UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

78 KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
and command of the slave,as entitled to the same
extent of authority. The objectis the same, the
serviceofthe slave; and the same powers must he
confided. In a criminal proceeding, and, indeed,
in reference to all other persons but the general
owner, the hirer and possessor of the slave,in relation
to both rights and duties, is
,
the owner But, upon the generalquestion,
whether the owner is answerable criminaliter,
for a batteryupon
his own slave,or other
mightproperly interfere,
difficulty
exercise of authority of force,not forbidden by begin. Merelyin the
statute, the court entertains but littledoubt.
That he is so liable,has never been decided ; nor,
as far as is known, been hitherto contended.
There has been no prosecution of the sort. The that light. The truth is that we are forbidden to
established habits and uniform practice of the enter upon a train of generalreasoningon the
country, in this respect, isthe best evidence of the subject.We cannot allow
portion of power deemed the rightof the master
by the whole community to be broughtinto discussionin the courts of
requisite to the preservation of the master's dominion.
justice.The slave,to remain a slave,must be
If we thoughtdifferently, we could not made sensible that there is no appeal from his
set our notions in array agains the judgmentof master ; that his power is,in no instance, usurped,
everybodyelse,and say that this or that authoritybut is conferred by the laws of man, at least,if
may be safelyloppedoff. This has indeed been not by the law of God. The danger would be
assimilated at the bar to the other domestic relations
great,indeed,ifthe tribunals of justiceshould be
; and argumentsdrawn from the well-established
called on to graduatethe punishmentappropriate
principles, which conferand restrain the to every temper and every dereliction of menial
authorityof the parent over the child țhe tutor duty.
over the pupil țhe master over the apprentice, No man can anticipate the many and aggravated
have been pressedon us.
provocations of the master which the slave
The court does not recognize thejr application. would be constantlystimulated by his own passions,
There is no likeness between the cases. They are
or the instigation of others țo give; or
in opposition to each other,and there is an impassable
the consequentwrath of the master, prompting
gulfbetween them. The difference is him to bloody vengeance upon the turbulent
that which exists between freedom and slavery; traitor ; a vengeance generally practised with i?npunity,byreason
ofitsprivacy.The court,therefore
and a greater cannot be imagined. In the one, the
,
end in view is the happinessof the youthborn to disclaims the power
of changingthe relation in
equalrights with that governor on whom the duty which these parts of our peoplestand to each
devolves of trainingthe young to usefulness ,
in a
station which he is afterwards to assume
among
freemen. To such an end,and with such a subject,
moral aud intellectualinstruction seem the natural
means ; and, for the most part,theyare found to
suffice. Moderate force is superaddedonly to
make the others effectual. If that fail,it is better
to leave the party to his own headstrong
.
slavery exists amongst us in its presentstate,or
until it shall seem fitto the legislature to interpose
passions,
express enactments to the contrary, it will be the
and the ultimate correction of the law,than imperative duty of the judges to recognizethe full
to allow it to be immoderately by a privatedominion
ofthe owner over the slave,except where
person. With slaveryit is far otherwise. the exerciseof it is forbidden by statute.
The end is the profit
master, his security And this we do upon the groundthat this dominion
and the publicsafety;the subject, one doomed,
is essentialto the value ofslaves as
in his own
person and his posterity, to live without
to the security ofthe master and
property,
the publictranquillity,
knowledge, and without the capacity to make greatlydependentupon their subordination ;
anything his own, and to toil that another may and, in fine,as most effectually securingthe general
reap the fruits. What moral considerationsshall protection and comfort of the slaves themselves.
be addressed to such a beingțo convince him
Judgment below reversed ; and judgment
what it is impossible that the most stupid entered for the defendant.
must feel and know can never be that he
true,"
is thus to labor upon
a principle of natural
No one can read this
duty,
decision, so fine
or for the sake of his own personalhappiness and clear in expression, so dignified Such services can onlybe expected from one who solemn in its earnestness, and so dreadful
has no will of his own ; who surrenders his will
in itsresults, without feeling at once deep
in implicitobedience to that of another. Such
obedience is the consequence onlyof uncontrolled respectfor the man and horror for the system.
authority body. There is nothing else
The man, judginghim from this
which can operate to producethe effect. The short specimen, which is all the author
POWER OF THE MASTER MUST BE ABSOLUTE, TO RENDER
knows,*has one of that highorder of minds,
THE SUBMISSION OF THE SLAVE PERFECT. I most freely
which looks
confess my
sense of the harshness of this proposition.
straight through all verbiage
I feel it as deeplyas any
man can. And, and sophistry every subject
as a principle of moral right,every person
in his which itencounters. He has,too țhat noble
retirement must repudiateit. But, in the actual
condition of things, it must be so. There is no
* More recently the author has met with a passage in a
remedy. This
of North Carolina newspaper, containingsome further par-
discipline belongsto the state
slavery Ṫhey
at once the rightsof the master,
cannot be disunited without abrogating
and absolving
the slave from his subjection Ịt constitutes
the curse of slavery to both the bond and
the free portions of our population.But it is
inherent in the relation of master and slave. That
for the time being, there may be particularinstances of crueltyand
deliberate barbarity, where in conscience the law
is most
probable.The
is to determine where a court may properly
abstract, it may well
be asked which power of the master accords with
right. The answer will probablysweep away
all
of them. But we cannot look at the matter in
other.
# # # # #
I repeat, that I would gladlyhave avoided
this ungrateful question Ḅut, beingbrought to
it țhe court is compelled
to declare that while