vor of the slave."

If a slave should _not_ obtain a decree in his favor, what has he to
expect from a master exasperated against him, for making the attempt?

At Athens, so deservedly admired for the mildness of her slave laws, the
door of freedom was opened widely. The abused slaves might fly to the
Temple of Theseus, whence no one had a right to take them, except for
the purpose of publicly investigating their wrongs. If their complaints
were well founded, they were either enfranchised, or delivered to more
merciful hands.

In the Roman Empire, from the time of Adrian and the Antonines, slaves
were protected by the laws, and undue severity being proved, they
received freedom or a different master.

By the _Code Noir_ of the French islands, a slave cruelly treated is
forfeited to the crown; and the court, which judges the offence, has
power to confer freedom on the sufferer. In the Spanish and Portuguese
colonies, a slave on complaint of ill-usage obtains public protection;
he may be manumitted, or change his master.

PROP. 9.--_Slave unprotected in his domestic relations._

In proof of this, it is only necessary to repeat that the slave and his
wife, and his daughters, are considered as the _property_ of their
owners, and compelled to yield implicit obedience--that he is allowed to
give no evidence--that he must not resist _any_ white man, under _any_
circumstances which do not interfere with his _master's_ interest--and
finally, that public opinion ridicules the slave's claim to any
exclusive right in his own wife and children.

In Athens, the female slave could demand protection from the
magistrates; and if her complaints of insulting treatment were well
founded, she could be sold to another master, who, in his turn,
forfeited his claim by improper conduct.

PROP. 10.--_The laws obstruct emancipation._

In nearly all slaveholding States, a slave emancipated by his master's
will, may be seized and sold to satisfy _any debt_. In Louisiana,
fraud of creditors is by law considered as _proved_, if it can be
made to appear that the master, at the moment of executing the deed of
enfranchisement, had not sufficient property to pay all his debts; and
if after payment of debts, there be not personal estate enough to
satisfy the widow's claim to one third, his slaves, though declared to
be free by his last will, are nevertheless liable to be sold for the
widow's portion.--In South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and