OCR Text |
Show . _, ·- 200 NOTES ON at all is offered for killing, and in another, onl! one·tldrJ, as muc!t as for taking alive. 'Jlo the argument ~ntcndcd to be dra.wn from these advertisements, it is a su~ctcnt ans~v~r, that under none of them could the pursuer ktll the fug1tlvc unresisting, without finding himself lia.blc to the own~r for the pecuniary value of the chattel, and to the State, for the murder of the MAN. So much fot; the advertisements at which J)!rs. Stowe is so shocked. . Chptcr :FifLii is devoted to P•·otective Statutes. After sta.tin(T the penalty for killing a slave "on a sudtlcn hcn.t or passio~1 or by undue correction,'' she goes on: "'.fh~ next protective statute to be noticed, is the following from the act of 17 40, South Carolina. •Jn C:l.SC any pcrf:on f'lh:dl·wilfully cut out the tongue, put out lho eye, * * • or cruelly !!Cnhl, burn, or deprive :\llY sbvc of any 1imh, or mcmhcr, or ~hall inf\i ..;t n.ny other cmcl pun_tshmc~t, olherlfum by whippin::; or beating with a horr-c-_whip, ~owtl~lll, ~wttch or small ~:~til·k, 01· by pulling it·on !"l on, or confinm~ or 1mpnf.lomng such slave, every such person sh:'dl, for every such ofl'cnce, fodCit the sum of one hnnJ.red pounds, cmreutmoncy.'-S!I·u1£J, p. -10. 2 Braard's Di!Jriil, 2-11. " The language of tbis Jaw, like many other of these protective enactments, is exceedingly suggc_stiv_e; _the first suggestion that occurs is, \\'hat sort of an mstltutwn, and what sort of a state of oocict,Y is it, that called out a la.w worded like this?" I will tell you, Mrs. Stowe. An "institution" aml a "state of society" such as cxistcU, less than cigldy y~ars ac. 0 "all over our land;" such as your fathers, ntH.l mmc, ";r~ jamilia1· with; a state of society in which Massachusetts men, and ltltodc Islanfl men, and Connecticut mc11, could engage in the foreign slave-trade, a1_1d. yet holrl up their heads in the community, like other Chnst1ans; a. state, however, happily, long since past away, never to rctmn. The "protcdive statutes" of this stamp, and a.lso those UNCLE TOM'S CAJliN. 201 rcloting to food, amount of labour, &c., (p. DO,) date back, all of them, to a period ·when the foreign slave-trade was in full vigor, and the price of slaves was low, and masters, therefore, could ~{fo1'Cl to abuse them. It will be observed that they prohibit the "Be of improper modes of punishment, not tho abuse of proper ones,* the cxccpti'ons introduced by tho words, "othe1· than," in tho net above quoted, being, every one of them, proper modes, and those that nrc prohibited, every one of them, improper. Mrs. Stowe calls this an "awful principle t of sbvc laws." (p. 81.) In answer, I have only to say that it is a principle recognized by God himself, by express enactment, (Ex. xxi. 20, 21, 2G, 27,) and if she chooses to charge God with recognizing an "awful principle," on her be the responsibility: I would not have it on my soul, for worlds. 'l'hc "malicious, cruel and excessive beating" of a. slave is, indeed, ''awful" wickedness, but there arc a great many awfully wicked things that the law cannot punish without, on the whole, doing more harm than by leaving them unpunisheU, and this is one of them, or we may be sure God woUld never have given his people such an enactment. Chapter Seventh is devoted to tho case of Eliza Rowand, and Chapter Kinth to that of James Castleman. Thry may ha\'e been guilty, but according to ~Irs. Stowe's own showing, there was no evidence ngainst them, and a good deal for tbcrn. In Chapter Eleventh, nirs. Stowe draws n. comparison between" the Roman law of slavery," and "the American," • Unless that abuse result in death, or, 1"n Louisiana, (Civil Code, Art. li3,) "expose him" (the sb,·o) "to !be dan!Jcr of loss of lifo." t'Mrs. Stowe draws a false "corollary" (p. 81, nt the bottom,) from this. SoulllCl' could have Leon indicted for the "burning" and fol' any other of the modes of punishment cmploycJ by him, 1wt rcCO!!nized in tho aLove act, oven if th<'y had not resulted in dl'ath. 2G |