bring it before your mind. A human being in a perfect state of
nudity, tied hand and foot to a stake, and a strong man standing behind
with a heavy whip, knotted at the end, each blow cutting into the flesh,
and leaving the warm blood dripping to the feet; and for these trifles.
"For being found in another person's negro-quarters, forty lashes; for
hunting with dogs in the woods, thirty lashes; for being on horseback
without the written permission of his master, twenty-five lashes; for
riding or going abroad in the night, or riding horses in the day time,
without leave, a slave may be whipped, cropped, or branded in the cheek
with the letter R. or otherwise punished, such punishment not extending
to life, or so as to render him unfit for labor." The laws referred to,
may be found by consulting _Brevard's Digest; Haywood's Manual; Virginia
Revised Code; Prince's Digest; Missouri Laws; Mississippi Revised Code_.
A man, for going to visit his brethren, without the permission of his
master--and in many instances he may not have that permission; his
master, from caprice or other reasons, may not be willing to allow
it--may be caught on his way, dragged to a post, the branding-iron
heated, and the name of his master or the letter R branded into his
cheek or on his forehead. They treat slaves thus, on the principle that
they must punish for light offenses, in order to prevent the commission
of larger ones. I wish you to mark that in the single state of Virginia
there are seventy-one crimes for which a colored man may be executed;
while there are only three of{324} these crimes, which, when committed
by a white man, will subject him to that punishment. There are many of
these crimes which if the white man did not commit, he would be regarded
as a scoundrel and a coward. In the state of Maryland, there is a law to
this effect: that if a slave shall strike his master, he may be hanged,
his head severed from his body, his body quartered, and his head and
quarters set up in the most prominent places in the neighborhood. If a
colored woman, in the defense of her own virtue, in defense of her own
person, should shield herself from the brutal attacks of her tyrannical
master, or make the slightest resistance, she may be killed on the spot.
No law whatever will bring the guilty man to justice for the crime.

But you will ask me, can these things be possible in a land professing
Christianity? Yes, they are so; and this is not the worst.