rous inequality of law and right._

In a civilized country, one would expect that if any disproportion
existed in the laws, it would be in favor of the ignorant and
defenceless; but the reverse is lamentably the case here. _Obedience_ to
the laws is the price freemen pay for the _protection_ of the laws;--but
the same legislatures which absolutely sanction the negro's _wrongs_,
and, to say the least, make very inadequate provisions for his _safety_,
claim the right to _punish_ him with inordinate severity.

"In Kentucky, white men are condemned to death for _four_ crimes only;
slaves meet a similar punishment for _eleven_ crimes. In South Carolina,
white persons suffer death for _twenty-seven_ crimes; slaves incur a
similar fate for _thirty-six_ crimes. In Georgia, whites are punished
capitally for _three_ crimes only; slaves for _at least nine_."

Stroud says there are _seventy-one_ crimes in the slave States, for
which negroes are punished with _death_, and for each and every one of
these crimes the white man suffers nothing worse than imprisonment in
the penitentiary.

"Trial by jury is utterly denied to the slave, _even in criminal
accusations which may affect his life_; in South Carolina, Virginia,
and Louisiana, instead of a jury, is substituted a tribunal composed of
two justices of the peace and from three to five _free_-holders, (i. e.
_slave_-holders.) In Virginia, it is composed of five justices merely.
What chance has an ignorant slave before a tribunal chosen by his
accuser, suddenly convoked, and consisting of but five persons?"

If a slave is found out of the limits of the town in which he lives, or
beyond the plantation on which he is usually employed, without a written
permission from his master, or the company of some white person, _any
body_ may inflict twenty lashes upon him; and if the slave resist such
punishment, he may be lawfully _killed_.

If a slave visit another plantation without leave in writing from his
master, the owner of the plantation may give him ten lashes.

More than seven slaves walking or standing together in the road, without
a white man, may receive twenty lashes each from any person.

Any slave, or Indian, who takes away, or lets loose a boat, from any
place where it is fastened, receives thirty-nine lashes for the first
offence; and, according to some laws, one ear is cut off for the second
offence.

For carrying a gun, powder, shot, a club, or any weapon whatsoever,