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Show 90 DF.SPOTISJ\1 Danton. Before these tribunals the unhappy victims are dragged'; accnsation and condcmnatlol~ keep close company. Hanging, shooting, and bnrn~ng .become the order of the day. The headlong feroc1ty of these proceedings betrays the greatness of that alarm wh1ch produces them. . It has been shown in another place, that notwithstanding the extreme dcgrrc of t?rror. to which the apprehension of slave vcngcan~e g1ves nse throughout the south, the actual danger IS by ~o means ~rop~rtionately great. Many cause~ contn~ute to this disproportion, of which o~e. le~dmg one IS, a secret consciousness of the cruelmjustiCe of slavery. Tyranny is ever timid always full of fears. 2. Danger' from one another. In this case, the alarm is less but the danger is more real. Throughout the greate~ part of the southern states it is considered essential to personal safety, to carry conccal~d '':capons. 'rhis single fact shows that personal sccunty 1s at the lowest ebb. When a man nlust protect him•clf, for what is he indebted to the laws~ These weapons are no doubt carried partly as a protection against the slaves; but they are chiefly used, in quarrels bct,~ecn freemen. Of these quarrels the laws take but little notice. In such a case it is considered the mark of a mean spirit to appeal to the law. If I am assaulted or beaten, it is expected that I stab or sh~ot the aggressor. In several of the southern states 1t seems. to make very little difference, whether l challenge .lum to a duel, or assault him without prev10us nDtJce g1ven, in a tavern, or the streets. Murders are constantly committed in this way. For the most par~ t~1ey go entirely nnpunjshed, or if punished at all, 1t JS only by a short imprisonment, or a trifling fi1~c. They. fix no imputation npon a man's e~1ar~ctcr. I ersons_gwlty of homicide are to be met wnh m the best society of the southern states. If it be inquired what is the con~ nection between this condition of manners and the existence of slavery, the answer is, th~t the .impe ri01~s ferocity of temper which the excrc1se oi despotiC TN Al\TEnTCA. 91 po~ver produces or inflames, is the main cause of the CXIStCilCC and the toleration of an insecurity of person and a reckle~sn~ss of human life, such as hardly elsewhere prevails m the most barbarous countries. But e-yen this is not the worst aspect of the case. The pamc terror which the "rumor of an insurrection produces at the south has been already mentioned. That terror levels all distinction between slaves and freemen, and. so long a_s it lasts, no man's person is s~cure. Dnnng tl~e penod of the Mississippi insnrrect! On, or pr~tended msurrcctio~, in the summer of 1835, the commtttee of safety appomtcd upon that occasion, by a tumnltu?us ,popular asse_mbly, were vested with ample authortty to try, acqmt, condemn, and punish whtte or black, who should be charaed before them." By virtue of this commission, the co~mittee proceeded to try a large number of persons, principally white men, a?cnsed of .having instigated, or favored the al· leged mtended Insurrection. Many of those tried 1vere found guilty, and were hung upon the spot. A great many others were cruelly whipped and were ordered to quit the state in twenty~four h~urs. The case of Mr. Sharkey will clearly exhibit the de_gr~e .of _personal security existing in the state of Mtsstsstppi_ at that time. Mr. Sharkey was a magistral~, and tn the exercise of his legal authority, he set at liberty three men, of whose entire innocence of the charges alleged against them he was well assured, although they had been seized by the pnrsuivants of the committee of safety. This gentleman was a planter, a man of property a large slave-holder. brother t? the chief .justi_ce of' the state,-a person 'not very h~ely to be Implicated in a slave insurrection. But h1s opposition to the despotic authority of the com~ mttee was cons1dcred to be plenary proof of gttih, and a large party was sent to anest him. Mr. Sharkey ha~ no relish for being hung upon snspicion · so ~_e barncadoed his doors built fires nbont his ho~se 111 order that the darknes~ of the night miaht not con~ ceal the approach of the pursuivants, '~rapped his |