UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

"
On a subsequent page of the same
chapter, article 192,we find provision
the slave's protection against his master's cruelty,
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN. 69
in the statement that one of two cases,
volume and
made for
in which
a master can be compelledto sell his slave,is,
When the master shallbe convicted of cruel
" '
consent.
tue
treatment of his slave,and the judgeshall deem of the contract of hiring, had become the
proper to pronounce, besides the property
penaltyestablished of the proprietor for the time being, and his
master could no more have taken him away forci-
for such cases, that the slave shall be sold at public
bly
auction,in order to place him out of the reach of the than the owner of a house in Massachusetts
poicer which the master has abused.'
can dispossess his lessee,at
"
A code thus watchful of the negro'safety in
any moment, from
mere whim or caprice.There is no court in Kentucky
lifeand limb confinesnot its guardianship to inhibitory
where the hirer'srights,in this regard,
clauses,but proscribes extreme penalties would not be enforced.
in case of their infraction. In the Code Noir
(BlackCode) of " '
Louisiana,under head of Crimes No. Father bought her once, in one of his tripsto
and Offences,No. 55," xvi.,it is laid down, that New Orleans, and broughther up as a present to mother.
" ' If any slave be mutilated,beaten or illtreated,contrary
with a face perfectlywhite with interest, said, ' Do
meaning know the names of the peoplehe boughther of 1 '
you
of this act, when no one shall be present, in such
" " A man of the name of Simmons, I think,was the
case the owner, or other person havingthe management
principalin the transaction. At least,I think that was
of said slave thus mutilated șhall be the name in the billof sale.'
would extend our review to a most unreasonable
should we undertake to give the law,with
length,
regard to the murder of slaves,as it stands in
each of the Southern States. The crime is a rare
one, and therefore the reportershave had few
cases to record. We may refer,however, to two.
" '
Everyperson is expressly prohibitedfrom
In Fields v. the Slate ofTennessee, the plaintiff
selling separatelyfrom their mothers the children
error was indicted in the circuitcourt of Maury who shall not have attained thefull age oftenyears.''
county for the murder of a negro slave. He "And this humane provision
strengthened by
pleadednot guilty ; and at the trial was found a statute,one clause of which runs as follows:
guilty feknious slaying of the slave.
" ' Be it further enactedȚhat if any person or
From thissentence he prosecuted his writ of error,
"
persons shall sell the mother of any slave child or
which was disallowed, the court affirming the original
children under the age of ten
judgment. The years, separatefrom
opinionof the court, as givensaid child or children,or shall țhe mother living,
by Peck J.,overflows with the spirit of enlightened
sell any slave child or children often years ofage, or
humanity. He concludes thus :
under,separatefrom said mother, such person
or
" ' It is well said by one
Carolinațhat the master of the judgesof North
persons shall incur the penalty of the sixth section
has a right to exact the of this act.'
labor of his slave ; that farțhe rights of the slave "
This penalty is a fineof not less than one thou
are suspended; but this gives the master no rightsand nor more than two thousand dollars, and im
over the lifeof his slave. I add to the sayingof prisonment publicjailfor a period of not
the judge țhat law which says thou shalt not kill, less than six months nor more than one year.
protects ; and he is within Vide Acts ofLouisiana,1 Session,9th Legislature,
1 Verger's its very letter. Law, reason, Christianity,
3828,1829,No. 24,Section 16."
Term. Kep.
and common
156
humanity, all
pointbut one way.'
The author makes here a remark. Scattered
" In the General Court of Virginia, June term,
1851,in Souther v. the Commonwealth,it was held
throughall the Southern Statesare
that ' the killing of a slave by his master and
slaveholderswho are such only in name.
owner, by wilful and excessive whipping, is murder
in the firstdegree; thoughit may not have been
the purpose of the master and owner to
kill the slave.'' The writer shows, 7 Grattan's
also,an ignorance of the law of con- ep- ' '
tracts,as it affectsslaveryin the South,in making
George's master take him from the factory
againstthe proprietor's George,by vir-
" ' If any person whatsoever shall wilfully kill j She was about eight or nine years old, then. Father
would never tell mother what he
his slave,or the slave of another person, the said
gave for her ; but,tho
other day,
person, beingconvicted thereof șhall be tried
in lookingover his old papers, we came across
the billof sale. He paidan extravagant sum for her,to
and condemned agreeably to the laws.'
be sure. I suppose,
on account of her extraordinary
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And because negro testimony is inadmissible beauty.'
"
in the courts of the state,and therefore the evidence
George sat with his back to Cassy,and did not see
of such crimes mightbe with difficulty
the absorbed expressionof her countenance, as he was
supplied,
it is further givingthese details.
providedthat,
"
At this pointin the story,she touched his arm, and,
"
deemed responsible and guilty of the said " '
0,
offence, my God ! ' said Cassy,and fellinsensible on the
floorof the cabin."
and shall be prosecutedwithout further evidence,
unless the said owner, or other person
so as aforesaid,
"
Of course Eliza turns out to be Cassy'schild,
can
prove the contraryby means of good and and we are soon entertained with the familymeeting
sufficientevidence,or can clear himself by his in Montreal,where GeorgeHarris isliving,
own oath,which said oath every court, under the fiveor six years afterthe openingof the story, in
Code Noir. cognizance of which such offence shall Crimes mid Of- have been examined and "
tried,is by
great
Now, the reader will perhapsbe surprised fences, 56, xvii. this act authorized to administer.' know that such an incident as the sale of Cassy
"
Enough has been quotedto establishthe utter
apart from Eliza, upon which the whole interest
falsity statement, made by our authoress of the foregoing hinges, could have
throughSt. Clare țhat brutal masters
'
are irresponsible
taken place in Louisiana,and that the bill of sale
despots,' at least in Louisiana. It "forEliza would not have been worth the paper it
was written on. Observe. GeorgeShelby states
that Eliza was eightor nine years old at the time
his father purchased her in New Orleans. Let ua
againlook at the statute-book of Louisiana.
"
In the Code Noir we find it set down that
They have no pleasure in the system,they
consideritone of wrong altogether,
and they