UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

a
when
the sake ofsecuringproper subordination
on the part of the slave,to protect the
master from prosecution in allsuch cases,
even if the whipping and punishment be
malicious,cruel and excessive!
KE5T TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN. 125
man would ever do ?
And, when this shockingpermission is
When the most cultivatedand intelligent brought in review at the judgment-seat of
and the awful Judgeshall say to its
men in the state formally,calmly and Christ,
without any apparentperception of sayingmakers,aiders,and
abettors, Where is thy
"
anythinginhuman,utter such an astounding brother1 all the souls that have
decisionas this,what can be thoughtof it1 called from under the altar, " How long,0
If they do not consider this cruel,what is Lord,dost thou not judge and avenge our
cruel 1 And, iftheir feelings are so blunted blood,"shallrise around the judgment-seat
as to see no cruelty in such a decision, what as a great cloud of witnesses, and the judgment
hopeis there of any protection to the slave? is set and the books are
"
opened, what
This law is a plain and distinct permis-answer will be made for such laws and de-
sion
to such wretches as Souther to inflict
slave any torture they
upon the helpless
the law to protect him in malicious, cruel
and excessive punishments.
What sort of an education isthisfor the
old State of Massachusetts sunk very low,
to have on her legalrecords direct assurances
to deeds which no decent
of protection
as these ?
Will they tellthe greatJudge that it was
may choose,without any accusation or
necessary to preserve the slave "
system,
mpeachment of crime. It distinctly tells that itcould not be preserved without them ?
Souther,and the white witnesseswho saw Will they dare look upon those eyes,
his deed, and every other low,unprincipled which are as a flame of fire, with any such
man in the court țhat it is the policy of avowal 7
Will He not answer, as with a voice of
thunders, "Ye have killed the poor and
that the Lord
cisions
needy,and ye have forgotten
intelligent and cultivatedmen of a state to was his helper "7
communicate to the lower and less-educated The deadly sin of slavery is itsdenialof
class? Suppose itto be solemnly announced humanityto man. This has been the sin
in Massachusetts, with respecto freelaborers of oppression,
or apprentices, that it is the policy of the to vilify and crush țhe imageof God, in
law,for the sake of producingsubordination, the person
of the poor and lowly,has been
to protectthe master in inflicting any punishment,
the greatsin of man since the creationof
however cruel, malicious and excessive,
the world.
ets
shortof death. We cannot imagine of ancient times pouredforth their
such a principle declared, without a rebellion
thunders. A stillstrongerwitness was
and a storm of popularexcitement to borne againstthis sin when God, in Jesus
which that of Bunker Hill was calmness Christ, took human nature, and made each
"
itself; but,supposing the State of Massachusetts
human beinga brother of the Lord. But
were so "twice dead and pluckedup the last and most sublime witness shall be
by the roots ' ' as to allow such a decision to borne when a Man shall judgethe whole
pass without comment concerning her working
earth " Man who shall acknowledge for
"
classes, suppose it did pass,
and become
His brother the meanest slave, equallywith
an active, operative reality, what kind the proudest master.
of an educationalinfluencewould it exert In most singular and affecting terms it is
in every age. To treaddown,
Againstthissin allthe proph-
upon the commonwealth '? What kind of asserted in the Bible that the Father hath
an estimate of the workingclasseswould it committed alljudgmen to the Son,because
show in the minds of those who make and he is the Son of Man. That human
execute the law ?
nature,which, in the person of the poor
What an immediate development of vil-
slave, has been despised and rejected, scoffed
shallin
these
lanyand brutality would be broughtout and scornedșcourgedand tortured,
by such a law,avowedlymade to protectthat day be glorified ; and it shall appear
men in cruelty ! Cannot men be cruel the most fearful of sins to have made
enough,without all the majestyof law light of the sacrednessof humanityas "
beingbrought into operation to sanction it, laws and institutionsof slaveryhave done.
and make itreputable The fact is.that the whole system of slave-
And suppose it were said,in vindicationlaw,and
the whole practice the slave
of such a law,"0, of course, no respectable,
system, and the publicsentiment that is
humane man would ever think of takingadvantageof
formed by it,are alike based on the greatest
it." Should we not think the of all heresies, a denial of equal
human