A. If you will examine Stroud’s Compendium of the Slave Laws, you will be convinced for yourself that what I say is true; and the effect is as you suppose. The poor slaves are completely in the power of their masters. The same men who accuse them are often their judges and executioners. In illustration of this, I will tell you a case that occurred in Edenton, North Carolina. It was told by a woman who lived there at the time, and witnessed some of the executions. Many of the slaves in that place were skilful in mechanical trades. The planters in the back country were very desirous to purchase some of them; but their masters found it so profitable to let them out, that they would not consent to sell them. Those who were anxious to buy, hit upon the following expedient to obtain their purpose: They wrote anonymous letters, charging these intelligent slaves with having projected an insurrection. These letters were scattered about in Edenton, with the idea that the masters would be glad to sell such dangerous fellows; but instead of this, the poor innocent slaves were tried, convicted, and sentenced by their frightened owners; and a large number of them were put to death, upon no other evidence than anonymous letters.
Q. It does not seem as if such things could take place in a civilized country. Can you believe it?
A. If you reflect a little upon human nature, I believe you will think it perfectly natural that such abuses should exist, wherever one human being has arbitrary power over another. You would not like to place yourself completely in the power even of the best man you know; you would be afraid to have it depend entirely on his will how much work you should do in a day, what food you should eat, and what clothes you should wear, and how and when you should be punished. It is not considered entirely safe for an aged parent to relinquish all his property, and trust entirely to the generosity of his own children; what then do you suppose the poor slave has to expect, when he becomes too old and infirm to be profitable to his master?
Q. But the Southerners are said to be very honorable, generous men.
A. Our Southern brethren are just what any human beings would be under similar circumstances. They are generous with the proceeds of other men’s labor, for the same reason that the heir is prodigal of money, which another accumulates for him. He who can let out his neighbor, and his neighbor’s wife and children, and receive all their wages, will naturally be more profuse than a man who depends entirely on his own exertions. Planters have heretofore generally confessed that slavery is an evil, and many of them speak of its detailed abuses with strong regret; but these abuses are merely the necessary and inevitable results of the system they are helping to support; and they never can cure the abuses until they are willing to renounce the system itself. I suppose that few planters would think of palliating the treatment Mrs. Salarie’s slaves received; yet they are all helping to support a system under which such cruelties can be committed with impunity. Perhaps very humane and amiable masters do even more mischief than the desperately wicked; for they are always quoted as palliations of the whole system; and they approach so near to the right line, that they can more easily draw over kind-hearted people, who have not thought much upon the subject.
Q. What is the history of Mrs. Salarie?
A. She resided in New Orleans. On the 10th of April, 1834, her splendid mansion took fire. During the midst of the conflagration, a rumor arose among the crowd that there were slaves chained in the burning dwelling; but those who asked for the keys were reproved for interfering with their neighbor’s business. At last the doors were forced open by sailors and mechanics, that had collected around the spot; and a New Orleans paper thus describes the horrible scene that presented itself: “Seven slaves more or less horribly mutilated, were seen, some chained to the floor, and some suspended by the neck to the ceiling, with their limbs stretched and torn from one extremity to the other. Their bodies, from head to foot, were covered with scars and sores, and filled with wounds. One poor old man, upwards of sixty years of age, was chained hand and foot, and made fast to the floor, in a kneeling position. His head bore the appearance of having been beaten until it was broken, and the worms were actually seen making a feast of his brains.”
Q. Every body must have thought her a very wicked woman. Did the slave-holders in the neighborhood pretend to justify her measures?
A. I have no doubt that every humane person, that heard of the event, expressed horror, and sincerely felt it. For several months previous to the discovery, her neighbors had been in the habit of living in apartments as far as possible from her house, on purpose to avoid the shrieks and groans of her poor suffering slaves; yet during all that time no complaint was laid before the public authorities, and no investigation demanded! I suppose neighbors were afraid to say any thing, lest they should be accused of promoting discontent among the negroes. Those who endeavor to keep human beings in the situation of beasts, are more afraid of them than they would be of beasts; because the human being has reason, which is always prone to offer resistance to tyranny. The consciousness of this makes slave-holders very irritable when any one in the community takes part with an abused slave, or expresses the slightest pity for his sufferings.
Q. Is it not for the master’s interest to treat the slaves well?