In some of the States there are indeed restraining laws; but they are completely ineffectual, from the difficulty of obtaining the evidence of white men.
"The same despotic power can be exerted by the attorney, manager, driver, or any other person who is, for the time being, placed over the slave by order of the owner, or his delegates. The following is the language of the Louisiana code; and it represents the established customs of all the slaveholding States: 'The condition of a slave being merely a passive one, his subordination to his master, and to all who represent him, is not susceptible of any modification, or restriction, [except in what can incite the slave to the commission of crime] in such manner, that he owes to his master, and to all his family, a respect without bounds, and an absolute obedience; and he is consequently to execute all the orders,
which he receives from his said master, or from them.'"
What chance of mercy the slave has from the generality of overseers, may be conjectured from the following testimony given by a distinguished Virginian: Mr. Wirt, in his "Life of Patrick Henry," speaking of the different classes in Virginia, says: "Last and lowest, a feculum of beings called overseers—the most abject, degraded, unprincipled race—always cap in hand to the Dons who employed them, and furnishing materials for the exercise of their pride, insolence, and spirit of domination."
The Gentoo code, the most ancient in the world, allowed a wife, a son, a pupil, a younger brother, or a slave, to be whipped with a lash, or bamboo twig, in such a manner as not to occasion any dangerous hurt; and whoever transgressed the rule, suffered the punishment of a thief. In this case, the slave and other members of the family were equally protected.
The Mosaic law was as follows: "If a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. And if he smite out his man-servant's tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake." Exodus, xxi. 26, 27.
Prop. 7.—The slave never allowed to resist a white man.
It is enacted in Georgia, "If any slave shall presume to strike any white man, such slave, upon trial and conviction before the justice, shall for the first offence, suffer such punishment as the said justice thinks fit, not extending to life or limb; and for the second offence, death." It is the same in South Carolina, excepting that death is there the punishment of the third offence. However wanton and dangerous the attack upon the slave may be, he must submit; there is only one proviso—he may be excused for striking in defence of his master, overseer, &c., and of their property. In Maryland, a colored man, even if he be free, may have his ears cropped for striking a white man. In Kentucky, it is enacted that "if any negro, mulatto, or Indian, bond or free, shall at any time lift his or her hand, in opposition to any person not colored, they shall, the offence being proved before a justice of the peace, receive thirty lashes on his or her bare back, well laid on." There is a ridiculous gravity in the following section of a law in Louisiana: "Free people of
color ought never to insult or strike white people, nor presume to conceive themselves equal to the whites; but on the contrary, they ought to yield to them on every occasion, and never speak or answer them but with respect, under the penalty of imprisonment, according to the nature of the offence."
Such laws are a positive inducement to violent and vicious white men to oppress and injure people of color. In this point of view, a negro becomes the slave of every white man in the community. The brutal drunkard, or the ferocious madman, can beat, rob, and mangle him with perfect impunity. Dr. Torrey, in his "Portraiture of Domestic Slavery," relates an affecting anecdote, which happened near Washington. A free negro walking along the road, was set upon by two intoxicated ruffians on horseback, who, without any provocation, began to torture him for amusement. One of them tied him to the tail of his horse, and thus dragged him along, while the other followed, applying the lash. The poor fellow died by the roadside, in consequence of this treatment.