istency so grave as to make
the former act appear in the light of both a legal and moral fraud.
It was declaring the negro to be free by one statute, and immediately
proceeding to re-enslave him by another.

By a previous law Louisiana had provided that all agricultural laborers
should be compelled to "make contracts for labor during the first ten
days of January for the entire year." With a demonstrative show of
justice it was provided that "wages due shall be a lien on the crop,
one-half to be paid at times agreed by the parties, the other half to
be retained until the completion of the contract; but in case of
sickness of the laborer, wages for the time shall be deducted, and
where the sickness is supposed to be feigned for the purpose of
idleness, double the amount shall be deducted; and should the refusal
to work extend beyond three days, the negro shall be forced to labor
on roads, levees, and public works without pay." The master was
permitted to make deduction from the laborer's wages for "injuries done
to animals or agricultural implements committed to his care, or for bad
or negligent work," he, of course, being the judge. "For every act of
disobedience a fine of one dollar shall be imposed upon the laborer;"
and among the cases deemed to be disobedience were "impudence,
swearing, or using indecent language in the presence of the employer,
his family, or his agent, or quarreling or fighting among one another."
It has been truthfully said of this provision that the master or his
agent might assail the ear with profaneness aimed at the negro man, and
outrage every sense of decency in foul language addressed to the negro
woman; but if one of the helpless creatures, goaded to resistance and
crazed under tyranny, should answer back with impudence, or should
relieve his mind with an oath, or retort indecency upon indecency, he
did so at the cost to himself of one dollar for every outburst. The
agent referred to in the statute was the well-known overseer of the
cotton region, who was always coarse and often brutal, sure to be
profane, and scarcely knowing the border-line between ribaldry and
decency. The care with which the law-makers of Louisiana provided that
his delicate ears and sensitive nerves should not be offended with an
oath or with an indelicate word from a negro, will be appreciated by
all who have heard the crack of the whip on a Southern plantation.

The wrongs inflicted under the name of law, thu