UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

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thereis
they
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KEY TO UNCLE TOJi's CABIN. 71
Ruffin,pronouncing the opinion of the Supreme
Court of North Carolina, says, a slave
is "one doomed in his own person,
LUTE,
TO RENDER THE SUBMISSION OF THE
SLAVE perfect, may say, with
and his him, "I most freely confess
posterity, to live without knowledge, and
my
sense of
the harshness of this proposition ; I feel it
without the capacityto make
1
any- as deeplyas any
Wheeler's Law
, , . , .
l/j ; and, as a principle
V ^
, ,
"-.
,
of Slavery, 2-16. tlunglllS OW11, and to toil that of moral right, every person in his retirement
state v. Mann. anotuer may reap the fruits."
must repudiate it: "
they
This iswhat slaveryis, thisiswhat it is will also be obliged to add,with liim, ' :
But,
to be a slave ! The slave-code, then,of the in the actual condition of things, it MUST
Southern States, isdesigned keep millions BE so. * * This discipline belongsto
of human beings the condition of chattels the state of slavery.
* * * It is inherent
personal : to keepthem in a conditionin which
in the relationof master and slave."
the master may sell them,dispose of their And, likeJudgeRuffin,men ofhonor, men
time, person and labor ; in which theycan do of humanity, gentlest
nothing, possessnothing, acquire nothing, feelings, are obliged to interpret these severe
exceptforthebenefitof the master ; in which laws with inflexibleseverity Ịn the perpetual
theyare doomed in themselves and in their reaction of that awful forceof human
posterity to live without knowledge, passion and human will, which necessarily
the power to make anything their own. meets the compressive power of slavery,
toilthat another may reap. The laws of in that seething, boilingtide, never wholly
the slave-codeare designed to work out this repressed, which rollsitsvolcanic stream underneath
problem,consistently with the peace of the
the whole frame-work of society
community, and the safety of that superior so constituted, readyto find vent at the
race which is constantly to perpetrate this leastrent or fissure or unguardedaperture,
outrage.
a constant necessity which urges to
From thissimplestatement of what the severity
of execution.
laws of slavery are
designed to from do," a
considerationthat the class thus to be reduced,
the right of the matter to be broughtinto
and oppressed, and made the subjects
discussioninthe courts ofjustice. The slave,
of a perpetualrobbery, are men of to remain a slave,must be made sensible
like passions with our own, men originally that there is no appeal from his master."
made in the imageof God as much as ourselves,
men partakers of that same humanity
the slave population
of which Jesus Christ is the highestis most accumulated,and slave property
ideal and
"
expression, when we consider most necessary and valuable, and, of course,
that the material thus to be acted upon is the determinationto abideby the system the
that fearfully explosive element,the soul of most decidedțhere the enactments are most
man : that soul elastic, upspringing, immortal,
severe, and the interpretation of courts the
whose free will even the Omnipotencemost
inflexible.*And. when legaldecisions
of God refuses to we coerce,"
may form of a contrary character beginto be made,it
some idea of the tremendous force which is would appear that itis a symptom of leaning
necessary to keep this mightiest of elements towards emancipation. So abhorrent is the
in the state of repression which is contemplated
slave-codeto every feeling of humanity, that
in the definitionof slavery. justas soon as there is any hesitancy in the
Of course, the system necessary to consummate
community about perpetuating the institution
and perpetuate such a work, from of slavery, judgesbeginto listento the
age to age, must be a fearfully stringent voice of their more honorable nature,and by
one ; and our readerswillfind that it is so. favorableinterpretations to softenits necessary
Men who make the laws,and men who interpret
severities.
them, may be fullysensibleof their Such decisions do not commend themselves
terrible severity and inhumanity ; but,if
to the professional admirationof legal
theyare goingto preserve the THING, theygentlemen. But in the workingsof the
have no resource but to make the laws,and slavesystem, when the irresponsible power
to execute them faithfully after they are winch itguaranteescomes to be used by men
made. They may say, with the honorable
JudgeRuffin,of North Carolina, when solemnly
from the bench
foundation principle of
announcing thisgreat
slavery, that " THE
POWER OF THE MASTER MUST BE ABSO-
of law and inflexibility
So Judge Ruffin says, "We cannot allow
Accordingly, Ave find in the more
southern states, where
* We except the State of Louisiana. Owing to the
influence of the French code in that state,more really
humane provisionsprevailthere. How much these provisions
avail in pointof fact,will be shown when we come
to that part of the subject.