UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

STATE
100 KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
But, thoughyou will go off unhurt in person,
port,
Esq., chief justiceof the county, with four
by the presentsentence,expect not to escape with associategentlemenjustices, composedthe court
impunity Ỵour bloody deed has set a mark upon The commonwealth was representedby its attorney,
you, which I fear the goodactions of your
future
Charles B. Harding,Esq.,and the accused
life will not efface. You will be held in abhorrence
ably and eloquently defended by Wm. C.
by an impartial world,and shunned as a
Worthingtoft and John A. Thompson, Esqs. The
monster by every
honest man. Your unoffending evidence of the prisoner's guilt was conclusive.
posterity will be visited, for your iniquity, by the A majority of the court thoughtthat he ought to
stigmaof deriving their origin from an unfeeling suffer the extreme penalty of tho law
murderer. Your days, which will be but ; but,as this
few, requireda unanimous agreement, he was sentenced
will be spent in wretchedness ; and, if your
conscience
to receive five hundred lashes,not more
be not steeled againstevery virtuous emotion,
than thirty-nine at one time. The physician of
if you be not entirely abandoned to hardness the jailwas instructed to see that theyshould not
of heart țhe mangled,mutilated corpse
of your be administered too frequently, and onlywhen,
murdered slave will ever be presentin your imagination,
his opinion, he could bear them.
obtrude itselfinto all your amusements,
and haunt you
in the hours of silenceand repose.
In another paper we are told that the
But,should you disregard the reproaches of an Free Press says :
offended world, should you hear with callous
A majorityof the court though that he ought
to sufferthe extreme penaltyof the law ''but,as
insensibility the gnawings of a guiltyconscience,
yet remember, I charge you, remember,that an
awful periodis fast approaching, and with you
is closeat hand,when you must appear before a
tribunal whose want of power
can afford you
no
and that his vengeance will not sleepforever!
The penaltythat followed this solemn
denunciation was a fine of seven hundred
in default of
pounds, current money, or,
payment,imprisonment
for seven
years.
And yet it seems that there have not
those who consider the reform
been wanting
of thislaw " a refinement
humanityof
doubtfulpolicy" ! To this sentiment, so
high an authority as that of Chancellor
the Harperisquoted,as readerwill see by
referring to the speech of Mr. Hunt,in the
last chapter.And, as is very common in
being,on the whole,a surer protectionto
the life of the slave than the new one.
From the resultsof the lasttwo trials, there
would seem to be a fairshow of plausibility
in the argument. For under the old law it
seems that Slaterhad at least to pay seven
hundred pounds,while under the new Eliza
Rowand comes off with onlythe penaltyof
"a most sifting scrutiny."
Thus, it appears, the penalty of the law
goes with the murderer of the slave.
How is it executed in the cases which
concern the lifeof the master ? Look at
thisshortnotice of a recent trialof thiskind,
which is given in the Alexandria (Va.)
Gazette,of Oct. 23, 1852, as an extract
from the Charlestown (Va.) Free Press.
TRIAL OF NEGRO HENRY.
this requireda unanimous agreemeriliyhe
was
sentenced to receivefive hundred lashes,not more
than thirty-nine at any one time. The physician
prospect of impunity; when you must raise your of the jailwas instructed to see that theyshould
bloodyhands at the bar of an impartial omniscient
not be administered too frequently,and only
Judge! Remember, I pray you,
remember,
when, in his opinion, he could bear them. This
whilst yet you have time,that God is just, may seem to be a harsh and inhuman punishment;
The trialof this slave for an attack,with intent
when
to kill,on the person of Mr. Harrison Anderson,
was commenced on Monday and concluded
on'Tuesday evening.His Honor,Braxton Daven-
but,when we take into consideration that it is in
accordance with the law of the land,and the further
fact that the insubordination among the
slaves of that state has become trulyalarming,
we cannot questionthe righteousness of the judgment.
that the master's life
Will anybodysay
is in more dangerfrom the slave than the
slave's from the master, that this disproportionat
retributionismeted out 1 Those
will do
the solemn words of an ancient
who countenance such legislation
well to ponder
book, inspiredby One who is no
respecter
persons :
When they had a cause with me,
What shall I do when God riseth up 1
And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him 1
Did not he that made me in the womb make him 1
Did not tho same God fashion us in the womb 1 "
CHAPTER
IX.
Job 31 : 13"15.
MODERATE CORRECTION AND ACCIDENTAL
The
DEATH
"
V. CASTLEMAN.
such cases, the old law is vindicated, as "
If I have refused justicoto my man-servant or maidservant,
author remarks that the record of
the following trial was read by her a little
time before writing the account of the death
of Uncle Tom. The shockingparticulars
haunted her mind and were in her thoughts
the following sentence was written :
What man has nerve to do,man has not nerve
to hear. What brother man and brother Christian