Page:The Barbarism of Slavery.djvu/18

12

I. In presenting the Character of Slavery, there is little for me to do, except to allow Slavery to paint itself. When this is done, the picture will need no explanatory words.

(1.) I begin with the Law of Slavery and its Origin, and here this Barbarism paints itself in its own chosen definition. It is simply this: Man, created in the image of God, is divested of his human character, and declared to be a "chattel" — that is, a beast, a thing or article of property. That this statement may not seem to be put forward without precise authority, I quote the statutes of three different States, beginning with South-Carolina, whose voice for Slavery always has an unerring distinctiveness. Tere is the definition supplied by this State:

"Slaves shall be deemed, held, taken, reputed, and adjudged in law, to be chattels personal in the hands of their owners and possessors and their executors, administrators, and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever." — 2 Brev, Dig., 229.

And here is the definition supplied by the Civil Code of Louisiana:

"A slave is one who is in the power of a master to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry, and his labor. He can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire any thing, but what must belong to his master." — Civil Code, Art. 35.

In similar spirit, the law of Maryland thus indirectly defines a slave as an article:

"In case the personal property of a ward shall consist of specific articles, such as slaves, working beasts, animals of any kind, the court, if it deem it advantageous for the ward, may at any time pass an order for the sale thereof." — Statutes of Maryland.

Not to occupy time unnecessarily, I present a summary of the pretended law defining Slavery in all the Slave States, as made by a careful writer, Judge Stroud, in a work of juridical as well as philanthropic menit:

"The cardinal princeiple of Slavery — that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient beings, but among things — is an article of property — a chattel personal — obtains as undoubted law in all of these (Slave) States." — Stroud's Law of Slavery.p-22.

Out of this definition, as from a solitary germ, which in its pettiness might be crushed by the hand, towers our Upas Tree and all its gigantic poison. Study it, and you will comprehend the whole monstrous growth.

Sir, look at its plain import, and see the relation which it establishes. The slave is held simply for the use of his master, to whose behests, his life, liberty, and happiness are devoted, and