UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

Perhaps "
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
stealing potatoes "
in this case may have been deprived of many of their rightsby
was one of the class of crimes alluded to. society, it does not follow țhat they have been
whitseii v. Again we have the deprived
following
of all their rights. In some respects,
" Earnest " Par- " slaves may be considered as chattels ;
but in others,
ker. Wheeler, Case :
they are regardedas men. The law views them
p. 202.
as capable
The defendants went to the plantation
of committing of Mrs.
crimes. This can only
be upon the principle, that they
Witsell for the purpose of hunting for are men and rational
runaway beings. The Roman law has teen much
negroes; there beingmany in the neighborhood, relied on by the counsel of the defendant. That
and the placein considerable alarm. As they law was confined
approached the house with loaded to the Roman empire,giving the
guns, a negro power of lifeand death over captives
ran from the house, in war, as
or near the house,towards a
slaves ; but it no more extended here țhan the similar
swamp, when theyfired and killedhim.
The judge charged the jury, that such circumstances
power given to parentsover the lives of their
children. Much stress has also been laid by the
might exist,by the excitement and defendant's counsel on the case cited from Taylor's
alarm of the neighborhood, as to authorize the
killing of a
negro without the sanction of Reports,decided in North Carolina ; yet, a magistrate.
in
that case, two judgesagainst one were of opinion,
that killing a slave was murder. Judge Hall,who
delivered
This decision was reversedin the Superior
the dissenting opinion the above case,
based his conclusions, as we conceive, upon erroneous
Court,in the following language:
principles, by considering the laws of Rome
By the statute of 1740, any white applicable here. His inference,
man
also
may
țhat a person
apprehend and moderately correct cannot be condemned
any slave who
capitally, because he
may be found out of the plantation at which he may be liable in a civil action,is not sustained by
reason or
is employed, and if the slave assaults the white
authority, but appears to us to be in
person, he direct
maybe killed;but a slave who is merely
opposition to both. At a
very earlyperiod
in
flyingaway cannot be killed. Nor can the defendantsVirginia,
the power of life over slaves was given
be justified by common law,if we consider by statute ; but Tucker observesțhat as soon as
tlie negro as a person ; for thesestatutes were
theywere not clothed
repealed,it was at once considered
with the authority of the law to apprehendhim by their courts that the killing of a slave
as a felon, and without such authority he could might be murder. Commonwealth v. DollyChapman
: indictment
not be killed.
formaliciously stabbing a slave,
under a statute. It has been determined in
If ice consider the negro
a
person, Virginia that slaves are persons. In the constitution
says the judge; and. from hisdecisionin the
of the United States,slaves are expressly
case, he evidently intimates that he has designated
a
as "persons." In this state
strongleaning to this the legislature have considered slaves as reasonable
opinion, thoughithas
and accountable beings; and it would be
been contested by so many eminent legala stigma upon the character of the state,and a
authorities that he puts forlh his sentiment reproachto the administration of justice, if the
life of
modestly, and in an hypothetical form. The
a slave could be taken with impunity, or if
he could be murdered in cold blood,without subjecting
reader,perhaps,will need to be informed
the offender to the highestpenalty
that the question whether known
the slave is to be to the criminal jurisprudence of the country.Has
considered a person or a human being in the slave no
any
rights, because he is deprived" of his
respect has been extensively and
freedom? He is stilla human
ablyargued
being, and possesses
on both sidesin legalcourts, and it all those rights
may be
of which he is not deprived
by
a comfort to know that the balance of legal
the positiveprovisionsof the law ; but in vain
shall we look lor any law passedby the enlightened
opinion inclinesin favor of the slave. Judge
and philanthropic legislature of this state,
Clarke,of Mississippi,
quiteclear on the giving even to the master, much less to a stranger,
point,and argues very ably and power
over the life of a slave. Such a statute
earnestly, would
though, as he be worthy
confesses, against
the age of Draco or Caligula,
very respectable
and would be condemned by the unanimous voice
legalauthorities, that the slave is a of the people of this state,where even cruelty to
"
person, that he is a reasonable creature. slaves,much [more] the takingaway of life,meets
with universal
The
whPHW reasoning occurs in the reprobationḄy the provisions of
case
p.
our law,a slave may commit murder,and be punished
ss-2. State of Mississippi v.- Jones,and
with death
^
Jum
; why, then,is it not murder to
Walker's isworthy of attentionas a literary kill a slave 1 Can a mere chattel commit murder,
Rep. S3, and be
curiosity.
subject to punishment ]
It seems that a case of murder of a slave
had been clearly made out and provedin the The rightof the master exists not byforceof the
law
lower court,and that judgmentwas arrested of nature or nations,but by virtue onlyof the
positive
and the case appealed on the groundwhether,
law of the state ; and although that gives to
the master the
in that state, murder
rightto command the services of
could be committed the slave,requiring the master to feed and clothe
on a slave. Judge Clarke thus ably and the slave from infancy till death,yet it gives the
master
earnestly argues :
no righ to take the life of the slave ; and,
if the offence be not murder,it is not a crime,
The question in this case is, whether murder and subjectsthe offenderto no punishment.
can be committed on a slave. Because individuals The takingaway
the lifeof a reasonable crea-