ffence_, by a person in pursuit
of an _outlawed_ slave; owing, as it was stated, to the person killed
not _answering_ a call made by his pursuers. Whether the call was
_heard_ or not, of course could not be assertained, nor did it appear
to have excited any inquiry."--_Stroud._]

"A pecuniary mulct was the only restraint upon the wilful murder of a
slave, from the year 1740 to 1821, a period of more than eighty years.
I find in the case of _The State vs. M'Gee, 1 Bay's Reports_, 164, it is
said incidentally by Messrs. Pinckney and Ford, counsel for the State,
that the _frequency_ of the offence was owing to the nature of the
punishment. This was said in the public court-house by men of great
respectability; nevertheless, thirty years elapsed before a change of
the law was effected. So far as I have been able to learn, the following
section has disgraced the statute-book of South Carolina from the year
1740 to the present hour: 'In case any person shall wilfully cut out
the tongue, put out the eye, _cruelly_ scald, burn, or deprive any
slave of any limb, or member, or shall inflict any other cruel
punishment,--[_otherwise than by whipping, or beating, with a horsewhip,
cowskin, switch, or small stick, or by putting irons on, or confining,
or imprisoning such slave_,]--every such person shall, for every such
offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds, current money.' Here is
direct legislation to _sanction_ beating without limit, with horsewhip
or cowskin,--the application of irons to the human body,--and perpetual
incarceration in a dungeon, according to the will of the master; and the
mutilation of limbs is paid by a trifling penalty!

"The revised code of Louisiana declares: 'The slave is entirely subject
to the will of the master, who may correct and chastise him, though not
with _unusual_ rigor, nor so as to maim or mutilate him, or to expose
him to the danger of loss of life, or to cause his death.'" Who shall
decide what punishment is _unusual_?

In Missouri, if a slave refuses to obey his or her master, mistress,
overseer, or employer, in any lawful commands, such slaves may be
committed to the county jail, there to remain as long as his owner
pleases.

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