THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE.

"Behind I left the whips and chains,Before me were sweet Freedom's plains!"

"Behind I left the whips and chains,

Before me were sweet Freedom's plains!"

This, and this alone, cheered me onward. But I at last resolved to seek protection from the inclemency of the weather, and therefore I secured myself behind some logs and brush, intending to wait there until some one should pass by; for I thought it probable that I might see some colored person, or, if not, some one who was not a slaveholder; for I had an idea that I should know a slaveholder as far as I could see him.

The first person that passed was a man in a buggy-wagon. He looked too genteel for me to hail him. Very soon another passed by on horseback. I attempted to speak to him, but fear made my voice fail me. As he passed, I left my hiding-place, and was approaching the road, when I observed an old man walking towards me, leading a white horse. He had on a broad-brimmed hat and a very long coat, and was evidently walking for exercise. As soon as I saw him, and observed his dress, I thought to myself, "You are the man that I have been looking for!" Nor was I mistaken. He was the very man!

On approaching me, he asked me, "if I was not a slave." I looked at him some time, and then asked him "if he knew of any one who wouldhelp me, as I was sick." He answered that he would; but again asked, if I was not a slave. I told him I was. He then said that I was in a very pro-slavery neighborhood, and if I would wait until he went home, he would get a covered wagon for me. I promised to remain. He mounted his horse, and was soon out of sight.

After he was gone, I meditated whether to wait or not; being apprehensive that he had gone for some one to arrest me. But I finally concluded to remain until he should return; removing some few rods to watch his movements. After a suspense of an hour and a half or more, he returned with a two-horse covered wagon, such as are usually seen under the shed of a Quaker meeting-house on Sundays and Thursdays; for the old man proved to be a Quaker of the George Fox stamp.

He took me to his house, but it was some time before I could be induced to enter it; not until the old lady came out, did I venture into the house. I thought I saw something in the old lady's cap that told me I was not only safe, but welcome, in her house. I was not, however, prepared to receive their hospitalities. The only fault I found withthem was their being too kind. I had never had a white man to treat me as an equal, and the idea of a white lady waiting on me at the table was still worse! Though the table was loaded with the good things of this life, I could not eat. I thought if I could only be allowed the privilege of eating in the kitchen I should be more than satisfied!

Finding that I could not eat, the old lady, who was a "Thompsonian," made me a cup of "composition," or "number six;" but it was so strong and hot, that I called it "number seven!" However, I soon found myself at home in this family. On different occasions, when telling these facts, I have been asked how I felt upon finding myself regarded as a man by a white family; especially just having run away from one. I cannot say that I have ever answered the question yet.

The fact that I was in all probability a freeman, sounded in my ears like a charm. I am satisfied that none but a slave could place such an appreciation upon liberty as I did at that time. I wanted to see mother and sister, that I might tell them "I was free!" I wanted to see my fellow-slaves in St. Louis, and let them know that the chains were no longer upon my limbs. I wantedto see Captain Price, and let him learn from my own lips that I was no more a chattel, but a man! I was anxious, too, thus to inform Mrs. Price that she must get another coachman. And I wanted to see Eliza more than I did either Mr. or Mrs. Price!

The fact that I was a freeman—could walk, talk, eat and sleep, as a man, and no one to stand over me with the blood-clotted cow-hide—all this made me feel that I was not myself.

The kind friend that had taken me in was named Wells Brown. He was a devoted friend of the slave; but was very old, and not in the enjoyment of good health. After being by the fire awhile, I found that my feet had been very much frozen. I was seized with a fever, which threatened to confine me to my bed. But my Thompsonian friends soon raised me, treating me as kindly as if I had been one of their own children. I remained with them twelve or fifteen days, during which time they made me some clothing, and the old gentleman purchased me a pair of boots.

I found that I was about fifty or sixty miles from Dayton, in the State of Ohio, and betweenone and two hundred miles from Cleaveland, on Lake Erie, a place I was desirous of reaching on my way to Canada. This I know will sound strangely to the ears of people in foreign lands, but it is nevertheless true. An American citizen was fleeing from a democratic, republican, Christian government, to receive protection under the monarchy of Great Britain. While the people of the United States boast of their freedom, they at the same time keep three millions of their own citizens in chains; and while I am seated here in sight of Bunker Hill Monument, writing this narrative, I am a slave, and no law, not even in Massachusetts, can protect me from the hands of the slaveholder!

Before leaving this good Quaker friend, he inquired what my name was besides William. I told him that I had no other name. "Well," said he, "thee must have another name. Since thee has got out of slavery, thee has become a man, and men always have two names."

I told him that he was the first man to extend the hand of friendship to me, and I would give him the privilege of naming me.

"If I name thee," said he, "I shall call thee Wells Brown, after myself."

"But," said I, "I am not willing to lose my name of William. As it was taken from me once against my will, I am not willing to part with it again upon any terms."

"Then," said he, "I will call thee William Wells Brown."

"So be it," said I; and I have been known by that name ever since I left the house of my first white friend, Wells Brown.

After giving me some little change, I again started for Canada. In four days I reached a public house, and went in to warm myself. I there learned that some fugitive slaves had just passed through the place. The men in the bar-room were talking about it, and I thought that it must have been myself they referred to, and I was therefore afraid to start, fearing they would seize me; but I finally mustered courage enough, and took my leave. As soon as I was out of sight, I went into the woods, and remained there until night, when I again regained the road, and travelled on until next day.

Not having had any food for nearly two days, I was faint with hunger, and was in a dilemma what to do, as the little cash supplied me by myadopted father, and which had contributed to my comfort, was now all gone. I however concluded to go to a farm-house, and, ask for something to eat. On approaching the door of the first one presenting itself, I knocked, and was soon met by a man who asked me what I wanted. I told him that I would like something to eat. He asked me where I was from, and where I was going. I replied that I had come some way, and was going to Cleaveland.

After hesitating a moment or two, he told me that he could give me nothing to eat, adding, "that if I would work, I could get something to eat."

I felt bad, being thus refused something to sustain nature, but did not dare tell him that I was a slave.

Just as I was leaving the door, with a heavy heart, a woman, who proved to be the wife of this gentleman, came to the door, and asked her husband what I wanted. He did not seem inclined to inform her. She therefore asked me herself. I told her that I had asked for something to eat. After a few other questions, she told me to come in, and that she would give me something to eat.

I walked up to the door, but the husband remained in the passage, as if unwilling to let me enter.

She asked him two or three times to get out of the way, and let me in. But as he did not move, she pushed him on one side, bidding me walk in! I was never before so glad to see a woman push a man aside! Ever since that act; I have been in favor of "woman's rights!"

After giving me as much food as I could eat, she presented me with ten cents, all the money then at her disposal, accompanied with a note to a friend, a few miles further on the road. Thanking this angel of mercy from an overflowing heart, I pushed on my way, and in three days arrived at Cleaveland, Ohio.

Being an entire stranger in this place, it was difficult for me to find where to stop. I had no money, and the lake being frozen, I saw that I must remain until the opening of the navigation, or go to Canada by way of Buffalo. But believing myself to be somewhat out of danger, I secured an engagement at the Mansion House, as a table waiter, in payment for my board. The proprietor, however, whose name was E. M. Segur, in a shorttime, hired me for twelve dollars a month; on which terms I remained until spring, when I found good employment on board a lake steamboat.

I purchased some books, and at leisure moments perused them with considerable advantage to myself. While at Cleaveland, I saw, for the first time, an anti-slavery newspaper. It was the "Genius of Universal Emancipation," published by Benjamin Lundy; and though I had no home, I subscribed for the paper. It was my great desire, being out of slavery myself, to do what I could for the emancipation of my brethren yet in chains, and while on Lake Erie, I found many opportunities of "helping their cause along."

It is well known that a great number of fugitives make their escape to Canada, by way of Cleaveland; and while on the lakes, I always made arrangement to carry them on the boat to Buffalo or Detroit, and thus effect their escape to the "promised land." The friends of the slave, knowing that I would transport them without charge, never failed to have a delegation when the boat arrived at Cleaveland. I have sometimes had four or five on board at one time.

In the year 1842, I conveyed, from the first of May to the first of December, sixty-nine fugitivesover Lake Erie to Canada. In 1843, I visited Malden, in Upper Canada, and counted seventeen in that small village, whom I had assisted in reaching Canada. Soon after coming north I subscribed for the Liberator, edited by that champion of freedom, William Lloyd Garrison. I had heard nothing of the anti-slavery movement while in slavery, and as soon as I found that my enslaved countrymen had friends who were laboring for their liberation, I felt anxious to join them, and give what aid I could to the cause.

I early embraced the temperance cause, and found that a temperance reformation was needed among my colored brethren. In company with a few friends, I commenced a temperance reformation among the colored people in the city of Buffalo, and labored three years, in which time a society was built up, numbering over five hundred out of a population of less than seven hundred.

In the autumn, 1843, impressed with the importance of spreading anti-slavery truth, as a means to bring about the abolition of slavery, I commenced lecturing as an agent of the western New York Anti-Slavery Society, and have ever since devoted my time to the cause of my enslaved countrymen.

From the Liberty Bell of 1848.

BY WILLIAM WELLS BROWN.

Of the many features which American slavery presents, the most cruel is that of the slave-trade. A traffic in the bodies and souls of native-born Americans is carried on in the slave-holding states to an extent little dreamed of by the great mass of the people in the non-slave-holding states. The precise number of slaves carried from the slave-raising to the slave-consuming states we have no means of knowing. But it must be very great, as forty thousand were sold and carried out of the State of Virginia in one single year!

This heart-rending and cruel traffic is not confined to any particular class of persons. No person forfeits his or her character or standing in society by being engaged in raising and selling slaves to supply the cotton, sugar, and rice plantations of the south. Few persons who have visited theslave states have not, on their return, told of the gangs of slaves they had seen on their way to the southern market. This trade presents some of the most revolting and atrocious scenes which can be imagined. Slave-prisons, slave-auctions, hand-cuffs, whips, chains, bloodhounds, and other instruments of cruelty, are part of the furniture which belongs to the American slave-trade. It is enough to make humanity bleed at every pore, to see these implements of torture.

Known to God only is the amount of human agony and suffering which sends its cry from these slave-prisons, unheard or unheeded by man, up to His ear; mothers weeping for their children—breaking the night-silence with the shrieks of their breaking hearts. We wish no human being to experience emotions of needless pain, but we do wish that every man, woman, and child in New England, could visit a southern slave-prison and auction-stand.

I shall never forget a scene which took place in the city of St. Louis, while I was in slavery. A man and his wife, both slaves, were brought from the country to the city, for sale. They were taken to the rooms ofAustin & Savage, auctioneers.Several slave-speculators, who are always to be found at auctions where slaves are to be sold, were present. The man was first put up, and sold to the highest bidder. The wife was next ordered to ascend the platform. I was present. She slowly obeyed the order. The auctioneer commenced, and soon several hundred dollars were bid. My eyes were intensely fixed on the face of the woman, whose cheeks were wet with tears. But a conversation between the slave and his new master attracted my attention. I drew near them to listen. The slave was begging his new master to purchase his wife. Said he, "Master, if you will only buy Fanny, I know you will get the worth of your money. She is a good cook, a good washer, and her last mistress liked her very much. If you will only buy her how happy I shall be." The new master replied that he did not want her, but if she sold cheap he would purchase her. I watched the countenance of the man while the different persons were bidding on his wife. When his new master bid on his wife you could see the smile upon his countenance, and the tears stop; but as soon as another would bid, you could see the countenance change and the tears start afresh.From this change of countenance one could see the workings of the inmost soul. But this suspense did not last long; the wife was struck off to the highest bidder, who proved not to be the owner of her husband. As soon as they became aware that they were to be separated, they both burst into tears; and as she descended from the auction-stand, the husband, walking up to her and taking her by the hand, said, "Well, Fanny, we are to part forever, on earth; you have been a good wife to me. I did all that I could to get my new master to buy you; but he did not want you, and all I have to say is, I hope you will try to meet me in heaven. I shall try to meet you there." The wife made no reply, but her sobs and cries told, too well, her own feelings. I saw the countenances of a number of whites who were present, and whose eyes were dim with tears at hearing the man bid his wife farewell.

Such are but common occurrences in the slave states. At these auction-stands, bones, muscles, sinews, blood and nerves, of human beings, are sold with as much indifference as a farmer in the north sells a horse or sheep. And this great American nation is, at the present time, engagedin the slave-trade. I have before me now the Washington "Union," the organ of the government, in which I find an advertisement of several slaves to be sold for the benefit of the government. They will, in all human probability, find homes among the rice-swamps of Georgia, or the cane-brakes of Mississippi.

With every disposition on the part of those who are engaged in it to veil the truth, certain facts have, from time to time, transpired, sufficient to show, if not the full amount of the evil, at least that it is one of prodigious magnitude. And what is more to be wondered at, is the fact that the greatest slave-market is to be found at the capital of the country! The American slave-trader marches by the capitol with his "coffle-gang,"—the stars and stripes waving over their heads, and the constitution of the United States in his pocket!

The Alexandria Gazette, speaking of the slave-trade at the capital, says, "Here you may behold fathers and brothers leaving behind them the dearest objects of affection, and moving slowly along in the mute agony of despair; there, the young mother, sobbing over the infant whoseinnocent smile seems but to increase her misery. From some you will hear the burst of bitter lamentation, while from others, the loud hysteric laugh breaks forth, denoting still deeper agony. Such is but a faint picture of the American slave-trade."

Boston, Massachusetts.

BY MRS. BAILEY.

Come back to me mother! why linger awayFrom thy poor little blind boy the long weary day!I mark every footstep, I list to each tone,And wonder my mother should leave me alone!There are voices of sorrow, and voices of glee,But there's no one to joy or to sorrow with me;For each hath of pleasure and trouble his share,And none for the poor little blind boy will care.My mother, come back to me! close to thy breastOnce more let thy poor little blind boy be pressed;Once more let me feel thy warm breath on my cheek,And hear thee in accents of tenderness speak.O mother! I've no one to love me—no heartCan bear like thine own in my sorrows a part,No hand is so gentle, no voice is so kind,Oh! none like a mother can cherish the blind!Poor blind one! No mother thy wailing can hear,No mother can hasten to banish thy fear;For the slave-owner drives her o'er mountain and wild,And for one paltry dollar hath sold thee, poor child;Ah, who can in language of mortals revealThe anguish that none but a mother can feel.When man in his vile lust of mammon hath trodOn her child, who is stricken or smitten of God!Blind, helpless, forsaken, with strangers alone,She hears in her anguish his piteous moan;As he eagerly listens—but listens in vain—To catch the loved tones of his mother again!The curse of the broken in spirit shall fallOn the wretch who hath mingled this wormwood and gall,And his gain like a mildew shall blight and destroy,Who hath torn from his mother the little blind boy!

Come back to me mother! why linger away

From thy poor little blind boy the long weary day!

I mark every footstep, I list to each tone,

And wonder my mother should leave me alone!

There are voices of sorrow, and voices of glee,

But there's no one to joy or to sorrow with me;

For each hath of pleasure and trouble his share,

And none for the poor little blind boy will care.

My mother, come back to me! close to thy breastOnce more let thy poor little blind boy be pressed;Once more let me feel thy warm breath on my cheek,And hear thee in accents of tenderness speak.O mother! I've no one to love me—no heartCan bear like thine own in my sorrows a part,No hand is so gentle, no voice is so kind,Oh! none like a mother can cherish the blind!

My mother, come back to me! close to thy breast

Once more let thy poor little blind boy be pressed;

Once more let me feel thy warm breath on my cheek,

And hear thee in accents of tenderness speak.

O mother! I've no one to love me—no heart

Can bear like thine own in my sorrows a part,

No hand is so gentle, no voice is so kind,

Oh! none like a mother can cherish the blind!

Poor blind one! No mother thy wailing can hear,No mother can hasten to banish thy fear;For the slave-owner drives her o'er mountain and wild,And for one paltry dollar hath sold thee, poor child;Ah, who can in language of mortals revealThe anguish that none but a mother can feel.When man in his vile lust of mammon hath trodOn her child, who is stricken or smitten of God!

Poor blind one! No mother thy wailing can hear,

No mother can hasten to banish thy fear;

For the slave-owner drives her o'er mountain and wild,

And for one paltry dollar hath sold thee, poor child;

Ah, who can in language of mortals reveal

The anguish that none but a mother can feel.

When man in his vile lust of mammon hath trod

On her child, who is stricken or smitten of God!

Blind, helpless, forsaken, with strangers alone,She hears in her anguish his piteous moan;As he eagerly listens—but listens in vain—To catch the loved tones of his mother again!The curse of the broken in spirit shall fallOn the wretch who hath mingled this wormwood and gall,And his gain like a mildew shall blight and destroy,Who hath torn from his mother the little blind boy!

Blind, helpless, forsaken, with strangers alone,

She hears in her anguish his piteous moan;

As he eagerly listens—but listens in vain—

To catch the loved tones of his mother again!

The curse of the broken in spirit shall fall

On the wretch who hath mingled this wormwood and gall,

And his gain like a mildew shall blight and destroy,

Who hath torn from his mother the little blind boy!

In giving a history of my own sufferings in slavery, as well as the sufferings of others with which I was acquainted, or which came under my immediate observation, I have spoken harshly of slaveholders, in church and state.

Nor am I inclined to apologize for anything which I have said. There are exceptions among slaveholders, as well as among other sinners; and the fact that a slaveholder feeds his slaves better, clothes them better, than another, does not alter the case; he is a slaveholder. I do not ask the slaveholder to feed, clothe, or to treat his victim better as a slave. I am not waging a warfare against the collateral evils, or what are sometimes called the abuses, of slavery. I wage a war against slavery itself, because it takes man down from the lofty position which God intended he should occupy, and places him upon a level with the beasts of the field. It decrees that the slave shall not worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience; it denies him the word of God; it makes him a chattel, and sells him in the market to the highest bidder; it decrees that he shall not protect the wife of his bosom; it takes from him every right which God gave him. Clothing and food are as nothing compared with liberty. What care I for clothing or food, while I am the slave of another? You may take me and put cloth upon my back, boots upon my feet, a hat upon my head, and cram a beef-steak down my throat, and all of this will not satisfy me as long as I know that you have the power to tear me from my dearest relatives.All I ask of the slaveholder is to give the slave his liberty. It is freedom I ask for theslave. And that the American slave will eventually get his freedom, no one can doubt. You cannot keep the human mind forever locked up in darkness. A ray of light, a spark from freedom's altar, the idea of inherent right, each, all, will become fixed in the soul; and that moment his "limbs swell beyond the measure of his chains," that moment he is free; then it is that the slave dies to become a freeman; then it is felt that one hour of virtuous liberty is worth an eternity of bondage; then it is, in the madness and fury of his blood, that the excited soul exclaims,

"From life without freedom, oh! who would not fly;For one day of freedom, oh! who would not die?"

"From life without freedom, oh! who would not fly;

For one day of freedom, oh! who would not die?"

The rising of the slaves in Southampton, Virginia, in 1831, has not been forgotten by the American people. Nat Turner, a slave for life,—a Baptist minister,—entertained the idea that he was another Moses, whose duty it was to lead his people out of bondage. His soul was fired with the love of liberty, and he declared to his fellow-slaves that the time had arrived, and that "They who would be free, themselves must strike the blow." He knew that it would be "liberty or death" with his little band of patriots, numbering less than three hundred. He commenced the struggle for liberty; he knew his cause was just, and he loved liberty more than he feared death. He did not wish to take the lives of the whites; he only demanded that himself and brethren might be free. The slaveholders found that men whose souls were burning for liberty, however small their numbers, could not be put down at their pleasure; that something more than water was wanted to extinguish the flame. They trembled at the idea of meeting men in open combat, whose backs they had lacerated, whose wives and daughters they had torn from their bosoms, whose hearts were bleeding from the wounds inflicted by them.They appealed to the United States government for assistance. A company of United States troops was sent into Virginia to put down men whose only offence was, that they wanted to be free. Yes! northern men, men born and brought up in the free states, at the demand of slavery, marched to its rescue. They succeeded in reducing the poor slave again to his chains; but they did not succeed in crushing his spirit.

Not the combined powers of the American Union, not the slaveholders, with all their northern allies, can extinguish that burning desire of freedom in the slave's soul! Northern men may stand by as the body-guard of slaveholders. They may succeed for the time being in keeping the slave in his chains; but unless the slaveholders liberate their victims, and that, too, speedily, some modern Hannibal will make his appearance in the southern states, who will trouble the slaveholders as the noble Carthaginian did the Romans. Abolitionists deprecate the shedding of blood; they have warned the slaveholders again and again. Yet they will not give heed, but still persist in robbing the slave of liberty.

"But for the fear of northern bayonets, pledged for the master's protection, the slaves would long since have wrung a peaceful emancipation from the fears of their oppressors, or sealed their own redemption in blood." To the shame of the northern people, the slaveholders confess that to them they are "indebted for a permanent safe-guard against insurrection;" that "a million of their slaves stand ready to strike for liberty at the first tap of the drum;" and but for the aid of the north they would be too weak to keep them in their chains. I ask in the language of the slave's poet,

"What! shall ye guard your neighbor still,While woman shrieks beneath his rod,And while he tramples down at willThe image of a common God?Shall watch and ward be 'round him set,Of northern nerve and bayonet?"

"What! shall ye guard your neighbor still,

While woman shrieks beneath his rod,

And while he tramples down at will

The image of a common God?

Shall watch and ward be 'round him set,

Of northern nerve and bayonet?"

The countenance of the people at the north has quieted the fears of the slaveholders, especially the countenance which they receive from northern churches. "But for the countenance of the northern church, the southern conscience would have long since awakened to its guilt: and the impious sight of a church made up of slaveholders, and called the church of Christ, been scouted from the world." So says a distinguished writer.

Slaveholders hide themselves behind the church. A more praying, preaching, psalm-singing people cannot be found than the slaveholders at the south. The religion of the south is referred to every day, to prove that slaveholders are good, pious men. But with all their pretensions, and all the aid which they get from the northern church, they cannot succeed in deceiving the Christian portion of the world. Their child-robbing, man-stealing, woman-whipping, chain-forging, marriage-destroying, slave-manufacturing, man-slaying religion, will not be received as genuine; and the people of the free states cannot expect to live in union with slaveholders, without becoming contaminated with slavery. They are looked upon as one people; theyareone people; the people in the free and slave states form the "American Union." Slavery is a national institution. The nation licenses men to traffic in the bodies and souls of men; it supplies them with public buildings at the capital of the country to keep their victims in. For a paltry sum it gives the auctioneer a license to sell American men, women, and children, upon the auction-stand. The American slave-trader, with the constitution in his hat and his license in his pocket, marches his gang of chained men and women under the very eaves of the nation's capitol. And this, too, in a country professing to be the freest nation in the world. They profess to be democrats, republicans, and to believe in the natural equality of men; that they are "all created with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, andthe pursuit of happiness." They call themselves a Christian nation; they rob three millions of their countrymen of their liberties, and then talk of their piety, their democracy, and their love of liberty; and, in the language of Shakspeare, say,

"And thus I clothe my naked villany,And seem a saint when most I play the devil."

"And thus I clothe my naked villany,

And seem a saint when most I play the devil."

The people of the United States, with all their high professions, are forging chains for unborn millions, in their wars for slavery. With all their democracy, there is not a foot of land over which the "stars and stripes" fly, upon which the American slave can stand and claim protection. Wherever the United States constitution has jurisdiction, and the American flag is seen flying, they point out the slave as a chattel, a thing, a piece of property. But I thank God there is one spot in America upon which the slave can stand and be a man. No matter whether the claimant be a United States president, or a doctor of divinity; no matter with what solemnities some American court may have pronounced him a slave; the moment he makes his escape from under the "stars and stripes," and sets foot upon the soil ofCanada, "the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that burst from around him; and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation."

But slavery must and will be banished from the United States soil:

"Let tyrants scorn, while tyrants dare,The shrieks and writhings of despair;The end will come, it will not wait,Bonds, yokes, and scourges have their date;Slavery itself must pass away,And be a tale of yesterday."

"Let tyrants scorn, while tyrants dare,

The shrieks and writhings of despair;

The end will come, it will not wait,

Bonds, yokes, and scourges have their date;

Slavery itself must pass away,

And be a tale of yesterday."

But I will now stop, and let the slaveholders speak for themselves. I shall here present some evidences of the treatment which slaves receive from their masters; after which I will present a few of the slave-laws. And it has been said, and I believe truly, that no people were ever found to be better than their laws. And, as an American slave,—as one who is identified with the slaves of the south by the scars which I carry on my back,—as one identified with them by the tenderest ties of nature,—as one whose highest aspirations are to serve the cause of truth and freedom,—I beg of the reader not to lay this book down until he or she has read every page it contains. I ask it not for my own sake, but for the sake of three millions who cannot speak for themselves.

From the Livingston County (Alabama) Whig of Nov. 16, 1845."Negro Dogs.—The undersigned having bought the entire pack of Negro Dogs, (of the Hays & Allen stock,) he now proposes to catch runaway Negroes. His charge will be three dollars per day for hunting, and fifteen dollars for catching a runaway. He resides three and a half miles north of Livingston, near the lower Jones' Bluff road."William Gambrel."Nov. 6, 1845."

From the Livingston County (Alabama) Whig of Nov. 16, 1845.

"Negro Dogs.—The undersigned having bought the entire pack of Negro Dogs, (of the Hays & Allen stock,) he now proposes to catch runaway Negroes. His charge will be three dollars per day for hunting, and fifteen dollars for catching a runaway. He resides three and a half miles north of Livingston, near the lower Jones' Bluff road.

"William Gambrel.

"Nov. 6, 1845."

The Wilmington [North Carolina] Advertiser of July 13, 1838, contains the following advertisement:

"Ranaway, my Negro man Richard. A reward of $25 will be paid for his apprehension, DEAD or ALIVE. Satisfactory proof will only be required of his being killed. He has with him, in all probability, his wife Eliza, who ran away from Col. Thompson, now a resident of Alabama, about the time he commenced his journey to that state."D. H. Rhodes.

"D. H. Rhodes.

The St. Louis Gazette says—

"A wealthy man here had a boy named Reuben, almost white, whom he caused to be branded in the face with the words 'A slave for life.'"

From the N. C. Standard, July 28, 1838."Twenty Dollars Reward.—Ranaway from the subscriber, a negro woman and two children; the woman is tall and black, anda few days before she went offI burnt her on the left side of her face: I tried to make the letter M,and she kept a cloth over her head and face, and a fly bonnet over her head, so as to cover the burn; her children are both boys, the oldest is in his seventh year; he is amulattoand has blue eyes; the youngest is a black, and is in his fifth year."Micajah Ricks, Nash County."

From the N. C. Standard, July 28, 1838.

"Twenty Dollars Reward.—Ranaway from the subscriber, a negro woman and two children; the woman is tall and black, anda few days before she went offI burnt her on the left side of her face: I tried to make the letter M,and she kept a cloth over her head and face, and a fly bonnet over her head, so as to cover the burn; her children are both boys, the oldest is in his seventh year; he is amulattoand has blue eyes; the youngest is a black, and is in his fifth year.

"Micajah Ricks, Nash County."

"One of my neighbors sold to a speculator a negro boy, about 14 years old. It was more than his poor mother could bear. Her reason fled, and she became a perfectmaniac, and had to be kept in close confinement. She would occasionally get out and run off to the neighbors. On one of these occasions she came to my house. With tears rolling down her cheeks, and her frame shaking with agony, she would cry out, 'Don't you hear him—they are whipping him now, and he is calling for me!' This neighbor of mine, who tore the boy away from his poor mother, and thus broke her heart, was amember of the Presbyterian church."—Rev. Francis Hawley, Baptist minister, Colebrook, Ct.

A colored man in the city of St. Louis was taken by a mob, and burnt alive at the stake. A bystander gives the following account of the scene:—

"After the flames had surrounded their prey, and when his clothes were in a blaze all over him, his eyes burnt out of his head, and his mouth seemingly parched to a cinder, some onein thecrowd, more compassionate than the rest, proposed to put an end to his misery by shooting him, when it was replied, that it would be of no use, since he was already out of his pain. 'No,' said the wretch, 'I am not, I am suffering as much as ever,—shoot me, shoot me.' 'No, 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;' and the man who said this was, we understand, anofficer of justice."—Alton Telegraph.

"We have been informed that the slave William, who murdered his master (Huskey) some weeks since, was taken by a party a few days sincefrom the sheriffof Hot Spring, andburned alive! yes, tied up to the limb of a tree and a fire built under him, and consumed in a slow lingering torture."—Arkansas Gazette, Oct. 29, 1836.

The Natchez Free Trader, 16th June, 1842, gives a horrible account of the execution of the negro Joseph on the 5th of that month for murder.

"The body," says that paper, "was taken and chained to a tree immediately on the bank of the Mississippi, on what is called Union Point. The torches were lighted and placed in the pile. He watched unmoved the curling flame as it 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 ring of several rifles was heard, and the body of the negro fell a corpse to the ground. He was picked up by two or three, and again thrown into the fire and consumed."

"Another Negro Burned.—We learn from the clerk of the Highlander, that, while wooding a short distance below the mouth of Red river, they wereinvited to stop a short time and see another negro burned."—New Orleans Bulletin.

"We can assure the Bostonians, one and all, who have embarked in the nefarious scheme of abolishing slavery at the south, that lashes will hereafter be spared the backs of their emissaries. Let them send out their men to Louisiana; they will never return to tell their sufferings, but they shall expiate the crime of interfering in our domestic institutions by beingBURNED AT THE STAKE."—New Orleans True American.

"The cry of the whole south should be death, instant death, to the abolitionist, wherever he is caught."—Augusta (Geo.) Chronicle.

"Let us declare through the public journals of our country, that the question of slavery is not and shall not be open for discussion: that the system is too deep-rooted among us, and must remain forever; that the very moment any private individual attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorality, and the necessity of putting means in operation to secure us from them, in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out and cast upon the dunghill."—Columbia (S. C.) Telescope.

From the St. Louis Republican."On Friday last the coroner held an inquest at the house of Judge Dunica, a few miles south of the city, over the body of a negro girl, about 8 years of age, belonging to Mr. Cordell. The body exhibited evidence of the most cruel whipping and beating we have ever heard of. The flesh on the back and limbs was beaten to a jelly—one shoulder-bone was laid bare—there were several cuts, apparently from a club, on the head—and around the neck was the indentation of a cord, by which it is supposed she had been confined to a tree. She hadbeen hired by a man by the name of Tanner, residing in the neighborhood, and was sent home in this condition. After coming home, her constant request, until her death, was for bread, by which it would seem that she had been starved as well as unmercifully whipped. The jury returned a verdict that she came to her death by the blows inflicted by some persons unknown whilst she was in the employ of Mr. Tanner. Mrs. Tanner has been tried and acquitted."

From the St. Louis Republican.

"On Friday last the coroner held an inquest at the house of Judge Dunica, a few miles south of the city, over the body of a negro girl, about 8 years of age, belonging to Mr. Cordell. The body exhibited evidence of the most cruel whipping and beating we have ever heard of. The flesh on the back and limbs was beaten to a jelly—one shoulder-bone was laid bare—there were several cuts, apparently from a club, on the head—and around the neck was the indentation of a cord, by which it is supposed she had been confined to a tree. She hadbeen hired by a man by the name of Tanner, residing in the neighborhood, and was sent home in this condition. After coming home, her constant request, until her death, was for bread, by which it would seem that she had been starved as well as unmercifully whipped. The jury returned a verdict that she came to her death by the blows inflicted by some persons unknown whilst she was in the employ of Mr. Tanner. Mrs. Tanner has been tried and acquitted."

A correspondent of the N. Y. Herald writes from St. Louis, Oct. 19:

"I yesterday visited the cell of Cornelia, the slave charged with being the accomplice of Mrs. Ann Tanner (recently acquitted) in the murder of a little negro girl, by whipping and starvation. She admits her participancy, but says she was compelled to take the part she did in the affair. On one occasion she says the child was tied to a tree from Monday morning till Friday night, exposed by day to the scorching rays of the sun, and by night to the stinging of myriads of musquitoes; and that during all this time the child had nothing to eat, but was whipped daily. The child told the same story to Dr. McDowell."

From the Carroll County Mississippian, May 4th, 1844.

"Committed to jail in this place, on the 29th of April last, a runaway slave named Creesy, and says she belongs to William Barrow, of Carroll county, Mississippi. Said woman is stout built, five feet four inches high, and appears to be about twenty years of age; she has a band of iron on each ankle, and a trace chain around her neck, fastened with a common padlock."J. N. Spencer, Jailer."May 15, 1844."

"J. N. Spencer, Jailer.

"May 15, 1844."

The Savannah, Ga., Republican of the 13th of March,1845, contains an advertisement, one item of which is as follows:—

"Also, at the same time and place, the following negro slaves, to wit: Charles, Peggy, Antonnett, Davy, September, Maria, Jenny, and Isaac—levied on as the property of Henry T. Hall, to satisfy a mortgage fi. fia. issued out of McIntosh Superior Court, in favor of the board of directors of theTheological Seminary of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, vs. said Henry T. Hall. Conditions, cash."C. O'Neal, Deputy Sheriff,M. C."

"C. O'Neal, Deputy Sheriff,M. C."

In the "Macon (Georgia) Telegraph," May 28, is the following:

"About the first of March last, the negro manRansomleft me, without the least provocation whatever. I will give a reward of $20 dollars for said negro, if takenDEADorALIVE,—and if killed in any attempt an advance of $5 will be paid."Bryant Johnson."Crawford Co., Ga."

"Bryant Johnson.

"Crawford Co., Ga."

From the Apalachicola Gazette, May 9.

"One Hundred and Fifty Dollars Reward.—Ranaway from my plantation on the 6th inst., three negro men, all of dark complexion."Billis about five feet four inches high, aged about twenty-six,a scar on his upper lip, alsoone on his shoulder, and has beenbadly cut on his arm; speaks quick and broken, and a venomous look."Danielis about the same height, chunky and well set, broad, flat mouth, with a pleasing countenance, rather inclined to show his teeth when talking, no particular marks recollected, aged about twenty-three."Noahis about six feet three or four inches high, twenty-eight years old, with rather a down, impudent look, insolent in his discourse, with a large mark on his breast,a good manylarge scars, caused by the whip, on his back—has been shot in the back of his armwith small shot. The above reward will be paid to any one who willKILLthe three, or fifty for either one, or twenty dollars apiece for them delivered to me at my plantation alive, on Chattahoochie, Early county."J. McDonald."

"One Hundred and Fifty Dollars Reward.—Ranaway from my plantation on the 6th inst., three negro men, all of dark complexion.

"Billis about five feet four inches high, aged about twenty-six,a scar on his upper lip, alsoone on his shoulder, and has beenbadly cut on his arm; speaks quick and broken, and a venomous look.

"Danielis about the same height, chunky and well set, broad, flat mouth, with a pleasing countenance, rather inclined to show his teeth when talking, no particular marks recollected, aged about twenty-three.

"Noahis about six feet three or four inches high, twenty-eight years old, with rather a down, impudent look, insolent in his discourse, with a large mark on his breast,a good manylarge scars, caused by the whip, on his back—has been shot in the back of his armwith small shot. The above reward will be paid to any one who willKILLthe three, or fifty for either one, or twenty dollars apiece for them delivered to me at my plantation alive, on Chattahoochie, Early county.

"J. McDonald."

From the Alabama Beacon, June 11, 1845.

"Ranaway, on the 15th of May, from me, a negro woman named Fanny. Said woman is twenty years old; is rather tall, can read and write, and so forge passes for herself. Carried away with her a pair of ear-rings, a Bible with a red cover, is very pious. She prays a great deal, and was, as supposed, contented and happy. She is as white as most white women, with straight light hair, and blue eyes, and can pass herself for a white woman. I will give five hundred dollars for her apprehension and delivery to me. She is very intelligent."John Balch."Tuscaloosa, May, 29, 1845."

"John Balch.

"Tuscaloosa, May, 29, 1845."

From the N. O. Commercial Bulletin, Sept. 30.

"Ten Dollars Reward.—Ranaway from the subscribers, on the 15th of last month, the negro man Charles, about 45 years of age, 5 feet 6 inches high; red complexion, has had theupper lid of his right eye torn, anda scar on his forehead; speaks English only, and stutters when spoken to; he had on when he left,an iron collar, the prongs of which he broke off before absconding. The above reward will be paid for the arrest of said slave.W. E. & R. Murphy,"132 Old Raisin."

W. E. & R. Murphy,"132 Old Raisin."

From the N. O. Bee, Oct. 5.

"Ranaway from the residence of Messrs. F. Duncom & Co., the negro Francois, aged from 25 to 30 years, about 5 feet 1 inch in height; theupper front teeth are missing; he hadchains on both of his legs, dressed with a kind of blouse made ofsackcloth. A proportionate reward will be given to whoever will bring him back to the bakery, No. 74, Bourbon street."

From the N. O. Picayune of Sunday, Dec. 17.

"Cock-pit.—Benefit of Fire Company No. 1, Lafayette.—A cock-fight will take place on Sunday, the 17th inst., at the well-known house of the subscriber. As the entire proceeds are for the benefit of the fire company, a full attendance is respectfully solicited.Adam Israng."Corner of Josephine and Tchoupitolas streets, Lafayette."

Adam Israng.

"Corner of Josephine and Tchoupitolas streets, Lafayette."

From the N. O. Picayune.

"Turkey Shooting.—This day, Dec. 17, from 10 o'clock,A. M., until 6 o'clock,P. M., and the following Sundays, at M'Donoughville, opposite the Second Municipality Ferry."

The next is an advertisement from the New Orleans Bee, an equally popular paper.

"A Bull Fight, between a ferocious bull and a number of dogs, will take place on Sunday next, at 4¼ o'clock,P. M., on the other side of the river, at Algiers, opposite Canal street. After the bull fight, a fight will take place between a bear and some dogs. The whole to conclude by a combat between an ass and several dogs."Amateurs bringing dogs to participate in the fight will be admitted gratis. Admittance—Boxes, 50 cts.; Pit, 30 cts. The spectacle will be repeated every Sunday, weather permitting."Pepe Llulla."

"Amateurs bringing dogs to participate in the fight will be admitted gratis. Admittance—Boxes, 50 cts.; Pit, 30 cts. The spectacle will be repeated every Sunday, weather permitting.

"Pepe Llulla."

EXTRACTS FROM THE AMERICAN SLAVE CODE.

The following are mostly abridged selections from the statutes of the slave status and of the United States. They givebut a faint view of the cruel oppression to which the slaves are subject, but a strong one enough, it is thought, to fill every honest heart with a deep abhorrence of the atrocious system. Most of the important provisions here cited, though placed under the name of only one state, prevail in nearly all the states, with slight variations in language, and some diversity in the penalties. The extracts have been made in part from Stroud's Sketch of the Slave Laws, but chiefly from authorized editions of the statute books referred to, found in the Philadelphia Law Library. As the compiler has not had access to many of the later enactments of the several states, nearly all he has cited are acts of an earlier date than that of the present anti-slavery movement, so that their severity cannot be ascribed to its influence.

The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked amongsentient beings, but among things—is an article of property, a chattel personal—obtains as undoubted law in all the slave states.[1]—Stroud's Sketch, p. 22.

The dominion of the master is as unlimited as is that which is tolerated by the laws of any civilized country in relation to brute animals—toquadrupeds; to use the words of the civil law.—Ib.24.

Slaves cannot even contract matrimony.[2]—Ib.61.

LOUISIANA.—A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to his master.—Civil Code, Art. 35.

Slaves are incapable of inheriting or transmitting property.—Civil Code, Art. 945; also Art. 175, andCode of Practice, Art. 103.

Martin's Digest, Act of June 7, 1806.—Slaves shall always be reputed and considered real estate; shall be as such subject to be mortgaged, according to the rules prescribed by law, and they shall be seized and sold as real estate.—Vol. I., p. 612.

Dig. Stat.Sec 13.—No owner of slaves shall hire his slaves to themselves, under a penalty of twenty-five dollars for each offence.—Vol. I., p. 102.

Sec. 15.—No slave can possess anything in his own right, or dispose of the produce of his own industry, without the consent of his master.—p. 103.

Sec. 16.—No slave can be party in a civil suit, or witness in a civil or criminal matter, against any white person.—p. 103.See also Civil Code, Art. 117, p. 28.

Sec. 18.—A slave's subordination to his master is susceptible of no restriction, (except in what incites to crime,) and he owes to him and all his family, respect without bounds, and absolute obedience.—p. 103.

Sec. 25.—Every slave found on horseback, without a written permission from his master, shall receive twenty-five lashes.—p. 105.

Sec. 32.—Any freeholder may seize and correct any slave found absent from his usual place of work or residence, without some white person, and if the slave resist or try to escape, he may use arms, and if the slaveassault[3]and strike him, he maykillthe slave.—p. 109.

Sec. 35.—It is lawful to fire upon runaway negroes who are armed, and upon those who, when pursued, refuse to surrender.—p. 109.

Sec. 38.—No slave may buy, sell, or exchange any kind of goods, or hold any boat, or bring up for his own use any horses or cattle, under a penalty of forfeiting the whole.—p. 110.

Sec. 7.—Slaves or free colored persons are punished withdeath, for wilfully burning or destroying any stack of produce or any building.—p. 115.

Sec. 15.—The punishment of a slave for striking a white person, shall be for the first and second offences at the discretion of the court,[4]but not extending to life or limb, and for the third offencedeath; but for grievously wounding or mutilating a white person,deathfor the first offence; provided, if the blow or wound is given in defence of the person orproperty of his master, or the person having charge of him, he is entirely justified.

Act of Feb. 22, 1824, Sec. 2.—A slave for wilfully striking his master or mistress, or the child of either, or his white overseer, so as to cause a bruise or shedding of blood,shall be punished with death.—p. 125.

Act of March 6, 1819.—Any person cutting or breaking any iron chain or collar used to prevent the escape of slaves, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not more than two years nor less than six months.—p. 64 of the session.

Law of January 8, 1813, Sec. 71.—All slaves sentenced to death or perpetual imprisonment, in virtue of existing laws, shall be paid for out of the public treasury, provided the sum paid shall not exceed $300 for each slave.

Law of March 16, 1830, Sec. 93.—The state treasurer shall pay the owners the value of all slaves whose punishment hasbeen commuted from that of death to that of imprisonment for life, &c.

If any slave shallhappento be slain for refusing to surrender him or herself, contrary to law, or in unlawfully resisting any officer orother person, who shall apprehend, or endeavor to apprehend, such slave or slaves, &c., such officer orother person so killing such slave as aforesaid, making resistance, shall be, and he is by this act,indemnified, from any prosecution for such killing aforesaid, &c.—Maryland Laws, act of 1751, chapxiv., § 9.

And by the negro act of 1740, of South Carolina, it is declared:

If any slave, who shall be out of the house or plantation where such slave shall live, or shall be usually employed, or without some white person in company with such slave, shallrefuse to submitto undergo the examination ofany whiteperson, it shall be lawful for such white person to pursue, apprehend, and moderately correct such slave and if such slave shall assault and strike such white person, such slave may belawfully killed!!—2 Brevard's Digest, 231.

MISSISSIPPI.Chapt.92, Sec. 110.—Penalty for any slave or free colored person exercising the functions of a minister of the gospel, thirty-nine lashes; but any master may permit his slave to preach on his own premises, no slaves but his own being permitted to assemble.—Digest of Stat., p. 770.

Act of June 18, 1822, Sec. 21.—No negro or mulatto can be a witness in any case, except against negroes or mulattoes.—p. 749.New Code, 372.

Sec. 25.—Any master licensing his slave to go at large and trade as a freeman, shall forfeit fifty dollars to the state for the literary fund.

Penalty for teaching a slave to read, imprisonment one year. For using language having atendencyto promote discontent among free colored people, or insubordination among slaves,imprisonment athard labor, not less than three, nor more than twenty-one years, orDEATH, at the discretion of the court.—L. M. Child's Appeal, p. 70.

Sec. 26.—It islawfulforanyperson, and the duty of every sheriff, deputy-sheriff, coroner and constable to apprehend any slave going at large, or hired out by him, or herself, and take him or her before a justice of the peace, who shall impose a penalty of not less than twenty dollars, nor more than fifty dollars, on the owner, who has permitted such slave to do so.

Sec. 32.—Any negro or mulatto, for using abusive language, or lifting his hand in opposition to any white person, (except in self-defence against a wanton assault,) shall, on proof of the offence by oath of such person, receive such punishment as a justice of the peace may order, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes.

Sec. 41—Forbids the holding of cattle, sheep or hogs by slaves, even with consent of the master, under penalty of forfeiture, half to the county, and half to theinformer.

Sec. 42—Forbids a slave keeping a dog, under a penalty of twenty-five stripes; and requires any master who permits it to pay a fine of five dollars, and make good all damages done by such dog.

Sec. 43—Forbids slaves cultivating cotton for their own use, and imposes a fine of fifty dollars on the master or overseer who permits it.

Revised Code.—Every negro or mulatto found in the state, not able to show himself entitled to freedom, may be sold as a slave.—p. 389. The owner of any plantation, on which a slave comes without written leave from his master, and not on lawful business, may inflict ten lashes for every such offence.—p. 371.

ALABAMA.—Aiken's Digest.Tit.Slaves, &c., Sec. 31.—Forattemptingto teach any free colored person, or slave, tospell, read or write, a fine of not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars!—p. 397.

Sec. 35 and 36.—Any free colored person found with slaves in a kitchen, outhouse or negro quarter, without a written permission from the master or overseer of said slaves, and any slave found without such permission with a free negro on his premises, shall receive fifteen lashes for the first offence, and thirty-nine for each subsequent offence; to be inflicted by master, overseer, or member of any patrol company.—p. 397.

Toulmin's Digest.—No slave can be emancipated but by aspecialact of the Legislature.—p. 623.

Act Jan. 1st, 1823—Authorizes an agent to be appointed by the governor of the state,to sell for the benefit of the stateall persons of color brought into the United States and within the jurisdiction of Alabama,contrary to the laws of congress prohibiting the slave trade.—p. 643.

GEORGIA.—Prince's Digest.Act Dec. 19, 1818.—Penalty for any free person of color (except regularly articled seamen) coming into the state, a fine of one hundred dollars, and on failure of payment to be sold as a slave.—p. 465.

Penalty for permitting a slave to labor or do business for himself, except on his master's premises, thirty dollars per week.—p. 457.

No slave can be a party to any suit against a white man, except on claim of his freedom,and every colored person is presumed to be a slave, unless he can prove himself free.—p. 446.

Act Dec. 13, 1792—Forbids the assembling of negroes under pretence of divine worship, contrary to the act regulating patrols, p. 342. This act provides that any justice of the peace may disperse any assembly of slaves whichmayendanger the peace; and every slave found at such meeting shall receive,without trial, twenty-five stripes!—p. 447.

Any person who sees more than seven men slaves withoutany white person, in a high road, may whip each slavetwentylashes.—p. 454.

Any slave who harbors a runaway, may suffer punishment toany extent, not affecting life or limb.—p. 452.

SOUTH CAROLINA.—Brevard's Digest.—Slaves shall be deemed sold, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law to bechattels personalin the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and assigns,to all intents, constructions and purposes whatever.—Vol. ii., p. 229.

Act of 1740, in the preamble, states that "manyowners of slaves and others that have the management of them do confine themso closely to hard labor, that they havenot sufficient time for natural rest," and enacts that no slave shall be compelled to labor more thanfifteenhours in the twenty-four, from March 25th to Sept. 25th, orfourteenin the twenty-four for the rest of the year. Penalty from £5 to £20.—Vol. ii., p. 243.

[Yet, in several of the slave states, the time of work forcriminalswhosepunishmentis hard labor, is eight hours a day for three months, nine hours for two months, and ten for the rest of the year.]

A slave endeavoring to entice another slave to run away, if provision be prepared for the purpose of aiding or abetting such endeavor, shall sufferdeath.—pp. 233 and 244.

Penalty for cruelly scalding or burning a slave, cutting out his tongue, putting out his eye, or depriving him of any limb, a fine of £100. For beating with ahorse-whip, cow-skin, switch or small stick, or putting irons on, or imprisoning a slave,no penalty or prohibition.—p. 241.

Any person who, not having lawful authority to do so, shall beat a slave, so as to disable him fromworking, shall pay fifteen shillings a dayto the owner, for the slave's lost time, and the charge of his cure.—pp. 231 and 232.

A slave claiming his freedom may sue for it by some friend who will act as guardian, but if the action be judgedgroundless, said guardian shall paydoublecosts of suit, and such damages to the owner as the court may decide.—p. 260.

Any assembly of slaves or free colored persons, in a secret or confined place, for mental instruction, (even if white personsarepresent,) is an unlawful meeting, and magistrates must disperse it, breaking doors if necessary, and may inflicttwenty lashesupon each slave or colored person present.—pp. 254 and 255.

Meetings for religious worship, before sunrise, or after 9 o'clock,P. M., unless a majority are white persons, are forbidden; and magistrates are required to disperse them.—p. 261.

A slave who lets loose any boat from the place where the owner has fastened it, for the firstoffence shall receive thirty-nine lashes, and for the second shall have one ear cut off.—p. 228.

James' Digest.—Penalty forkillinga slave, onsudden heat of passion, or byundue correction, a fine of $500 and imprisonment not over six months.—p. 392.

NORTH CAROLINA.—Haywood's Manual.—Act of 1798, Sec. 3, enacts, that the killing of a slave shall be punished like that of a free man;exceptin the case of a slaveout-lawed,[5]or a slaveoffering to resisthis master, or a slavedying under moderate correction.—p. 530.

Act of 1799.—Any slave set free, except for meritorious services, to be adjudged of by the county court, may be seized by any freeholder, committed to jail,and sold to the highest bidder.[6]—p. 525.

Patrols are not liable to the master for punishing his slave, unless their conduct clearly shows maliceagainst the master.—Hawk's Reps., vol. i., p. 418.

TENNESSEE.—Stat. Law, Chap. 57, Sec. 1.—Penalty on master for hiring to any slave his own time, a fine of not less than one dollar nor more than two dollars a day,halfto the informer.—p. 679.

Chap. 2, Sec. 102.—No slave can be emancipated but on condition of immediately removing from the state, and the person emancipating shall give bond, in a sum equal to the slave's value, to have him removed.—p. 279.

Laws of 1813.Chap. 35.—In the trial of slaves, the sheriff chooses the court, which must consist of three justices and twelveslaveholdersto serve as jurors.

ARKANSAS.—Rev. Stat., Sec. 4, requires the patrol to visit all places suspected of unlawful assemblages of slaves; and sec. 5 provides that any slave found at such assembly, or strolling about without a pass,shall receiveany number oflashes, at the discretion of the patrol, not exceeding twenty.—p. 604.

MISSOURI.—Laws, I.—Any master may commit to jail, there to remain, athis pleasure, any slave who refuses to obey him or his overseer.—p. 309.

Whether a slave claiming freedom may even commence a suit for it, may depend on the decision of a single judge.—Stroud's Sketch, p. 78, note which refers to Missouri laws, I., 404.

KENTUCKY.—Dig. of Stat., Act Feb. 8, 1798, Sec. 5.—No colored person maykeeporcarrygun, powder, shot,cluborother weapon, on penalty ofthirty-nine lashes, and forfeiting the weapon, which any person is authorized to take.

VIRGINIA.—Rev. Code.—Any emancipated slave remaining in the state more than a year, may be sold by the overseers of thepoor, for the benefit of theliterary fund!—Vol. i., p. 436.

Any slave or free colored person found at any school for teaching reading or writing, by day or night, may be whipped,at the discretion of a justice, not exceeding twenty lashes.—p. 424.

Suppl. Rev. Code.—Any white person assembling with slaves, for thepurposeof teaching them to read or write, shall be fined, not less than 10 dollars, nor more than 100 dollars; or with free colored persons, shall be fined not more than fifty dollars, and imprisoned not more than two months.—p. 245.

By the revised code,seventy-oneoffences are punished withdeathwhen committed by slaves, and by nothing more than imprisonment when by the whites.—Stroud's Sketch, p. 107.

Rev. Code.—In the trial of slaves, the court consists of five justices without juries, even in capital cases.—I., p. 420.

MARYLAND.—Stat. Law, Sec. 8.—Any slave, for rambling in the night, or riding horses by day without leave, or running away, may be punished by whipping, cropping, or branding in the cheek, or otherwise, not rendering him unfit for labor.—p. 237.

Any slave convicted of petty treason, murder, orwilful burning of dwelling houses, may be sentencedto have the right hand cut off, to be hanged in the usual manner, the head severed from the body, the body divided into four quarters, and the head and quarters set up in the most public place in the country where such fact was committed!!—p. 190.

Act 1717, Chap. 13, Sec. 5—Provides that any free colored person marrying a slave, becomes a slave for life, except mulattoes born of white women.

DELAWARE.—Laws.—More than six men slaves, meeting together, not belonging to one master, unless on lawful business of their owners, may be whipped to the extent of twenty-one lashes each.—p. 104.

UNITED STATES.—Constitution.—The chief pro-slavery provisions of the constitution, as is generally known, are, 1st, that by virtue of which the slave states are representedin congress for three-fifths of their slaves;[7]2nd, that requiring the giving up of any runaway slaves to their masters; 3rd, that pledging the physical force of the whole country to suppress insurrections, i. e., attempts to gain freedom by such means as the framers of the instrument themselves used.

Act of Feb. 12, 1793—Provides that any master or his agent may seize any person whom he claims as a "fugitive from service," and take him before a judge of the U. S. court, or magistrate of the city or county where he is taken, and the magistrate, on proof, in support of the claim, to his satisfaction, must give the claimant a certificate authorizing the removal of such fugitive to the state he fled from.[8]

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.—The act of congress incorporating Washington city, gives the corporation power to prescribe the terms and conditions on which free negroes and mulattoes may reside in the city.City Laws, 6 and 11. By this authority, the city in 1827 enacted that any free colored person coming there to reside, should give the mayor satisfactory evidence of his freedom, and enter into bond with two freehold sureties, in the sum of five hundred dollars, for his good conduct, to be renewed each year for three years; or failing to do so, must leave the city, or be committed to the workhouse, for not more than one year, and if he still refuse to go, may be again committed for the same period, and so on.—Ib.198.

Colored persons residing in the city, who cannot prove their title to freedom, shall be imprisoned as absconding slaves.—Ib.198.

Colored persons found without free papers may be arrested as runaway slaves, and after two months' notice, if no claimant appears, must be advertised ten days, and sold to pay their jail fees.[9]—Stroud, 85, note.

The city of Washington grants a license totrade in slaves, for profit, as agent, or otherwise, for four hundred dollars.—City Laws, p. 249.

Reader, you uphold these lawswhile you do nothing for their repeal. Youcan domuch. You can take and read the anti-slavery journals. They will give you an impartial history of the cause, and arguments with which to convert its enemies. You can countenance and aid those who are laboring for its promotion. You can petition against slavery; you can refuse to vote for slaveholders or pro-slavery men, constitutions and compacts; can abstain from products of slave labor; and can use your social influence to spread right principles and awaken a right feeling. Be as earnest for freedom as its foes are for slavery, and you can diffuse an anti-slavery sentiment through your whole neighborhood, and merit "the blessing of them that are ready to perish."

The following is from the old colonial law of North Carolina:

Notice of the commitment of runaways—viz., 1741, c. 24, § 29. "An act concerning servants and slaves."

Copy of notice containing a full description of such runaway and his clothing.—The sheriff is to "cause a copy of such notice to be sent to the clerk or reader of each church or chapel within his county, who are hereby required to makepublication thereof by setting up the same in some open and convenient place, near the said church or chapel, on every Lord's day, during the space of two months from the date thereof."

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