5. Let us now compare slavery with murder. Who does not know, that oftentimes, when the poor slave can no longer endure the outrages practiced upon him, and flies, and takes to the woods, he is hunted down by dogs, and guns, and thus put to death, just for trying to escape. Every body knows, that it is a thing of frequent occurrence. Put to death—just for trying to escape from his sufferings and his wrongs. Again, it is a maxim with them, that at particular seasons, they can afford to work a set of hands to death, for the purpose of getting their crops early to market, and thereby securing a much greater price. The writer of sketches of slavery, from a year's residence in Florida, speaks of this particularly, as coming under his observation while there; and I have seen this fact referred to by other writers in public print. They do not hesitate to sacrifice the lives of their slaves to hard labor, when it will increase their profits. Besides, the poor slave is often whipped until the result is death. Is not my point made clear, abundantly clear, that slavery is worse than murder? Would you not prefer to be met by a highwayman, and shot dead, rather than have your life worn out on a slave plantation, toiling to enrich the hard-hearted wretch who had stripped you of all your rights? Would you not prefer this to being whipped, and then laid away to die under the effect? And is not the wretch who inflicts death by such means, to enrich himself, more guilty, than he who blows out the traveller's brains and seizes his money to enrich himself? Surely, my point needs no more illustration. Slavery is worse than murder. But there is still this point to be taken into the account. If a man shoots you dead by the way side, it is your own fault if you do not go to heaven. You have the Bible, and the gospel. You know that there is a Saviour, and if you have not repented of your sins, and believed in him for salvation, you are without excuse. If you lose your soul, the fault is your own. Though murdered—you might if you would, have been saved. But the poor slave is prevented from learning the way of salvation while he lives, and then worn out with toil, he dies and is lost forever. Surely I need not say more—what honest man is not prepared to say that slavery is worse than murder?
6. I come now, to a point, which, in the estimation of some, perhaps, ought to be suppressed. But I am a servant of the Most High God, and to him accountable; and as such, placed under solemn obligation to cry aloud and spare not, and show this guilty nation its sins. This, with the Lord's help, I will do. It is high time also, that our mothers, and our wives, our sisters, and our daughters, knew the sufferings and the wrongs of the poor defenceless female slave, that they may lift up their strong cries to Heaven in her behalf.
I wish, therefore, to compare slavery with fornication and adultery, and the violation of female purity by force. And, my hearers, I do not ask you to believe my naked assertion on this point, I will show you proof, as it has been my endeavor to do on every point previously considered.
Look again at the laws. In Kentucky—'any negro, mulatto, or Indian, bond or free, who shall at any time, lift his hand in opposition to any white person, (mark the language) shall receive thirty lashes, on his or her bare back, well laid on, by order of the justice.'
This regulation, or something very much like it, is believed to be in force in all the slaveholding States. Look now at the condition in which this places the poor female. She is at the uncontrolled will of the master. He may order her, by fear of the lash, into any secret place where he pleases; the same fear of the lash, enables him to accomplish all the hellish purposes of his heart, and then, by the same means, he can seal her lips in silence, that the crime be never divulged. During all this time, if she lift a hand against him, he can procure thirty lashes for her, to be well laid on, by order of the justice, in addition to all he pleases to inflict himself. Let us now just remember, that in addition to such a regulation, no person of color can be a witness against a white man in a court of justice, and you see the exact condition of the poor female slave. There is nothing, so foul in pollution, nothing so horrid in crime, but she may be driven by the lash, to be the victim of it, and she must not lift a hand in self-defence—and then she dare not divulge her wrongs, or if she does, there is no power on earth, from whom she can gain any redress; or even protection, against a repeated infliction of the same evils.
If slaveholders had framed laws for the express purpose, of placing the purity and virtue of their females entirely in their own power, they could not have done it more effectually, than it is now done. It would seem to be a system, framed for the very purpose, of giving them full power, to pollute by force, just as many as they pleased. At any rate, they know the power is in their hands, and there are developements enough which show that they are not slow to use it.[1] There are a multitude of facts on this subject, and I will just relate one or two, because I know them to be authentic.
A particular friend of mine, who spent several years in a slave State, gave me the following as an occurrence, which transpired in the place where he resided, and at the very time of his residence there. A man,—I will not say gentleman, and in truth I ought to say monster,—who had a wife and a family of grown up daughters, residing with him, had also in his house a young female slave. This slave became the mother of a child, and it was a matter of public notoriety, that the head of the family was the father of it. So barefaced had the thing become, that the man found it necessary to take some measures to get his shame, and the extreme mortification of his wife and daughters out of his mind.[2] He accordingly sold her for the southern market, and though it was with some difficulty that he could persuade the purchaser to take the infant, he at length did so, and the wretched mother, the victim of the master's beastliness and abominable crime, was taken, or rather torn from the house, and borne away, literally uttering cries and shrieks of distress. Now I would like to know whether there is any language under heaven, that will sufficiently set forth the guilt of such a wretch?
The following fact was related by a pious physician who resides in the city of Washington. It came to me in such a way that I know it to be a fact.
'There is,' said this physician, 'residing in this city, a young female slave, who is pious, and a member of the same church to which I belong. She is a mulatto, and her complexion nearly white. One day, she came to me in great trouble and distress, and wished me to tell her what she could do. She stated to me, that her master's son, was in the practice of compelling her whenever he pleased, to go with him to his bed. She had been obliged to submit to it, and she knew of no way to obtain any relief. She could not appeal to her master for protection, for he was guilty of like practices himself. She wished to know what she could do? Poor girl, what could she do? She could not lift a hand in self defence. She could not flee, for she was a slave. She would be brought back and beaten, and be placed perhaps in a worse condition than before. And there she was, a pious girl, with all the feelings of her heart alive to the woes of her condition, the victim of the brutal lusts of a dissolute young man; with no means of defence or escape, and no prospect before her, but that of being again and again polluted, whenever his unbridled passions should chance to dictate.