing beforehand the price at which they may be redeemed; and which he is bound to accept, when tendered by them, or on their behalf."

"In Brazil, a slave who can pay the value of his servitude, (the fair price of which may be settled by the magistrate,) has a right to demand his freedom. And the case frequently happens; for the slaves have one day in the week, and in some places two days, exclusively of Sundays and other festivals, which the industrious employ in providing a fund for their redemption."

"In the Spanish colonies, the law is still more liberal. The civil magistrates are empowered to decide upon the just price of a slave, and when the negro is able to offer this sum, his master is compelled to grant his freedom. He may even redeem himself progressively. For instance, by paying a sixth part of his appreciation, he may redeem for his own use one day in the week; by employing this industriously, he will soon be enabled to buy another day; by pursuing the same laudable course, the remainder of his time may be redeemed with continually accelerated progress, till he becomes ent.i.tled to entire manumission."

PROP. 11.--_Operation of the laws interferes with religious privileges._

No places of public wors.h.i.+p are prepared for the negro; and churches are so scarce in the slaveholding States, compared with the number of _white_ inhabitants, that it is not to be supposed great numbers of them follow their masters to such places; and if they did, what could their rude, and merely sensual minds comprehend of a discourse addressed to educated men? In Georgia, there is a law which forbids any congregation or company of negroes to a.s.semble themselves contrary to the act regulating patrols. Every justice of the peace may go in person, or send a constable, to disperse any a.s.sembly or meeting of slaves, which _may_ disturb the peace, endanger the safety, &c., and every slave taken at such meetings may, by order of the justice, _without trial_, receive on the bare back twenty-five stripes with whip, switch, or cowskin. In South Carolina, an act forbids the police officers to break into any place of religious meeting before nine o'clock, provided a _majority_ of the a.s.sembly are _white persons_; but if the quorum of white people should happen to be wanting, every slave would be liable to twenty-five lashes of the cowskin.

These, and various similar regulations, are obviously made to prevent insurrections; but it is plain that they must materially interfere with the slave's opportunities for religious instruction. The fact is, there are _inconveniences_ attending a general diffusion of Christianity in a slaveholding State--light must follow its path, and that light would reveal the surrounding darkness,--slaves might begin to think whether slavery could be reconciled with religious precepts,--and then the system is quite too republican--it teaches that all men are children of the same heavenly Father, who careth alike for all.

The West India planters boldly and openly declared, that slavery and Christianity could not exist together; in their minds the immediate inference was, that Christianity must be put down; and very consistently they began to fine and imprison Methodist missionaries, burn chapels,[P] &c.

[Footnote P: The slaves of any one owner may meet together for religious purposes, if authorized by their master, and private chaplains may be hired to preach to them. The domestic slaves, who are entirely employed in the family, no doubt fare much better in this respect, than the plantation slaves; but this, and all other negro privileges, depend entirely upon the slave's _luck_ in the character of his master.]

In Rome, the introduction of "Christianity abolished slavery; the idea of exclusive property in our fellow-men was too obviously at variance with its holy precepts; and its professors, in the sincerity of their hearts, made a formal surrender of such claims. In various ancient instruments of emanc.i.p.ation, the masters begin by declaring, that, 'for the love of G.o.d and Jesus Christ, for the easing of their consciences, and the safety of their souls,' they set their bondmen free."

"It is remarkable that the ancient inhabitants of Great Britain used to sell their countrymen, and even their own children, to the Irish. The port of Bristol, afterwards so famous for the African slave-trade, was then equally distinguished as a market for the same commodity, though of a different color. But when Ireland, in the year 1172, was afflicted with public calamities, the clergy and people of that generous nation began to reproach themselves with the unchristian practice of holding their fellow-men in slavery. Their English bondmen, though fully paid for, were, by an unanimous resolution of the Armagh a.s.sembly, set at liberty. _Their_ repentance dictated present rest.i.tution to the injured.

More than six hundred years afterwards, when Mr. Wilberforce made his first motion for the abolition of the slave-trade, he was supported by every Irish member of the House of Commons." May G.o.d bless thee, warm-hearted, generous old Ireland!

In the English and Dutch colonies, baptism was generally supposed to confer freedom on the slave; and for this reason, masters were reluctant to have them baptized. They got over this difficulty, however, and married self-interest to conscience, by making a law that "no slave should become free by being a Christian." This is a striking proof how closely Christianity and liberty are a.s.sociated together.

A French planter of St. Domingo, in a book which he published concerning that colony, admits that it is desirable to have negroes know enough of religion to make them friends to humanity, and grateful to their creator; but he considers it very wrong to load their weak minds with a belief in supernatural dogmas, such as a belief in a future state.

He says, "such knowledge is apt to render them intractable, averse to labor, and induces them to commit suicide on themselves and their children, _of which the colony, the State, and commerce have equal need_."

Our slaveholders, in general, seem desirous to have the slave just religious enough to know that insurrections and murder are contrary to the maxims of Christianity; but it is very difficult to have them learn just so much as this, without learning more. In Georgia, I have been told, that a very general prejudice prevails against white missionaries.

To avoid this danger, old domestic slaves, who are better informed than the plantation slaves, are employed to hear sermons and repeat them to their brethren; and their repet.i.tions are said to be strange samples of pulpit eloquence. One of these old negroes, as the story goes, told his hearers that the Bible said slaves ought to get their freedom; and if they could not do it in any other way, they must murder their masters.

The slaves had never been allowed to learn to read, and of course they could not dispute that such a doctrine was actually in the Scriptures.

Thus do unjust and absurd laws "return to plague the inventor."

PROP. 12.--_Whole power of the laws exerted to keep negroes in ignorance._

South Carolina made the first law upon this subject. While yet a _province_, she laid a penalty of one hundred pounds upon any person who taught a slave to write, or allowed him to be taught to write.[Q] In Virginia, any school for teaching reading and writing, either to slaves, or to free people of color, is considered _an unlawful a.s.sembly_, and may accordingly be dispersed, and punishment administered upon each pupil, not exceeding twenty lashes.

[Footnote Q: Yet it has been said that these laws are entirely owing to the rash efforts of the abolitionists.]

In South Carolina, the law is the same.

The city of Savannah, in Georgia, a few years ago, pa.s.sed an ordinance, by which "any person that teaches a person of color, slave or free, to read or write, or causes such persons to be so taught, is subjected to a fine of thirty dollars for each offence; and every person of color who shall teach reading or writing, is subject to a fine of thirty dollars, or to be imprisoned ten days and whipped thirty-nine lashes."

From these facts it is evident that legislative power prevents a master from giving liberty and instruction to his slave, even when such a course would be willingly pursued by a benevolent individual. The laws allow almost unlimited power to do _mischief_; but the power to do _good_ is effectually restrained.

PROP. 13.--_There is a monstrous inequality of law and right._

In a civilized country, one would expect that if any disproportion existed in the laws, it would be in favor of the ignorant and defenceless; but the reverse is lamentably the case here. _Obedience_ to the laws is the price freemen pay for the _protection_ of the laws;--but the same legislatures which absolutely sanction the negro's _wrongs_, and, to say the least, make very inadequate provisions for his _safety_, claim the right to _punish_ him with inordinate severity.

"In Kentucky, white men are condemned to death for _four_ crimes only; slaves meet a similar punishment for _eleven_ crimes. In South Carolina, white persons suffer death for _twenty-seven_ crimes; slaves incur a similar fate for _thirty-six_ crimes. In Georgia, whites are punished capitally for _three_ crimes only; slaves for _at least nine_."

Stroud says there are _seventy-one_ crimes in the slave States, for which negroes are punished with _death_, and for each and every one of these crimes the white man suffers nothing worse than imprisonment in the penitentiary.

"Trial by jury is utterly denied to the slave, _even in criminal accusations which may affect his life_; in South Carolina, Virginia, and Louisiana, instead of a jury, is subst.i.tuted a tribunal composed of two justices of the peace and from three to five _free_-holders, (i. e.

_slave_-holders.) In Virginia, it is composed of five justices merely.

What chance has an ignorant slave before a tribunal chosen by his accuser, suddenly convoked, and consisting of but five persons?"

If a slave is found out of the limits of the town in which he lives, or beyond the plantation on which he is usually employed, without a written permission from his master, or the company of some white person, _any body_ may inflict twenty lashes upon him; and if the slave resist such punishment, he may be lawfully _killed_.

If a slave visit another plantation without leave in writing from his master, the owner of the plantation may give him ten lashes.

More than seven slaves walking or standing together in the road, without a white man, may receive twenty lashes each from any person.

Any slave, or Indian, who takes away, or lets loose a boat, from any place where it is fastened, receives thirty-nine lashes for the first offence; and, according to some laws, one ear is cut off for the second offence.

For carrying a gun, powder, shot, a club, or any weapon whatsoever, offensive or defensive, thirty-nine lashes by order of a justice; and in some States, twenty lashes from the nearest constable, _without_ a conviction by the justice.

For selling any article, without a specific ticket from his master, ten lashes by the captain of the patrollers,[R] or thirty-nine by order of a magistrate. The same punishment for being at any a.s.sembly deemed _unlawful_.

[Footnote R: The patrols are very generally low and dissipated characters, and the cruelties which negroes suffer from them, while in a state of intoxication, are sometimes shocking. The law endows these men with very great power.]

For travelling by himself from his master's land to any other place, unless by the most accustomed road, forty lashes; the same for travelling in the night without a pa.s.s; the same for being found in another negro's kitchen, or quarters; and every negro found _in company_ with such vagrant, receives twenty lashes.

For hunting with dogs, even in the woods of his master, thirty lashes.

For running away and lurking in swamps, a negro may be lawfully _killed_ by any person. If a slave _happen_ to die of _moderate_ correction, it is likewise justifiable homicide.

For endeavoring to entice another slave to run away, if provisions are prepared, the slave is punished with DEATH; and any negro aiding or abetting suffers DEATH.

Thirty-nine stripes for harboring a runaway slave one hour.

For disobeying orders, imprisonment as long as the master chooses.