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Show 72 DJo:SI'OTISJ\t rna and Mississippi, no master ca~ ~mancipate his slave, except with the express permJSSton of. the state legislature, a permission not easily to be o?tau:cd. In North Carolina and T ennessee, the emanc1patmg master mnst have the approbation and consent of the County Court. In Virginia, he 1nust remove the emancipated slave, beyond the limits of the State. In Maryland a similar law prevails .. ln Kenluclqr, MiSsouri and Louisiana, the master st1ll rctams the ngluof emancipation under certain restrictions. But throughout all the slave states, this exertion of power-the only act of justice which the owner of slaves, in his character of owner, is able to perform-is totally discouraged by public opinion. 'l'he emanctpated class is stndiously subjected to mortifications and disabilities without number. rrhcy are considered as noxious vermin whose extermination is required for the comfort and security of the privileged order. 'l'hcy arc hunted down by legislative enaetments as bears and foxes are in other slates; and by depriving them of all the rights of cili"cnship, advantages of society, and opportunities for labor, the attempt is madC to render them if possible, even more miserable than the slaves. These efforts have been to n. certain extent, successful. rrhc condition of the emancipated class, would seem to be wretched enough to satisfy their worst enemies. Yet wretched as they are, still they are envied by the slaves. \Vhat couclnsive evidence of the miseries of servitude ! Some few emancipations occasionally tal<e placej but it is obvious that the value or tile booll is exceedingly diminished, by the miserable condition to which the emanctpated class is st udiously reduced. As to passing from the unprivileged into the privileged order, that is a thing entirely out of the question. No slave can ex peel it for himself, for his children,. or even for his remotest posterity. The feeling wl~1ch exists upon this subject throughout the _Sont!J, IS a perfect fanaticism. In one or two rare mstances, a good-natured master has attempted to elevate his own IN AI\IERlCA. 73 children, born of slave mothers, to the rank of freedom._ B~1t _m every snch case, the penalty of setting public opnuon at defiance, has been dearly paid. 'l'he transgressor has been assailed in every form of ridicule, and reproach ; he has been pursued with the most inveterate malice; has been overwhelmed with torrents of obloquy; and held up to public scorn and indignation, as a blasphemous violator of the decencies of life and the sacred laws of nature. Here is the point at which the slaves of the United States sink into a depth of misery, which even the imagination can hardly measure. What is life without hope? All men of reflection, whether poets or phtlosophers, have agreed, that life even in the better aspects of it, if we did but see things as they are and as they will be, would be a dreary and a worthless thing. It is hope that cheers, supports sustains us. It is in the anticipation of future joys,' that we are happy. llut what hope, what anticipations has the Americm~ slave? His hopes arc all fears; his anticipatwns, 1f he has any, arc anticipations of sufferino-. 'fhis is a state of existence which could not be endu~ed by cultivated or reflecting minds. 'l'he sliahtest gleam, the faintest and most uncertain glim~er a hope, a chance which to all beside ourselves may ~ppear but the faintest, will suffice often to lead and guide us on, through defiles dark and gloomy as the valley of the shadow of death. llut when that liaht goes out, that glimmer ceases, that hope expires, what shall save us from the horrors of despair? 7 |
